Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1482664
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 2 4 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Penn State will wrestle a pair of dual meets at the Bryce Jordan Center this season, part of a 2022-23 schedule that was announced in early October. The Nittany Lions will take on Michigan in the BJC on Jan. 20 and then will host Iowa at the 15,261-seat venue on Jan 27. Both are Friday night matches. The match against the Wolver- ines will begin at 7 p.m., while the match against the Hawkeyes is set for an 8:30 p.m. start. Both matches will air on the Big Ten Network. The Nittany Lions have been wrestling one match per season at the BJC, but coach Cael Sanderson had hinted last year that Penn State might look to compete at the larger facility twice per season going forward. The Nittany Lions will begin their dual meet season on Nov. 11 when Lock Haven visits Rec Hall for a Friday night match beginning at 7 p.m. The Big Ten season will start Jan. 6 when Penn State visits Wisconsin. That match, too, will be televised by BTN beginning at 9 p.m. The Lions will also appear on BTN when they travel to Ohio State for a match beginning at 7 p.m. Feb. 3. Carter Starocci Takes Bronze At U23 World Championships Penn State junior Carter Starocci is a two-time NCAA champion and now a medalist at Worlds. Competing in the 79-kilo- gram (174-pound) division at the U23 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain, in mid- October, Starocci went 4-1 to capture a bronze medal. He outscored his opponents 32-1 in the first three rounds before falling 8-7 to Daulet Yergesh of Kazakhstan in the semifinals. Yergesh lost in the finals, 5-3, to a wrestler from Georgia. The Nittany Lion standout bounced back to beat Valentyn Babii of Ukraine by technical fall, 11-0. All four of Starocci's victories came by technical fall. He is now back training with the Nittany Lions in hope of winning his third NCAA title in the 174-pound weight class. WIN Magazine Releases Preseason Rankings Noted wrestling publication WIN Magazine is one of the many outlets picking Penn State to claim another national team title this season. WIN has the Nittany Lions atop its Preseason Tournament Power Index, which is calculated using NCAA placement points based on wres- tlers' preseason rankings. The Nittany Lions received 97 points to place well ahead of second-place Iowa (74.5) and third-place Arizona State (72). There are eight Big Ten teams among the top 13 in WIN's rankings. In addition to Penn State and Iowa, Minnesota is sixth (49), Michigan seventh (47), Nebraska eighth (43.5), Ohio State ninth (43), Northwestern 12th (36) and Wiscon- sin 13th (35.5). Four Penn State wrestlers rank atop their respective weight classes: super senior Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds), junior Carter Starocci (174), senior Aaron Brooks (184), and senior Max Dean (197). Junior heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet is second behind Arizona State's Cohlton Schultz, who was second at last year's NCAA Tournament. Junior Beau Bartlett is 17th at his 141-pound spot. No Lions were ranked at 125, 149, 157 or 165. Penn State Commits Compete At Super 32 The prestigious Super 32 Wrestling Challenge Oct. 15-16 at Greensboro, N.C., offered prep wrestlers, including two PSU commits, one final chance to showcase their stuff against national competitors before returning home to prepare for their high school seasons. Junior Cael Nasdeo of Williamsport, Pa., went 4-2 in the 120-pound bracket. He won his first three matches before losing to fourth-seeded Jake Craps of Georgia 7-0 in the round of 16. Nas- deo was then eliminated after being pinned by Marcelo Milani of Michigan in the second round of consolation action. Nasdeo was a second-place finisher in the AAA 106-pound weight class at the state tournament last season as a sophomore. At 126 pounds, Braeden Davis of Dundee, Mich., finished third. He had rolled into the semi- finals but lost to top-seeded Benjamin Davino of Illinois, 4-3. After winning a decision in the con- solation bracket semifinals, Davis beat California's Aden Valencia 2-1 in ultimate tiebreaker to secure bronze. ■ PSU Set To Meet Wolverines And Hawkeyes In BJC G R E G P I C K E L | GREG.PICKEL@ON3.COM Penn State 2022-23 Wrestling Schedule Date Opponent Time (TV) Nov. 11 LOCK HAVEN 7 p.m. Nov. 20 Black Knight Open* TBA Dec. 2 at Rider 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at Lehigh 2 p.m. Dec. 11 OREGON STATE 2 p.m. (ESPNU) Dec. 19-20 Collegiate Wrestling Duals** TBA Jan. 6 at Wisconsin 9 p.m. Jan. 20 MICHIGAN (BJC) 7 p.m. (BTN) Jan. 22 MICHIGAN STATE 1 p.m. Jan. 27 IOWA (BJC) 8:30 p.m. (BTN) Feb. 3 at Ohio State 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at Indiana TBA Feb. 10 at Rutgers TBA Feb. 12 MARYLAND 1 p.m. Feb. 19 CLARION 1 p.m. March 4-5 Big Ten Tournament^ All Day Mar. 16-18 NCAA Tournament^^ All Day * at West Point, N.Y. ** at New Orleans ^ at Ann Arbor, Mich. ^^ at Tulsa, Okla. PSU Commits In FloWrestling's Prep Rankings As of Oct. 18 Wrestler State Year P4P Rank Wt. / Rank Josh Barr Michigan Sr. 9th 170 / 2nd Tyler Kosak Pennsylvania Sr. 23rd 145 / 2nd Braeden Davis Michigan Sr. 19th 126 / 6th Cael Nasdeo Pennsylvania Sr. — 120 / 20th Zach Ryder New York Jr. 7th 182 / 2nd Dalton Perry Pennsylvania So. — 132 / 16th P4P – pound for pound all classes and all weights