No. 1 Penn State wrestling (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) took care of No. 17 Oregon State (4-2, 1-0 Pac-12) on the road in the team’s first dual match of the 2024 calendar year. The Nittany Lions turned out another mixed lineup comprised of a true freshman, multi-year veterans, transfers, and a wrestler aiming to fill the shoes of an injured All-American.

Highlighting the ranked matchup were tech falls from Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks, and Mitchell Mesenbrink, and huge upset victories from true freshmen Braeden Davis and Tyler Kasak over top-15 ranked opponents.

How It Happened

Two exhibition matches at 165 and 197 pounds began the dual. The matches did not count toward the NCAA or the individual wrestler’s official season records.

The first exhibition match of the night was between Terrell Barraclough and Kekana Fouret of Oregon State in the 165-pound division. After the first period of action, Barraclough was on top 2-0 with a 2:28 of riding time. In a continued show of dominance, Barraclough extended his lead to 7-0 through two periods of action. Barraclough kept the pedal down for the final two minutes, extending his lead to 11-1 and taking a major decision victory with 3:23 of riding time.

In the second of the two exhibition matches, 197-pounder Lucas Cochran battled against the Beavers’ Mason Christiansen. In a similar fashion to his teammate, Cochran held the lead after the first period with a score of 6-1. Cochran went on to more than double his score in the second, taking a 17-3 lead with just shy of three minutes of riding time heading into the final period. Cochran finished off his opponent with a 22-6 tech fall at 5:51.

Starting the registered dual action at 125 pounds was Davis (8-0) taking on sixth-year senior No. 15 Brandon Kaylor (11-4). Davis drew first blood with a strong double-leg takedown in the opening seconds of the period, taking a 3-0 lead. Kaylor eventually escaped with just over a minute remaining in the first period, tightening Davis’ lead to 3-1.

A second takedown from Davis in the waning seconds of the first gave the true freshman a 6-1 lead heading into the middle period. Starting the second in top position, Davis maintained top control as he amassed over 120 seconds of riding time before an eventual escape from Kaylor, although the freshman continued to lead 6-2 as the bout headed into the final two minutes An escape and additional double-leg takedown from Davis extended the Nittany Lions lead to 10-1 as the Oregon State wrestler seemed to run out of steam. Despite a late takedown from Kaylor, Davis hung on to take the decision victory 11-6 with 2:08 of riding time.

Next onto the mat at 133 pounds was No. 4 Aaron Nagao (5-1) as he battled against No. 26 Gabe Whisenhunt (7-4). The entire first period was full of intense scrambling action from both wrestlers, the only points went to Nagao after his lone takedown highlighted the period. An escape from Nagao to start the second helped increase his lead to 5-0 with 1:21 remaining in the middle period, which held as the bout entered the final two minutes. Nagao remained calm throughout the third period as he wrestled his way to a 9-0 major decision victory with 2:52 of riding time.

In the following bout at 141 pounds, No. 2 Beau Bartlett (8-0) stared down No. 25 Cleveland Belton (10-5). After a slow start, the only action to come from the first period was a stall warning given to Belton as the match remained 0-0 after one. After starting the second period in the bottom position, Bartlett followed up an escape with his first takedown of the match as he quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead after a short review.

Belton followed up Bartlett’s offensive attack with an escape of his own as he cut into Bartlett’s lead at 4-1 with the action moving into the third. In a flurry of moves, Belton made his escape from bottom position and shot for a successful takedown of his own. He then held a short lead until Bartlett escaped from the wrestler’s control, leveling the match at 5-5 as the match headed into sudden victory. A back-and-forth period eventually ended with a counter takedown from Bartlett with only eight seconds remaining, giving Bartlett the 8-5 decision win.

The dual meet score then stood at 10-0 in favor of the Nittany Lions.

Wrestling next at 149 pounds was true freshman Kasak (4-1) taking on No. 12 Nash Singleton (16-4). Similar to the match prior, the bout remained 0-0 heading into the second period. Kasak then scored the first point of the bout with an early escape from bottom position, holding on to a 1-0 lead as the third period came underway. A matching escape from Singleton to start the final period was followed up by a stall warning for the Oregon State wrestler as the bout entered the final minute of regulation. Kasak then successfully shot for the match’s first and only takedown, holding on for the 4-1 decision victory against the top-15 ranked wrestler.

At 156 pounds, No. 1 Levi Haines (5-0) wrestled against Isaiah Crosby (2-2). Crosby countered Haines’ initial takedown attempt to start the match, taking a brief 3-0 lead before an escape from Haines tightened the score to 3-1. Another takedown-escape exchange from the two wrestlers extended Crosby’s lead to 6-2 heading into the second. An escape from Haines was the only point scored in the second, keeping Crosby in the lead 6-3 as the bout entered the final two minutes. Seeming to snap out of his slow start, Haines grabbed back-to-back takedowns over Crosby to surge toward a come-from-behind 10-8 decision victory.

The Nittany Lions extended their lead to 16-0 going into intermission.

Taking the mat first after the intermission at 165 pounds was No. 12 Mesenbrink (9-0) against No. 10 Matthew Olguin (10-2). A huge offensive first period for Mesenbrink gave the wrestler a 10-1 lead with over 120 seconds of riding time heading into the middle period. Two more takedowns for Mesenbrink in the second pushed the wrestler to a 17-2 tech fall at 3:44.

Next up to wrestle at 174 pounds was No. 1 Starocci (4-0) squaring off against No. 7 Travis Wittlake (12-3). Two takedowns from Starocci to start the first gave the Nittany Lion a 6-1 lead after three minutes of action. Another takedown from Starocci paired with over 150 seconds of riding time extended his lead to 10-1 after two. A final takedown was all Starocci needed to go back-to-back and win 19-3 via tech fall at 6:32.

Penn State then led the dual 26-0.

In action next at 184 pounds was No. 2 Bernie Truax (5-0) against No. 6 Trey Munoz (11-2). Truax fell victim to an early takedown from Munoz, escaping to cut the deficit to 3-1 heading into the middle period. An escape from Truax was the only score in the second period, bringing Truax to within one point as the final period began. The tough takedown defense displayed by Munoz gave him the win 5-2, the first for the Beavers on the dual.

Next was No. 1 Brooks (4-0) against No. 30 Justin Rademacher (12-5). Two takedowns in the opening period from Brooks gave the Penn State wrestler the 6-2 lead after one. More offense in the second period extended Brooks’ lead to 19-4, giving him the tech fall win at 4:53.

No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (4-0) battled against No. 12 Boone McDermott (14-3) to finish out the event with the heavyweight category. Kerkvliet put the pressure on early with a trio of takedowns, taking a 9-2 lead with 1:41 of riding time after one. Kerkvliet doubled his score to 18-2 through two periods, finishing off the bout with a final takedown and a 21-5 tech fall at 5:17.

The Nittany Lions won the dual with a final score of 36-3.

What’s Next?

Penn State will be in action next when it takes on Indiana at 1 p.m. on Sunday, January 14. The dual will take place in Rec Hall with streaming on BTN+.