Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526526
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 4 4 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M a freshman last season after All-Ameri- can Shayne Van Ness was injured early in the 2023-24 campaign. Van Ness is set to return this season, and it will be interest- ing to see how Penn State resolves that situation. PSU Great Jason Nolf Announces Retirement Three-time NCAA champ Jason Nolf is retiring from wrestling to pursue other interests. The former Penn State star announced his decision on X (formerly Twitter) in August. Jon Kozak of FloWrestling reported that Nolf is relocating to Austin, Texas, to focus on "growing his business, train- ing and competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and starting a wrestling club." "Nolf will be moving in September and then starting his club out of Round Rock High School in October," Kozak noted. "Nolf has been training [Brazil- ian jiu-jitsu] more frequently over the past few years and made his pro-grap- pling debut in June before competing at the Craig Jones Invitational this past month. The greater Austin area is a jiu- jitsu hub with several world-class gyms throughout the city." Nolf was a four-time NCAA finalist at 157 pounds and won titles in 2017, '18 and '19. A two-time Big Ten champ, he finished his career with a 117-4 record and a school-record 60 pins. "Nolf had one of the most dominant college careers of all time and was one of the most entertaining wrestlers to watch compete," Kozak wrote. "Nolf also had a successful senior-level ca- reer and will retire ranked No. 6 in the world at 74 kg." In other alumni news, Zain Retherford, a three-time NCAA champ, 2023 World champ and Olympian, has joined the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club as a coach. Retherford has not yet decided whether he is done competing. Bravo-Young Leaves Nittany Lion Wrestling Club Two-time NCAA champion Roman Bravo-Young has left the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, and his destination is not unexpected. After competing for Mexico at the Paris Olympics, where he went 0-1 at 57 kilograms, Bravo-Young is joining David Taylor at Oklahoma State as a member of the Cowboy Regional Training Center. Taylor is a former Penn State national champion himself, and his decision in May to accept the Cowboys' head coach- ing post was the biggest story of the off- season. Now he's using his Nittany Lion connections to elevate the Oklahoma State program, which is one of the most storied in collegiate wrestling history but has not won an NCAA team champion- ship since 2006. "The move bolsters the strength of the Cowboy RTC and the Oklahoma State lightweight environment," noted David Bray of FloWrestling. "Bravo-Young, a 2x NCAA champion and 3x finalist, joins World silver medalist and 4x NCAA fi- nalist Daton Fix and Oklahoma State as- sistant coach Thomas Gilman, a World champion and 4x World/Olympic med- alist. "Bravo-Young is already familiar with both Gilman and Fix, having trained with Gilman for years at the NLWC and hav- ing competed against Fix twice in the NCAA finals." ■ PSU Freshman Luke Lilledahl Wins U20 World Title Five wrestlers with Penn State ties competed at the U20 World Championships in Spain the first week in September. The contingent, which was split into Group 1 (Sept. 6-7 competition) and Group 2 (Sept. 7-8) is coming home with plenty of hardware. One Nittany Lion won a World title, two took silver, and Team USA won the team championship. Incoming Penn State freshman Luke Lilledahl was the first medalist for the U.S., and he's bring- ing home gold. After finishing second at 57 kilograms (125 pounds) a year ago at the same event, he captured the title this year by winning three matches on Sept. 6 to earn the opportunity to face a familiar foe in the final: Individual Neutral Athlete Lev Pavlov. INA, as the team is referred to, is made up of wrestlers from Russia and Belarus. Pavlov wrestled for INA at Worlds in 2023, and Lil- ladahl, a potential 125-pound starter for the Nittany Lions in 2024-25, beat him handily, 9-2, in the opening round. This time, in the final, the outcome was similar. Lilledahl scored two passivity points due to a lack of action by Pavlov and only gave up one himself to win the first-place bout, 2-1. "Lilledahl's path to gold in Spain was as tough as they come. He faced and defeated three con- tinental medalists, including reigning U20 Asian champion Ankush Ankush of India, in addition to Pavlov, who is the reigning U20 European champion, along the way," Richard Immel wrote for USA Wrestling. "Lilledahl has now made an age-group World final four-straight years for Team USA. He impressively owns gold and silver medals from both the U17 and U20 age levels." At 70 kilograms (154 pounds), Penn State 2025 commit PJ Duke won bronze. It was an impressive trip for the New York native. After beating his first three opponents by a combined score of 32-1, he was a hard-luck 5-5 loser to eventual U20 silver medalist Magomed Baitukaev of INA on criteria despite being the aggressor throughout the semifinal match. Duke then beat Aikyn Bolatuly of Ka- zakhstan, 18-7, in 4:30 to bring home a World bronze medal. FloWrestling recently listed Duke as the No. 3 pound-for-pound high school wrestler in the coun- try. Penn State incoming freshman Zack Ryder won silver at 79 kilograms (174.1 pounds). After beat- ing his first three opponents by a combined score of 32-0, the new Nittany Lion defeated Said Saidu- lov, the 2024 U20 European champ of INA, by decision, 6-3, to make the final. There, he dropped a 5-0 decision to U23 Asian bronze medalist Alp Begenjov of Turkmenistan. At 86 kilograms (189.5 pounds), Penn State redshirt freshman Joshua Barr cruised to the gold medal match. He never wrestled beyond the first period, winning his first three bouts by a com- bined score of 30-0. In the final, he lost to returning INA U20 champ Ibragim Kadiev, 8-2, to earn a silver medal. Finally, at 92 kilograms (202 pounds), incoming Penn State freshman Connor Mirasola hit the po- dium rounds but did not win a medal. The Wisconsin native won his first three matches by a com- bined score of 33-8. However, in the semifinals, he fell to Sali Saliev of Bulgaria, 5-4. In the bronze medal match, he lost 6-2 against Anar Jafarli of Azerbaijan and finished tied for fifth. — Greg Pickel