Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1488968
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 4 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M stretches from mid-calf to mid-thigh. Van Ness carries a gallon water jug into practice with the words "never cared, never scared" written on it. "That's just to help remind me that it doesn't matter who I'm wrestling, or what's really going on," he explained. "It doesn't matter if he's a No. 1 guy, doesn't matter if I'm down by 10. I never cared, and I'm never scared to go after anyone." Sanderson agreed with that. "He's going to press forward, and conditioning isn't a factor for him. He has a really great feel for the sport," the coach said. "He's just a tough kid, and he's a competitor." Facundo admitted to a bit of an early struggle. He won 12 bouts last year, but a couple of losses were surprising, to say the least, and he ended up seeking ad- vice from the team's more experienced and successful wrestlers like senior 184-pounder Aaron Brooks and junior 174-pounder Carter Starocci, both na- tional champions. "When I first got here, I did tend to try to change my wrestling habits and change the way that I wrestled," he said. "I just noticed that it wasn't helping me at all. Talking to some of the guys like Aaron and Carter, they just kept on saying, 'Keep on doing what got you here.' So, I just got back to my past, got back to my roots. I feel like that's what helped me grow. That's the approach that I took at the beginning of my sum- mer wrestling." Facundo's debut this season didn't go the full seven minutes. He won by tech- nical fall against Lock Haven's Aiden Facundo quickly moved up to No. 14 in the national rankings at 165 pounds after winning his first seven bouts. "He's super talented," coach Cael Sanderson said. "So, yeah, we're excited about him." PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE In a three-day span from Dec. 2-4, senior 197-pounder Max Dean lost a pair of two-point decisions and his No. 1 ranking. While those numbers didn't add up to a good weekend, there was no panic in the Penn State wrestling room. Dean, the defending national champion and No. 1 wrestler in his weight class heading into the season, was taken to overtime by Rider's Ethan Laird. Ranked 12th at the time, Laird quickly got to a single-leg takedown attempt and raised his level to slip behind Dean. During Laird's mat return, Dean was able to roll through and come out on top. There was enough hesitation, however — a split second — in which Laird slowed Dean's roll-through and was awarded the takedown for a 3-1 decision in the first sudden-victory period. The call was challenged but not overturned. About 43 hours later, Dean lined up against former Penn State teammate Michael Beard of Lehigh and dropped an 11-9 decision in which he was taken down four times. Not surprisingly, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson took a levelheaded ap- proach to Dean's back-to-back losses. "You love Max. He works his tail off. He's one of those guys who make coaching a great job," Sanderson said. "He didn't have the weekend he wanted, but it's December and it's just little things. I think he's just forcing things a little bit. "We know Beard really well. We know he's really good. This will give Max an opportunity to reset and work on some little things he needs to work on." While Dean, who dropped to No. 5 in one set of rankings and No. 6 in another, wasn't made available for comment, two of his teammates offered theirs. "Max had a tough weekend, but now it's back to work," said junior 174-pounder Carter Starocci, a two-time national champion. "I just sent him a few text messages because I know after a weekend like that, you don't want to talk to anybody. "I just let him deal with it because, ultimately, he's the one that has to make the changes and the adjustments. "The first thing that came to my mind was after I won NCAAs my first year as a freshman, when we got back to campus Coach Cael called me into his office and said, 'Just remember, the first one you win is always the easiest.' That stuck with me, because now guys are breaking you down, breaking down your film." Starocci had even more advice. "Max is a really nice kid. He'll hold the door for a hundred people in a row," he said. "I just think he can be a little more mean, and that will help him out. But he's going to be fine. I think come the end of the year, he'll be on top of the podium." Dean's rally already has begun. He defeated 11th-ranked Tanner Harvey of Oregon State 6-3 on Dec. 11 and outlasted Iowa State's second-ranked Yonger Bastida 4-1 on Dec. 20 to improve his season record to 9-2. — Jim Carlson Max Dean Has 'Opportunity To Reset' After Early-Season Losses