Penn State Wrestling Fans!!!!!!
Welcome back, we are getting close to the beginning of a new season so it seems like the appropriate time for a summer review and preview of what’s ahead. It was a very eventful summer for the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, and we still have Aaron Brooks getting ready to compete next Monday and Tuesday at the U23 World Championships as we close out the 2022-23 season. The schedule is now out for this upcoming season and based on the messages I received everyone is loving how the schedule shaped up this year especially regarding days and times (maybe a little sarcasm). Official practice started on October 10th, and we are about 1 month out from our first competition, so it is almost go time.
In June of this past summer 9 members of the NLWC were in the finals of the World Team Trials with 6 of them winning and representing Team USA at the World championship. Two of the athletes who took second lost to teammates and in both cases the winner went on to bring home a World medal. Of the Seven athletes from our club we had competing (Jane Valencia-Mexico was our 7th), at the World Championship in September, five of them brought home a World Medal and the other two won several matches before they were beat. In international wrestling if the person that beat you does not make the finals then you are eliminated from the tournament. Both David Taylor and Zain Retherford won the World Championships and Team USA won the Team Title as well. https://gopsusports.com/news/2023/6/10/wrestling-penn-state-olympic-rtc-nlwc-dominates-at-final-x.aspx
This summer we also had incoming transfer student Mithell Mesenbrink competing in the U20 World championship where he dominated the competition and came home with a World Title. We look forward to watching him in the Blue and White. Another guy I mentioned above Aaron Brooks lost in the finals of the World Team Trials to David Taylor but because he was the highest placing athlete, that is eligible for the U23 division, at the Trials he automatically received the U23 World Team spot. Aaron will compete in Albania next Monday and Tuesday with the goal of bringing another World Title back to Happy Valley.
After Aaron finishes up next week then we move onto the upcoming college season. With all of the athletes we had competing this summer most of our college guys had a great opportunity to train with and alongside our NLWC guys through the summer months. Nothing can be required in the summer for college guys but most of the guys on our team are guys we have to try to pry off the mat for some rest and recovery. The NCAA allows the first official practice of the new year to begin on October 10th and allows teams to compete for the first time beginning in November.
This first semester we do not compete as much as in past years because the US Open, which is an Olympic Trials Qualifier, is in December and we want to give our guys that want to compete the opportunity to do that. As in past years we had to wait for the Big 10 to finish our Big Ten dual schedule before we could finalize things. With the delay in getting our schedule it becomes difficult for us to get the Bryce Jordan Center reserved for our annual match over there before other events get scheduled. This year because of other events in the Bryce Jordan Center it was tough to find a date that worked but because we were scheduled for a Monday night Big Dual, we were able to keep the tradition of having at least one match at the Bryce Jordan again. We like to have a match over there every year as it gives people that would not normally have an opportunity to watch this team a chance to do just that. https://gopsusports.com/news/2023/10/2/penn-state-wrestling-announces-2023-24-schedule.aspx
In closing we are excited about another new year and another new team. It is a long season so we just look for continued progress throughout the year and we believe this team, like past teams will progress and will be at its best when it matters most. We look forward to seeing you all in a few weeks and thank you for all the support.
GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!
