Penn State wrestling took its No. 1 ranking to the state of Michigan last weekend, taking on No. 3 Michigan and Michigan State.
The Nittany Lions took care of business in a big way, sweeping both duals as the Wolverines and Spartans were nearly shut out on their home mats.
It started on Friday with a showdown of two of the top three wrestling programs in the country live on Big Ten in Ann Arbor.
The atmosphere died down after Michigan’s top-ranked Nick Suriano took a 2-1 decision victory over No. 7 Drew Hildebrandt in the 125-pound bout as Penn State took eight of the final nine bouts in the dual.
Penn State’s four top-ranked wrestlers all won their respective bouts, with 141-pounder Nick Lee securing a tech fall victory against Drew Mattin.
The two most entertaining bouts of the dual took place in the 197-pound and heavyweight classes as No. 2 Max Dean won a 6-4 sudden victory decision over No. 8 Patrick Brucki and No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet took an 8-5 decision upset over No. 2 Mason Parris.
Penn State came out on top with a statement 29-6 victory to improve to 12-0 on the season and 4-0 in conference duals.
The Nittany Lions kept the winning momentum going on Sunday, winning seven of 10 individual bouts for a 28-9 victory over Michigan State.
Four Penn State wrestlers secured major decision victories or better against the Spartans, including 19-3 tech fall victory for No. 1 Carter Starocci in the 174-pound bout and a pin for the aforementioned Kerkvliet in the heavyweight bout.
Dean suffered his first loss of the season in a 3-2 upset decision from Michigan State’s No. 15 Cameron Caffey in the 197-pound bout.
Overall, it was another successful weekend for the best wrestling program in the country and that Michigan win was a big one with a road dual at No. 2 Iowa coming up this weekend for the Nittany Lions.
Iowa took the last meeting between the two schools nearly two years ago, a 19-17 victory on Jan. 31, 2020. Friday’s dual will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network starting at 9 pm EST.
It’s the most highly-anticipated dual of the season in college wrestling and you’re not going to want to miss this showdown between the Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes.
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