By Allen Smith
Below are a few storylines that may be of interest to Penn State fans, with my personal thoughts. All are tied to the results at the Journeyman Collegiate Classic, and three of the four are specific to Penn State. The last storyline is compelling only in that the upset noted was huge, and no one I know saw it coming. So here goes…
Penn State @ 125 Pounds
Some Penn State wrestling fans have called the program’s adventures since Nico Megaludis’ National Championship in 2016, culminating four All-American years at 125 pounds, the “Suriano curse”. I don’t believe in such nonsense. Misfortune and bad luck maybe, in a brutal sport in a weight class that is the hardest of all 10 weight classes to fill; injuries have played a huge part. It’s life, nothing more in my opinion. Penn State had no NCAA qualifiers in 2018, 2019 and 2023. Robbie Howard (1.5 points) was an NCAA qualifier in 2021 and Drew Hildebrandt (.5 points) in 2022. NCAA points have been hard to come by, the single biggest factor driving the coaches’ decisions throughout the season to determine starters in too-close-to-call weight classes. Basically, whoever has the highest potential for points gets the nod.
The 2023-2024 version of the Penn State wrestling team is looking for answers at 125. As the coaches always do, they let nature take its course, so to speak, to see how a situation plays out when there is no clear-cut starter. Such is the case at 125 pounds. So far, all the coaches have are a few wrestle-offs and the action at the Journeyman Collegiate Classic. It has happened often during the Cael years, and normally plays out with a starter being named in January or so. It’s early, so the situation begs patience from fans. The coaches got this!
At the Journeyman, Penn State entered three wrestlers at 125 pounds; Robbie Howard, Gary Steen, and Braeden Davis. Kurt McHenry (transfer from Michigan), Marco Vespa, and Brandon Wentzel are also on the roster, rounding out the lightest weigh class.
Howard, Penn State’s starter and NCAA qualifier in 2021 before a series of setbacks, managed a 1-2 record at the Journeyman, and didn’t seem to have his wrestling legs under him yet. I have seen much better showings in the past, and believe we will see improvement going forward. Patience is needed while he works out the kinks, wrestling for the first time in nearly two and a half years.
Steen, the 2022-2023 starter for the Lions, went 2-1 at Journeyman. His two wins were tech falls against guys ranked 100+ in Wrestlestat’s ranking system. They were good wins against competition he should dominate. His lone loss was to fellow Nittany Lion Braedan Davis, givingthe coaches two data points between these two guys, as they also had a wrestle-off at Rec Hall, won by Davis.
Davis, a true freshman from Belleville, Michigan had the best day of the three entered wrestlers with a 3-0 record including two tech falls and a major decision. All of his wins however were against two guys ranked well over 100 th by Wrestlestat, and a familiar team mate. He met the challenge and performed as hoped for. Davis will be a good one, no doubt, but we all should pump the brakes a bit as we see the weight class play out for the Lions this season.
Bottom line for this Penn State fan is that it is too early to anoint a starter at 125. I will say that three guys of the six noted above seem to have a leg up on the other three. Davis, by virtue of beating Steen, Robbie Howard as a past starter and Round of 16 finisher at the 2021 NCAA Championships, and McHenry, a bit of an unknown with a few solid wins in his past as a Wolverine. Folks, that’s not much, so it’s going to be fun to watch as this unfolds throughout the season.
Penn State @ 165 Pounds
Penn State also entered three wrestlers at 165 pounds. Those were; Mitchell Mesenbrink, Matt Lee and Terrell Barraclough. Also on the roster at 165 are Alex Facundo, last year’s starter and NCAA qualifier, and Erik Gibson.
The trio of guys at the Journeymen had a solid tourney, going 8-1 overall with the only loss being to a fellow Penn Stater when Barraclough edged Lee 4-0. None of the competitors that wrestled any of the Lion wrestlers were ranked in the top 50 or so, and while it’s good to hit the mat against outside competition, our guys took care of business albeit against weak competition. All three could start for many Division 1 schools, and when one adds Facundo to the mix we have an embarrassment of riches at 165. It has since been announced that Facundo would take an Olympic Redshirt this season; Penn State still with the solid options mentioned.
Remember, while Mesenbrink is in his first year at Penn State, his redshirt season was last year while at Cal Baptist University, so a regular redshirt is not available to him.
If I were to pick the frontrunners, it would be Mesenbrink, who spent the summer winning a World Championship in Under-20 Freestyle at 74kg (163 pounds) and Barraclough by virtue of the win over Lee, who is nipping at their heels. While it is not the plan, Facundo could also come out of the Olympic redshirt, but that is very unlikely.
David Evans
This is a big story line to me. At 141 pounds, Evans faced arguably the toughest foes overall at the Journeyman of all the Penn State wrestlers. First up, #6 CJ Composto of Penn, a bout that Evans won in Sudden Victory. Up next was #12 Malyke Hines of Lehigh, Evans losing a close 4-6 bout. Evans’ final bout was against #13 Vince Cornella of Cornell, but the bout never happened as Cornella medical forfeited.
The story line here is that Evans could start for all but a handful of programs, giving the Lions the bench-strength so important in building top programs. No one wants to see injuries, but they are a fact of wrestling life, so guys are one match from being called to action. And if they don’t, they are making the starters better by competing in practice.
This is where the word phrase, “iron sharpens iron”, or “steel-sharpens steel” comes from. Evans doesn’t get much notice from most fans, so this article is one way to inform fans…David Evans is good!
Ryan Crookham @ 133
Nothing directly related to Penn State wrestling, but well worth noting, Crookham took out last season’s National Champion at 133 pounds, and the man that won a Senior Men’s Freestyle World Championship Gold Medal only a few months ago. Crookham is a Redshirt Freshman from Lehigh, wrestling as a starter for the first time. He wrestled mostly tournaments his true freshman year (2022-2023), losing only to Chris Cannon of Northwestern 1-3. Watching the bout several times, there was no shortage of action, with Arujau out-shooting Crookham for much of the bout. Crookham’s defense was stellar, and his two takedowns-to-one advantage gave him the 8-4 victory. No one saw this coming! It’s a reason I love sports in general and wrestling in particular – when you take the mat, anything can happen.
