Starocci seeding stunner and 3 more Penn State wrestling thoughts on the Lions' NCAA seeds

Penn State learned Wednesday night where each of its 10 wrestlers are seeded for the 2024 NCAA Championships. Most are probably where head coach Cael Sanderson and his staff expected them to be. Others are not. The same goes for foes they could, or now won’t, face at various points of the tournament.

NCAAs start a week from today at Noon ET in Kansas City, Mo., and run through next Saturday. Our top three takeaways from the official bracket release are below following a look at where each Nittany Lion is at.

Takeaway 1: The Starocci seeding surprise

Give Carter Starocci credit: He did not and does not care where he starts his tournament. But, the fact that he dropped from the No. 1 seed to the No. 9 seed because of a pair of medically-induced forfeits at Big Tens is ludicrous enough. Add in the fact that the tournament’s selection committee did not have the wherewithal or care to seed him in a way that avoids a potential finals-caliber matchup with top seed Mehki Lewis of Virginia Tech in Friday morning’s quarterfinal, and you have the definition of insanity. Oh, and we should mention that a third former NCAA champ, Michigan’s Shane Griffith, is also on the top half of the bracket.

It’s true that Starocci’s win percentage was hurt by both the forfeits and his relatively few regular season matches compared to the field. The second half of that sentence is on him. It’s also true that past performance should not play a role in how this year’s tournament is seeded. But, common sense should. And, it was not applied here.

Takeaway 2: Lions end up with six top-two seeds

This part is no great surprise to those who were paying attention to how both Big Tens and other conference tournaments played out. But, as we noted with the Starocci news above, there are no guarantees when it comes to foolproof logic being applied to seeding. That said, six Nittany Lions ended up with top two seeds as expected.

It was always going to be a close call whether Penn State freshman Braeden Davis would earn the No. 1 line, considering how messy the 125-pound weight class has been. But the Big Ten champ is there. Senior Beau Bartlett is fine at No. 2 at 141 after he beat Jesse Mendez during the regular season before the Buckeye clipped him in the Big Ten finals. Both have wins this year over Iowa’s Real Woods, who is the three seed at nationals and potentially Bartlett’s semifinal opponent should both get there.So, that was a coin flip. But, Mendez has five more wins this year.

Sophomore Levi Haines is the deserving No. 1 seed at 157 pounds. Same goes for Aaron Brooks at 197 and Greg Kerkvliet at 285. And, last but not least for this section, redshirt freshman and Big Ten champ Mitchell Mesenbrink could have slotted in anywhere in a crowded 165-pound field. But, being right behind former training partner Keegan O’Toole, the reigning top-ranked wrestler in this weight class who competes for Missouri, is the right place for him to be seeded.

Takeaway 3: Nagao got the worst draw of any Nittany Lion

We’re throwing the mess of a 174-pound bracket out for this final takeaway, for the record.

First-year Penn State 133-pound starter Aaron Nagao earned his No. 10 seed by dropping five matches on the year. But, that does not change the fact that his draw is absolutely brutal. Lehigh’s Ryan Crookham was the expected top seed here. Instead, it went to Oklahoma State’s Dalton Fix, who had two less wins than Crookham. It means that Nagao, should he make the quarterfinals, which is no guarantee, will face Crookham in a match he will not be favored to win. And, if he does not, the consolation bracket draw does not figure to be favorable. It will make his goal of earning another All-American honor all the more challenging.

Full list of Penn State wrestlers’ seeds at NCAAs

125 pounds: Big Ten champ and Penn State freshman Braeden Davis is the No. 1 seed.

133 pounds: First-year Nittany Lion Aaron Nagao, who finished third at Big Tens, is the No. 10 seed at nationals. Dalton Fix of Oklahoma State is No. 1.

141 pounds: Senior Beau Bartlett, the runner-up at this year’s conference tournament, is No. 2 at NCAAs. Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez, who beat Bartlett at Big Tens, is No. 1.

149 pounds: Penn State freshman Tyler Kasak, who finished third at Big Tens, is the No. 7 seed. Ridge Lovett of Nebraska is No. 1.

157 pounds: Sophomore Levi Haines, who won his weight class at Big Tens, is the No. 1 seed at NCAAs.

165 pounds: Redshirt freshman Mitchell Mesenbrink, who won a conference title back on Sunday, is the No. 2 seed at NCAAs. Keegan O’Toole of Missouri, a former training partner of Mesenbrink’s, is No. 1.

174 pounds: Three-time NCAA champ Carter Starocci is the No. 9 seed after forfeiting twice for medical reasons at Big Tens and earning at an-large bid. Virginia Tech’s Mehki Lewis leads the field. The two could, shockingly, meet in the quarterfinals in a finals-caliber match.

184 pounds: Graduate senior and first-year Penn State wrestler Bernie Truax, who finished third at Big Tens, is the No. 6 seed at nationals. Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen is is No. 1.

197 pounds: Senior Aaron Brooks is the No. 1 seed at NCAAs after winning another Big Ten title last Sunday.

285 pounds: Big Ten champ Greg Kerkvliet, a senior, is the No. 1 seed.

Who will each Nittany Lion face first in Kansas City?

Here’s the breakdown:

125 pounds: No. 1 Braeden Davis, Penn State. vs. winner of No. 33 Tristan Lujuan, Michigan State vs. Mike Joyce, Brown

133 pounds: No. 10 Aaron Nagao, PSU vs. No. 23 Marlon Yarbrough, Virginia

141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, Penn State vs. No. 31 Kai Owen, Colorado

149 pounds: No. 7 Tyler Kasak, PSU vs. No. 26 Jaden Abas, Stanford

157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU vs. winner of No. 33 Nick Stampoulous, Buffalo vs. No. 32 Isaax Wilcox, Ohio State

165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State vs. No. 31 Maxx Mayfield, Northwestern

174 pounds: No. 9 Carter Starocci, PSU vs. No. 24 Andrew Sparks, Minnesota

184 pounds: No. 6 Bernie Truax, Penn State vs. No. 27 Cameron Pine, Clarion

197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU vs. winner of No. 33 Evan Bates, Northwestern vs. No. 32 John Crawford, Franklin & Marshall

285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. winner of No. 33 Jordan Greer, Ohio vs. No. 32 Nick Willham, Indiana

See full brackets here.

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