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B rady Berge's wait to get on the mat at 149 pounds for Penn State was set to extend into mid-November because of his weight. The redshirt freshman wrestler from Mantorville, Minn., is on a descent plan that prevents rapid weight loss and meas- ures hydration and body density with a formula that looks like it should be on the whiteboard in a college algebra class. He's over the 149- pound mark because he wrestled in the Junior World Championships in Slovakia in late September at 70 kilo- grams, or 154.3 pounds. He was cutting to get to 70kg, he said. "I was a little heavier than 70 kilo- grams," Berge said. "My coaches are doing a really good job with me on that stuff. I'm being disciplined with it. I'm getting there. For sure it's a discipline thing. You want to do it right because you want to feel good when you wrestle. I don't want to cut weight and then go out and not per- form how I want to perform, otherwise why am I doing it? I want to do it right and I want to be ready to go," he said. Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said Berge, a three-time Minnesota state champion whose only high school loss came when he broke his leg in the state semifinals during his junior year, would most likely compete in the Keystone Classic in Philadelphia on Nov. 18. Depending on the weight-class bracket and if both wrestlers continue to win, Berge could square off with teammate Jarod Verkleeren in what would be the first elimination bout for a berth in the Nittany Lion lineup. Verkleeren, also a redshirt freshman, competed at 149 against Kent State in Penn State's season- opening dual Nov. 11, pinning Kody Ko- mara in 1 minute, 20 seconds. Sanderson said Berge has been very dis- ciplined while on the plan. "He's a great kid and he knew that was the case and he's on track," he said. "His body is in great shape. He'll be wrestling at 149. We have some great options here, and we have a couple of other guys there." Waiting to lose weight has been worth it for Berge, given that he won a bronze medal at the Junior Worlds. "The experience of going over there and wrestling that type of competition was really important for me and my develop- ment," he said. "It was cool just to be around the type of coaches I was around and my teammates on the team. "Being able to learn from them, too, and around here, too. We have the best room in the country, or the world. It was just good to get exposed to different cultures, different athletes," he said. Competition on the world level is be- yond brutal; Berge was defeated, 13-3, by a Russian Senior Nationals semifinalist in his first bout. Razambek Zhamalov won his next two bouts, which placed Berge in the repechage round, creating the possi- bility of earning a medal. He defeated a wrestler from Belarus by technical superiority (13-2) and defeated a European junior champion from Arme- nia on criteria to place third. But Berge said it can be equally rugged in the Penn State wrestling room. Most W R E S T L I N G WEIGHTY MATTERS After competing at Junior Worlds, Brady Berge is steadily working his way down to 149 | BERGE Freshman Bravo-Young makes quick ascent to starting lineup Nearly 2,200 miles, a couple of time zones and another world of weather between Tucson, Ariz., and State College, Pa., weren't enough to make freshman wrestler Roman Bravo-Young say no to Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson. Because of that, and perhaps the fact that he's incredibly talented, Bravo-Young was in Penn State's season-opening lineup Nov. 11 at 133 pounds. He began his career by pinning Kent State's Tim Rooney. "Once Cael Sanderson contacted me, it was like a no-brainer," said Bravo-Young, a four-time Arizona state champion who won each of his 182 high school matches and was named the Outstanding Wrestler in all four state tour- naments. "They needed light- weights so I was like, 'Why not?' " Sanderson, the Penn State coach who was 159-0 and a four-time NCAA champion at Iowa State, doesn't dole out praise without merit. He gushed over Bravo-Young. "He's very competitive, really an in- credible athlete," Sanderson said. "Great speed. He has the tools, he has BRAVO-YOUNG

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