Penn State wrestling leads team race at NCAA Championships after session one: Takeaways

Penn State wrestling has completed the first session at the NCAA Tournament.

The Nittany Lions sent seven competitors into the second round of the championship bracket. But, two others fell into consolation action after just one bout. Despite that fact, Penn State does lead the team race over Iowa and Michigan after one round with 15.5 points. The Hawkeyes and Wolverines are tied for second with 12.5. Those two schools have more scoring potential as the tournament continues, however, as they have eight wrestlers alive in the championship bracket.

Session two starts at 7 p.m. tonight.

First round Penn State takeaways

Drew Hildebrandt’s forgettable postseason to date continued, at least early on Thursday afternoon. The 16th-seeded Nittany Lion and two-time All-American lost 4-2 to Lock Haven standout Anthony Noto, the No. 17 at 125, 4-2 in sudden victory. Noto is now 30-1 and was a brutal draw, but the Lions had hopes he would at least make it into the second round. That was not the case, however. Now, he has a long road to wrestle all the way back to make the medal stand. His journey starts Thursday night opposite No. 33 Logan Ashton of Stanford.

Brady Berge is the other Nittany Lion already off to the consolation bracket. He lost to Oregon State’s Hunter Willits 2-1 on the virtue of the Beaver having 1:13 in riding time. The PSU 157-pounder struggled to get his offense going and took just a little bit too long to get out from underneath Willits. Berge opens wrestlebacks with No. 33 Derek Holschlag from Northern Iowa.

There was good news, however. Lions wrestlers Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds), Nick Lee (141) and Aaron Brooks (184) picked up team bonus points by winning by major decision, while Carter Starocci won with a third-period fall at 174 and Greg Kerkvliet did as well at heavyweight. Then, Max Dean picked up a 17-1 technical fall triumph at 197.

That leaves just Beau Bartlett to recap, and he deserves his own paragraph. Trailing 3-2 opposite No. 20 Colin Realbuto of Northern Iowa with 42 seconds left, Bartlett escaped to tie the bout and then snapped in on Realbuto’s head and took him down with just seven seconds left. Realbuto had a riding time point but it wasn’t enough as the Penn State 149-pounder scored a big 5-4 win to move onto the second round of the championship bracket.

First round results

125 pounds:  No. 17 Anthony Noto, Lock Haven winner by decision over No. 16 Drew Hildebrandt, 4-2 (sudden victory)

133 pounds: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young winner by major decision over No. 32 Dominic LaJoie (Cornell), 16-4

141 pounds: No. 1 Nick Lee winner by major decision over Josh Mason (Bloomsburg), 15-3

149 pounds: No. 13 Beau Bartlett winner by decision over No. 20 Colin Realbuto, Northern Iowa, 5-4

157 pounds: No. 17 Hunter Willits, Oregon State winner by decision over No. 16 Brady Berge, Penn State, 3-1

174 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci winner by fall over No. 33 Connor O`Neill (Rutgers) in 6:39.

184 pounds: No. 2 Aaron Brooks winner by major decision over No. 31 AJ Burkhart, Lehigh, 21-7

197 pounds: No. 1 Max Dean winner by technical fall over No. 32 Will Feldkamp (Clarion), 17-1 in 4:41.

285 pounds: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet wins by fall over No. 29 Brandon Metz (North Dakota State) in 4:17.

Second session Penn State matchups

All matches are in the championship bracket unless otherwise noted. The action begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. ESPN+ also has mat-by-mat streaming.

You can also join us to talk with other Penn State fans in The Wrestling Room forum.

Penn State wrestling voice Jeff Byers will also be on the air on the Penn State Sports Network starting at 6:40 p.m.

125 pounds: No. 16 Drew Hildebrandt, Penn State vs. No. 33 Logan Ashton, Stanford (consolation)

133 pounds: No.1 Roman Bravo-Young, Penn State vs. No. 16 Josh Koderhandt, Navy

141 pounds: No. 1 Nick Lee, Penn State vs. No. 16 Quinn Kiner, Rider

149 pounds: No. 13 Beau Bartlett, Penn State vs. No. 4 Sammy Sasso, Ohio State

157 pounds: No. 16 Brady Berge, Penn State vs. No 33 Derek Holschlag, Northern Iowa

174 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci vs. No. 16 Adam Kemp, Cal Poly

184 pounds: No. 2 Aaron Brooks, Penn State vs. No. 15 Hunter Bolen, Virginia Tech

197 pounds: No. 1 Max Dean, Penn State vs. No. 17 Jay Aiello, Virginia

285 pounds: No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. No. 13 Tate Omdorff, Ohio State