Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1420595
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 47 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M man. At Reynolds High, he went 168-9 with 67 pins and was a two-time Penn- sylvania state champ who finished third as a senior. Last year's starter, Robert Howard, re- portedly had offseason surgery and is not expected to be ready to compete this year, so the No. 29 recruit in the 2021 class per FloWrestling could see imme- diate action. 133 pounds The favorite: Roman Bravo-Young The skinny: Bravo-Young is back for one final season with the Nittany Lions after going 14-0 as a junior en route to the national title, his first in blue and white. The Tucson, Ariz., native seeks his third All-America season at Penn State and will again be a lower-weight hammer for Sanderson's program. He's amassed a 58-9 record and is ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds by InterMat. 141 pounds The favorite: Nick Lee The skinny: Lee, a senior, became Penn State's first 141-pound champ last season, and now he's back to hunt for an- other title while seeking his fourth All- America honor. The Evansville, Ind., native has his sights set on surpassing the 100 career wins mark, entering the year with a ca- reer mark of 100-14. Like Bravo-Young, he holds the top spot in his weight class per InterMat. 149 pounds The favorites: Beau Bartlett, Shayne Van Ness The skinny: This will be a fun bat- tle to track throughout the preseason. Bartlett, a Tempe, Ariz., native, won eight of 11 matches last year and then secured a bronze medal at 65 kilograms (143 pounds) at the Junior World Cham- pionships in Ufa, Russia, back in August. Van Ness won't just hand the sopho- more the job, though. He left Blair Acad- emy in New Jersey as FloWrestling's No. 4 recruit in the land. The big question is this: Will Bartlett redshirt and prepare to take over at 141 next year, or will he engage in a true battle with the freshman Van Ness? In- terMat has yet to list either wrestler in its preseason rankings, but that should change in a hurry once the job is won. 157 pounds Favorite: Joe Lee The skinny: All signs point to there being a pair of brothers in Penn State's starting lineup this coming season, with Nick's sibling appearing poised to drop down from 165 to start here. Lee was 14-2 during the 2019-20 sea- son while wrestling unattached, and he posted a 6-7 mark last winter while qualifying for NCAAs at the bigger weight class. Much is expected of the redshirt soph- omore this year. He's ranked No. 26 na- tionally by InterMat after finishing sev- enth at Big Tens a year ago and making a quick exit at the NCAA Championships. It had been expected that veteran and former blue-chip recruit Brady Berge would fill this spot, but he decided to graduate and step away from the sport 2021-22 WRESTLING SCHEDULE Nov. 13 Oregon State* TBA Nov. 13 Sacred Heart* TBA Nov. 18 Army TBA Dec. 3 at Penn TBA Dec. 5 Lehigh TBA Dec. 20-21 Collegiate Wrestling Duals^ TBA Jan. 7 at Maryland TBA Jan. 9 Indiana TBA Jan. 16 Rutgers TBA Jan. 21 at Michigan TBA Jan. 23 at Michigan State TBA Jan. 28 at Iowa TBA Feb. 4 Ohio State# TBA Feb. 6 Nebraska TBA Feb. 20 Rider TBA Mar. 5-6 Big Ten Tournament TBA Mar. 17-19 NCAA Tournament TBA * Journeyman Duals at Manheim, Pa.; ^ at Nice- ville, Fla.; # at Bryce Jordan Center David Taylor Takes Silver At World Wrestling Championships All eyes will soon turn to the college wrestling season, and the excitement for it has only been amplified by the tremendous U.S. showing at various international events throughout the spring and summer. Members of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club mostly led the way as they thrived across mul- tiple continents during a series of events. The most recent of those events was the World Wrestling Championships, which took place Oct. 2-10 in Oslo, Norway. Fresh off a gold medal-winning performance at the Olympics, David Taylor finished second at worlds in the 86-kilogram weight class, falling to the man he beat in Toyko, Iran's Hassan Yazdani, 6-2. While it wasn't Taylor, the NLWC did have a representative atop the podium in the men's freestyle competition — Thomas Gilman won gold at 57 kg after claiming the silver medal at the Olympics. Gilman defeated Iran's Alireza Sarlak, 5-3, in Norway. — Greg Pickel Taylor fell to Hassan Yazdani, 6-2, in Norway and captured second place. Two months earlier, he defeated the Iranian wrestler to claim gold at the Tokyo Olympics. PHOTO BY KADIR CALISKAN/UNITED WORLD WRESTLING