Penn State wrestling recap from the semifinals of the NCAA Championships

Penn State wrestling will take the mat to try and solidify its lead at the NCAA Championships tonight.

Six Nittany Lions are set to wrestle in the semifinals with a spot in the finals on the line. ESPN will televise the matches, which start at 8 p.m. with 125-pound matches.

Roman Bravo-Young will lead off for head coach Cael Sanderson’s team at 133 pounds. Nick Lee comes next at 141. There will be a brief Nittany Lions break until Carter Starocci takes the mat at 174 pounds. Then, it will be all Nittany Lions from there, as Aaron Brooks (184), Max Dean (197), and Greg Kerkvliet (285) will all wrestle semifinal bouts.

Penn State reached this point by going 6-0 in the quarterfinal round earlier Friday morning. But, the Lions did lose three of the nine wrestlers who qualified for the tournament during that session. Drew Hildebrandt, Beau Bartlett, and Brady Berge were all eliminated at 125, 149, and 157 pounds, respectively.

Penn State semifinal matches

PSU leads the team race, but Michigan is lurking. Arizona State is too.

Besides ESPN, the Penn State radio network is also on the air. And, we’ll be discussing it all on The Wrestling Room forum.

Here are the matches featuring Nittany Lions:

133 pounds: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young, Penn State vs. No. 5 Austin DeSanto, Iowa

141 pounds: No.1 Nick Lee, PSU vs. No. 4 Real Wood, Stanford

174 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. No. 4 Hayden Hidlay, N.C. State

184 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU vs. No. 3 Trent Hidlay, N.C. State

197 pounds: No. 1 Max Dean, Penn State vs. No. 21 Gavin Hoffman, Ohio State

285 pounds: No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet vs. No. 1 Gable Steveson, Minnesota

Here are all the semifinal matchups, as transcribed by NJ.com:

125 pounds:

• 1-Nick Suriano, Michigan vs. 4-Brandon Courtney, Arizona State
• 2-Vito Arujau, Cornell vs. 3-Pat Glory, Princeton

133 pounds:

• 1-Roman Bravo-Young, Penn State vs. 5-Austin DeSanto, Iowa
• 2-Daton Fix, Oklahoma State vs. 3-Michael McGee, Arizona State

141 pounds:

• 1-Nick Lee, Penn State vs. 4-Real Woods, Stanford
• 6-Cole Matthews, Pittsburgh vs. 15-Kizhan Clarke, North Carolina

149 pounds:

• 1-Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell vs. 4-Sammy Sasso, Ohio State
• 10-Ridge Lovett, Nebraska vs. 11-Bryce Andonian, Virginia Tech

157 pounds:

• 5-Quincy Monday, Princeton vs. 8-Will Lewan, Michigan
• 2-Ryan Deakin, Northwestern vs. 3-Jacori Teemer, Arizona State

165 pounds:

• 1-Evan Wick, Cal Poly vs. 5-Shane Griffith, Stanford
• 2-Keegan O’Toole, Missouri vs. 6-Cameron Amine, Michigan

174 pounds:

• 1-Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. 4-Hayden Hidlay, N.C. State
• 2-Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech vs. 3-Logan Massa, Michigan

184 pounds:

• 1-Myles Amine, Michigan vs. 5-Bernie Truax, Cal Poly
• 2-Aaron Brooks, Penn State vs. 3-Trent Hidlay, N.C. State

197 pounds:

• 1-Max Dean, Penn State vs. 21-Gavin Hoffman, Ohio State
• 2-Stephen Buchanan, Wyoming vs. 6-Jacob Warner, Iowa

Heavyweight:

• 1-Gable Steveson, Minnesota vs. 4-Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State
• 2-Cohlton Schultz, Arizona State vs. 6-Jordan Wood, Lehigh

Rolling semifinal updates

10:53 p.m.: Olympic gold medalist and 285-pound top-seed Gable Steveson beats Greg Kerkvliet 8-3 in one semifinal. Nothing to be ashamed of there for the Nittany Lion. Penn State goes five of six in the semifinal round and has a commanding team lead after session four. That’s it for tonight. More to come.

10:40 p.m.: Max Dean is into the NCAA finals for the first time as a Penn State wrestler. He beat Gavin Hoffman of Ohio State by decision, 9-3, at 197 pounds. Dean controlled the match through. He gets Jacob Warner of Iowa in the finals.

10:20 p.m.: Aaron Brooks gave up a third period takedown, but then escaped to tie the match at four. In sudden victory, he converted a single into a double to beat Trent Hidlay of North Carolina State 6-4. He’s back to the finals.

10:05 p.m.: It was a long wait for Penn State wrestling fans for four straight semifinals, but it was worth it. Top-seeded Carter Starocci is going back to the finals after beating Hayden Hidlay 10-3. In the other semi, Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech beat Michigan’s Logan Massa by fall.

8:50 p.m.: Nick Lee is back to the NCAA finals. He beats No. 4 Real Woods of Stanford by decisions, 3-2.

8:32 p.m.: Roman Bravo-Young beats Austin DeSanto of Iowa again. He wins 3-2 with a late third period takedown as the defending 133-pound champ from Penn State is back to the finals. He will again face Oklahoma State’s Dayton Fix.

8:15 p.m.: Nick Suriano picks up the first points in the team race for Michigan, as he advances to the 125-pound final. Roman Bravo-Young on the mat next in the 133-pound semifinal.