Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1462941
3 8 A P R I L 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M T he latest of Penn State's nine NCAA wrestling championships under the Cael Sanderson regime may have been clinched during the consola- tion medal round of this year's event in Detroit, but its genesis can be tracked to a day or two — perhaps an hour or two — after last season's NCAAs when the Nittany Lions crowned four individual champions but finished second to Iowa while in St. Louis. If there's one word in Sanderson's wrestling vernacular that isn't overly used, it's second. The coach, now in his 13th season at Penn State after three as head coach at Iowa State, said then that his team didn't have enough point-scorers to emerge from the season's most impor- tant event with a gold medal. The plan was to continue to develop not only more star power but depth as well. Bringing in Max Dean, a transfer from Cornell who hadn't wrestled in two sea- sons but had an NCAA silver medal on his mantle, added depth and star power. Dean, a junior, was one of the Nittany Lions' five finalists this season. Sanderson opted to redshirt high- profile recruits Alex Facundo (165) and Shayne Van Ness (149), bumped 141-pound sophomore Beau Bartlett up to 149 and continued to dabble with starting spots at 125, 157 and 165. Once graduate transfer Drew Hildeb- randt arrived from Central Michigan and senior Brady Berge re-enrolled at Penn State after leaving and taking a job as a volunteer assistant coach at South Da- kota State — each for the second half of the season — the plan to again claim the top spot was more than conceivable, it was achievable. While there were some tweaks here and setbacks there, Sanderson's plan could be patent pending. It's based on talent, hard work, faith and trust. That combination has worked before and it worked so well this season that Penn State had clinched its team title halfway through the consolation medal round, leaving the finals to be about in- dividuals. All five of Penn State's finalists cap- tured titles to add heft to the team's final point total of 131.5, compared to Michi- gan's 95, Iowa's 74, Arizona State's 66.5 and Nebraska's 59.5. Senior Roman Bravo-Young (133), su- per senior Nick Lee (141), sophomore Carter Starocci (174) and junior Aaron Brooks (184) all defended the titles they won in 2021, and Dean captured his first championship at 197 after placing sec- ond in 2019 at 184 for Cornell. Those five along with sophomore heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet, who placed fourth, joined non-placing NCAA en- trants Hildebrandt (125), Bartlett (149) and Berge (157) at center mat to celebrate. And they were far from alone. Team- mates who had made the trip to Detroit on their own, coaches, support staff and various Penn State athletics adminis- J I M C A R L S O N | B L U E W H I T E C O N T R I BU TO R W R E S T L I N G • P O S T S E A S O N R O U N D U P Cael Sanderson's peerless developmental system produces another national championship, the Nittany Lions' ninth in the past 12 years ON CLOUD NINE ON CLOUD NINE Sanderson's team lost the Big Ten Tournament to Michigan by 1.5 points, but the Nittany Lions avenged that defeat by outscoring the Wolverines by 36.5 points at nationals. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS