1/19/2024 other sports Edit

Takeaways from Penn State Wrestling's dominating 27-9 win over Michigan

Joey Klender • Happy Valley Insider

Wrestling Analyst

Penn State looked excellent against Michigan this evening, taking 8 of 10 matches in the Dual Meet with a number of upsets and interesting takeaways.

Michigan failed to take a shot during the first three matches this evening. Starting at 157, the match between Levi Haines and Will Lewan was one of the more mild-tempered bouts of the evening, mostly due to Lewan's lack of interest in getting to any sort of attack. The match was decided by Haines, who took a 2-1 win and got a stalling point to edge out Lewan.

Mitchell Mesenbrink pushed the pace against Cameron Amine, who also had zero interest in getting anything going offensively after he realized his right underhook would be neutralized by Mitch. Mesenbrink became the first wrestler to beat Amine by Major Decision, something that nobody has been able to do in his collegiate career. We are looking at a true standout at 165, and every week seems to show improvement for Mesenbrink, who, at this point, has to be in the conversation for a potential NCAA Championship run.

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Terrell Barraclough took on NCAA Champion Shane Griffith, who won his title while still at Stanford. Barraclough has one loss this year, and it came at the hands of teammate Mesenbrink. Barraclough was more than impressive and looked to be in control of the match, but Griffith was able to edge out Terrell and collect Michigan's first win of the evening. His only points of the match were scored on a reversal.

Bernie Truax won his bout against Jason Bullock. Truax was able to get a takedown late in the match and won 4-1.

Aaron Brooks does what Aaron Brooks does and won by tech fall. This was followed up by a great effort from Greg Kerkvliet who also picked up an 8-3 win, never being in danger throughout the match.

Braeden Davis is continuing his impressive freshman campaign. The True Freshman went up against Michael DeAugustino, whose beard and Graduate status put this as a bit of a Man vs. Boy narrative initially. Davis pushed the pace and had no intentions of being bullied by the far more experienced DeAugustino. A late takedown and a well-thought-out challenge from the Penn State corner notched the riding time point and Davis went on to win 5-1.

Aaron Nagao's bout went into sudden victory, and he was ultimately in on a good shot. However, he was countered, and Dylan Ragusin was able to lock up somewhat of a defensive pin. Nagao needs to get another attack going before March comes, as he will not be able to win tight matches against the best guys in the country by continuing to rely on a low single to initiate a scoring opportunity, only to be caught in a scramble a majority of the time.

It might be time to think about what is going on with Beau Bartlett. He has had close matches in three straight weekends against guys that he should be beating convincingly. Sergio Lemley was undoubtedly a game competitor this evening, but I am growing concerned that Beau might be falling into the same sort of issues he had during his freshman campaign, not trusting his attacks enough.

David Evans filled in for Tyler Kasak this evening. Austin Gomez did not wrestle as he is in Mexico training, an interesting timing for that. Michigan’s Fidel Mayora never really gave Evans too much of a hassle. It was a much better showing than that of what we saw with him against Hofstra earlier this year.

We talked earlier this year about the depth Penn State has in its lineup, and while Michigan did not wrestle at full strength either with the absence of Gomez, Penn State was able to put up tough fights against the Wolverine starters despite Starocci and Kasak's absence.

Penn State truly could have won all 10 matches tonight against a super-spirited and talented Michigan team, which is a testament to how prepared and trusting this team is in its coaching staff.

We are looking at potentially the best Penn State team in terms of depth ever. Would this team line up well against the lineups that were brought forward in 2011-2012 and 2013-2014?