The Penn State wrestling program is in Niceville, Florida this week for the first edition of the Journeymen Collegiate Wrestling Duals.
The event features a number of the nation's top teams including both Penn State and Iowa as well as perennial power Cornell and ACC elites NC State and Virginia Tech. It is separates into four pools of three teams each as well as a blue and red division so as to avoid matchups between teams that have already met or will meet later in the season. Penn State is in a pool with Northern Iowa and Cornell in the blue division. The other blue division pool features Virginia Tech, Arizona State and Hofstra.
In this article, we'll take a look at five of the most anticipated matches for Penn State in its day one dual meets with Northern Iowa and Cornell.
(All rankings courtesy of InterMat)
1. 165: No. 26 Creighton Edsell (PSU) vs. No. 23 Austin Yant
Finally at a more natural weight for his junior season, Edsell has performed admirably in his time as a starter for the Nittany Lions. The Wyalusing (Pa.) native is 5-0 this season and has moved his way into the back end of the national rankings. It appears the job may be his all season, as well, as assistant coach Casey Cunningham said last week that the plan is for freshman Alex Facundo to remain in redshirt this year.
On Monday, Edsell will have perhaps his toughest test so far this season against against Yant, a national qualifier a year ago. Yant is 6-2 so far this season with his most recent loss coming via an injury default on Nov. 28. If he goes on Monday, it'll be a good assessment of where Edsell lies on the national scene.
2. 184: No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) vs. No. 4 Parker Keckeisen (UNI)
This one is perhaps the best match of the entire tournament. Brooks, the defending national champion at the weight, went undefeated a year ago and has looked good this year despite a brief spell on the bench due to illness. Keckeisen, meanwhile, lost just once last year as a redshirt freshman en route to a third-place finish. That loss? A 6-4 decision against Brooks in the national semifinals.
Keckeisen is up to his old tricks again this year, starting 9-0 with a 66.67% bonus rate thus far. It would be no surprise to see these two meet again in the national finals and this could serve as a nice little amuse-bouche for a future main course.
3. 149: No. 22 Beau Bartlett (PSU) vs. No. 1 Yianni Diakomihalis (CORN)
Listen, the result of this one isn't in doubt. I don't mean to disparage Bartlett in any way, but Diakomihalis is a two-time national champ and the top-ranked wrestler in the nation for a reason. Plus, Barlett still doesn't quite look comfortable up at 149, with his future likely down at 141 once Nick Lee graduates.
What I'm more interested in here is how Bartlett shows, especially coming off his first loss of the year against Lehigh's Manzona Bryant. Bartlett has shown remarkable maturity thus far in his college career and is an impressively cerebral wrestler. Will that be enough to keep the match with Diakomihalis close? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
4. 165: No. 26 Creighton Edsell (PSU) vs. No. 9 Julian Ramirez (CORN)
Should Edsell pass his first test against Yant, things don't get any easier for him as the night goes on. He'll then square off with Cornell freshman Julian Ramirez, who some feel could be an All-American come march.
Ramirez has had a strange freshman year, to say the least. For one, he's in his third year at Cornell after deferring a year in 2019-20 and then not competing a year ago with Ivy League athletics shut down. In his third match this season, he ran into Penn State true freshman Matt Lee, who is redshirting, and lost 8-5. Lee then got majored in the finals of that tournament.
Ramirez rebounded less than a week last when he stunned the college wrestling world, knocking off defending national champion Shane Griffith of Stanford, 3-2, albeit thanks to a dubious late call.
Since then he's been solid, picking up a win over No. 10 Cam Amine of Michigan but losing twice in convincing fashion to No. 7 Carson Kharchla of Ohio State. The type of style Ramirez and Edsell tend to wrestle leads me to believe this one could be pretty close, but it would be a pretty big scalp for Edsell to claim if he could grab the victory.
5. 197: No. 3 Max Dean (PSU) vs. No. 19 Jacob Cardenas (CORN)
The prodigal son hath returned. Well, sorta. Dean left Cornell in unceremonious fashion and social media posts tended to indicate his teammates were less than pleased with the move. The former national finalist then bumped up a weight for Penn State and will now meet a promising freshman in the form of Cardenas, who has either supplanted former All-American Ben Darmstadt or caused his mysterious disappearance.
Anyway, this is a dual that very well could be in the balance at this point and if things go particularly poorly for Penn State, Dean may need to put up some sort of bonus points, something he's done in all five of his matches thus far. At 6-3 on the year, Cardenas has been solid, but he's lost to all three ranked opponents he's faced this year and hasn't exactly blown away the rest of the competition. Should it come down to it, it'll be interesting to see how much separation Dean can create on the scoreboard.
If Penn State is able to win both duals, it will likely face either Arizona State or Virginia Tech in the finals. Some matches that stand out from those include No. 1 Carter Starocci against No. 4 Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech at 174, No. 1 Brooks against No. 9 Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech 184, No. 3 Dean against No. 8 Kordell Norfleet at 197, and No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet against No. 3 Cohlton Schultz at heavyweight.
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