Penn State wrestling wins second straight Big Ten title
Penn State had five Big Ten Champions and the Nittany Lions won the conference tournament on Sunday in College Park, Md. The Nittany Lions had five conference champions. Braeden Davis (125 pounds), Levi Haines (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Aaron Brooks (197) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) won individual titles. Penn State won the conference tournament with 170.5. Michigan was second with 123.5. Nebraska had 118, and Iowa 110.5
“It feels really good,” Kerkvliet said. “I feel like I grew a lot.”
Mesenrbing was the Big Ten Network’s outstanding wrestler. He trailed No. 1 Dean Hamiti of Wisconsin 9-2 before scoring in a flurry in the third to win 13-11 at 165 pounds.
“You’re never out of it,” Mesenbrink told BTN. :You have to be tough. But not everybody can go for so long. It’s easy to be fearless.”
Brooks won his fourth Big Ten title. Nine Nittany Lions automatically qualify for NCAAs. Carter Starocci, the three-time NCAA champ at 174 pounds, forfeited twice due to a knee injury. He is guaranteed to earn an at-large bids to nationals when those are announced next week.
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“This team is a lot of fun,” head coach Cael Sanderson said. “They wrestle hard and have a lot of fun. We’re happy. We keep trying to get better. We wrestle hard and try to have fun. We just have to score points [at nationals] and we’ll be alright.”
It was the eighth Big Ten title for Penn State. It had a school-record number of seven finalists. Brooks was the wrestler of the year in the Big Ten. Cael Sanderson won his eighth conference coach of the year honor.
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Courtesy of Penn State Athletics:
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