Recap: Penn State has nearly perfect Friday night at NCAA Championships, sends six to finals

Penn State wrestling had a nearly perfect Friday night at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Nittany Lions, who are up almost 100 points on second place Michigan in the team race, went six-for-six in the semifinal round and were also four-for-six in their four consolation bracket matches. They have also clinched the team title for the third year in a row. It has 148 team points. Michigan is in second with 64.5. Iowa is in third with 60. Arizona State and Iowa State have 59.5.

Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team will be represented in Saturday night’s finals by 141-pound senior Beau Bartlett, 157-pound sophomore Levi Haines, 165-pound redshirt freshman Mitchell Mesenbrink, 174-pound senior Carter Starocci, 197-pound graduate senior Aaron Brooks, and heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet.

Freshman Tyler Kasak won two consolation bracket matches at 149 pounds to become an All-American. He will wrestle in the consolation semifinals Saturday morning against No. 1 Ridge Lovett of Nebraska. The Nittany Lion can finish as high as third or as low as sixth. Graduate senior Bernie Truax finds himself in a similar position at 184 pounds. He will face No. 4 Trey Munoz of Oregon State for the right to wrestle in either the third/fourth place match or the fifth/sixth place one as Kasak will. Both of them, and the six finalists, make a total of eight All-Americans for Penn State.

Complete Penn State session four results

All bouts were championship semifinal matches unless otherwise noted.

125 pounds: No.5 Jore Vork, Wyoming d. No. 1 Braeden Davis, Penn State 4-1 (SV) (Davis now eliminated)

133 pounds: No. 3 Kai Orine, North Carolina State d. No. 10 Aaron Nagao, PSU, 11-4 (Nagao now eliminated)

141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, Penn State d. No. 6 Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina, 5-1

149 pounds: No. 7 Tyler Kasak, PSU d. No. 3 Jackson Arrington, N.C. State, 5-4 (consolation bracket)

–Consolation round five: Kasak md. No. 11 Quinn Kinner, Rider, 10-2

157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU F No. 12 Bryce Andonian, Virginia Tech, 6:49

165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State md. No. 6 Mikey Caliendo, Iowa, 17-6

174 pounds: No. 9 Carter Starocci, PSU d. No. 4 Shane Griffith, Michigan, 2-0

184 pounds: No. 6 Bernie Truax, Penn State d. No. 10 Dylan Fishback, N.C. State, 4-2 (consolation bracket) 

–Consolation round five: No. 6 Bernie Truax, Penn State d. No. 7 Thomas Stewart Jr., Virginia Tech, 5-0 

197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU TF No. 12 Rocky Elam, Missouri, 17-2 (5:45)285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State d., No. 4 Cohlton Schultz, Arizona State, 8-1

Rolling updates from session four of the NCAA Championships

11:02 — Greg Kerkvliet is a two-time NCAA finalist. He wins 8-1 over Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State to reach the finals. He’ll face No. 10 Lucas Davison of Michigan in the heavyweight title bout.

10:50 — Penn State now has 141 team points. Second place Iowa has 60.

10:45 — Aaron Brooks is going back to the NCAA finals. He beats No. 12 Rocky Elam of Missouri by technical fall, 17-2, in 5:45. in one 197-pound semifinal. He and Carter Starocci will both go for their fourth individual title Saturday night. No teammates have ever won four titles in the same season. Brooks will face Trent Hidlay of N.C. State.

10:44 — Bernie Truax beats Thomas Stewart Jr., of Virginia Tech by decision, 5-1, in another consolation bout at 184. He, like Tyler Kasak, is into tomorrow morning’s consolation semifinals.

10:38 — The NCAA has not announced it yet, but by all scoring matrixes, all other challenges cannot pass Penn State for the NCAA title. We’ll share when the NCAA verifies that.

10:27 — Tyler Kasak wins another consolation bracket bout to move into tomorrow’s consolation semifinals. He can finish as high as third and will have a chance to move into that match tomorow morning.

10:09 — Carter Starocci is headed back to the finals where he’ll seek his fourth individual championship. He beat No. 4 Shane Griffith 2-0 in a 174-pound semifinal. He will face Rocco Welsh of Ohio State in the final.

9:48 — Mitchell Mesenbrink is the third Penn State finalist. The 165-pound redshirt freshman wins a major decision, 17-9, over No. 6 Mikey Caliendo of Iowa to move onto tomorrow night’s finals. No. 3 David Carr of Iowa State upset No. 1 Keegan O’Toole of Missouri 8-6 in the other 165-pound semifinal. It will be Carr/Mesenbrink in what should be a thrilling final on Saturday night.

9:39 — Current team scores at the NCAA Wrestling Championships through 157 pounds:

1. Penn State – 109.5

2. Arizona State – 59.5

3. Michigan – 57.5

4. Iowa — 55.5

5. Iowa State – 49

9:37 — Penn State will officially have eight All-Americans. Bernie Truax beats No. 10 Dylan Fishback of North Carolina by decision 5-0, with 3:30 in riding time. He is a four-time All-American and will wrestle for podium placing at 184 pounds again tonight and then tomorrow.

9:35 — Levi Haines will wrestle for a national championship. The Penn State sophomore beats No. 12 Bryce Andonian of Virginia Tech by fall in sudden victory to advance to the 157-pound finals. He’ll meet No. 2 Jacori Teemer of Arizona State in the finals.

9:02 — Penn State senior Beau Bartlett is into the finals. He reversed No. 6 Lachlan McNeil to turn a 1-0 third period deficit into a 2-1 lead and then tilted him later in the third period for a 4-1 lead. With riding time, he wins 5-1 and will wrestle Saturday night for a title. He will have a rematch with Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez. They are 1-1 against each other this year.

8:49 — Tyler Kasak is an All-American as a freshman. The 149-pounders beats No. 3 Jackson Arrington of North Carolina State 5-4 on the strength of a second period takedown and third period escape to reach the margin of victory. Penn State will have at least seven All-Americans in 2024. He will wrestle for a podium place tonight and tomorrow.

8:26 — Aaron Nagao is the second Nittany Lion eliminated from the NCAA Championships. He falls in the Round of 12 to Cai Orine of North Carolina State by decision, 11-4, at 133 pounds.

8:14 p.m. — Braeden Davis is the first Penn State wrestler delimited at NCAAs. Jore Volk beats the 125-pound freshman 4-1 in sudden victory as he picked up a takedown at the end of a terrific scramble between the two to break a 1-1 tie. The Nittany Lions will not have 10 All-Americans this year.

7:55 pm — The action begins just after 8 pm. Braeden Davis will be the first Nittany Lion on the mat in a 125-pound consolation bracket bout on mat 2.