No. 1 Penn State wrestling (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) shut out No. 29 Indiana (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) 46-0 in the team’s first Big Ten dual meet of the season in front of a large crowd in Rec Hall on Sunday.

Freshman Tyler Kasak led the charge of five total team tech falls across the afternoon.

How It Happened

Starting the dual match action off at 125 pounds was freshman Braeden Davis (9-0) for the Nittany Lions and Michael Spangler (8-5) for the Hoosiers. Davis started quickly with an easy three-point takedown. Spangler escaped, making the score 3-1 after only sacrificing 26 seconds of riding time in the first period.

The second period began as Davis took the down position, where he reversed Spangler, extending his lead to 5-1. Spangler eventually escaped to bring the match to 5-2. The Nittany Lion soon connected on a shot and secured his second three-point takedown, going into the third period with a strong 8-2 lead. Spangler started in the bottom position to start the third period, where he escaped with 1:15 left in the match. Davis secured his third takedown and regained points to extend his lead to 15-3 and pick up the major decision win for the Nittany Lions.

At 133 pounds, No. 4 Aaron Nagao (6-1) took on redshirt freshman Isaac Thornton (3-8). Nagao scored his first takedown in the opening moments of the match and eventually collected two back points. Nagao went on to collect 1:39 of riding time before giving his opponent a chance to stand up, making the match 5-1.

Nagao took down Thornton again to extend the lead to 8-1 going into the second period, where the Nittany Lion took the bottom position. Nagao reversed Thornton quickly, making the advantage 10-1. Thornton escaped and then was taken down again, making the match 13-3. The Nittany Lion let his opponent up once again before taking him down, making the match a one-sided 16-3 going into the third period. Nagao took the Hoosier down one last time to earn the tech fall victory.

The win extended the Nittany Lions’ lead to 9-0.

At 141 pounds, No. 2 Beau Bartlett (9-0) took on Danny Fongaro (16-1). The two wrestlers tussled for position in neutral for the majority of the first period. The first period ended scoreless. The Nittany Lion chose to start from bottom position, where he escaped less than 10 seconds into the period to pick up a 1-0 lead.

After connecting with a single-leg shot, the two wrestlers scrambled into a stalemate, forcing them to go back to a neutral position with no points awarded at the close of the second period. The Hoosier escaped from the bottom position quickly to start the third period, tying the match 1-1. Fongaro and Bartlett scrambled again, and Bartlett finally gained position to win the match 8-1 in the final moments of the third period.

The dual match read 12-0 in favor of the home team following Bartlett’s performance.

At 149 pounds, Penn State’s Tyler Kasak (5-1) faced senior No. 14 Graham Rooks. Kasak hit a beautiful shot to get the Hoosier on his back early in the match, quickly going up 7-0 with over a minute left in the first period. The Nittany Lion held Rooks down for the rest of the period, racking up two minutes of riding time and securing four more points due to a near fall.

Rooks chose to start in neutral position but soon was taken down again to extend Kasak’s lead to 14. Kasak controlled the Hoosier for the majority of this period, too, building up well over three minutes of riding time. Kasak started from bottom position in the third period and couldn’t escape Rooks for all but a single second in the third period. The Nittany Lion finally escaped with a second left to pick up a 15-0 tech fall victory over Rooks.

At 157 pounds, top-ranked Levi Haines (6-0) faced off against Zack Rotkvich (4-4). Haines scored the match’s first takedown a minute into the bout, taking a 3-0 lead and racking up over two minutes of riding time going into the second period. Haines chose to start from neutral position, where he scored his second takedown along with four back points, making the match 10-0. Haines continued to dominate, scoring four more back points before the end of the period. The wrestlers started from neutral position again, and Haines hit his third takedown of the match, making the score 17-0 and a tech fall victory.

At intermission, Penn State held onto a dominant 22-0 lead.

After the intermission, No. 10 Mitchell Mesenbrink (10-0) of Penn State faced off against No. 23 Tyler Lillard (14-3) in the 165-pound weight class. The match started with a takedown by Mesenbrink, where he quickly went up 3-0. After a stoppage, Mesenbrink sacrificed a point to start from neutral before taking the Hoosier down a second time to go up 6-1. Lillard remained down, with an evident leg injury for a few minutes before agreeing to continue the match. Mesenbrink chose bottom position after the stoppage, where he quickly escaped to make the match 7-1. The Nittany Lion took Lillard down a third time to bring the match to 10-1 before another injury timeout for the Hoosier. Mesenbrink won the match by injury default.

The 174-pound weight class matchup was between top-ranked Carter Starocci (5-0) and Robert Major (2-6). The defending champion took control of the matchup quickly, securing five takedowns through the first period alone. Starocci ended the first period with a commanding 15-4 lead on Major. Starocci received back points, making his lead jump to 19-4 and giving the Nittany Lions their fourth tech fall of the match.

The one-sided dual meet continued to go Penn State’s way, and the group led 33-0.

The 184-pound matchup was between freshman Josh Barr (7-0) of Penn State and Roman Rogotzke (16-8). Barr hit a double-leg takedown midway through the first period to start the match 3-0. Rogotzke escaped before too much riding time was accumulated by Barr. Barr hit his second takedown after Rogotzke escaped from the bottom position to start the second period. The Hoosier escaped again, making the score 6-3 in favor of Barr. Nearing the end of the second period, Barr hit his third takedown, increasing his lead to 9-3. The wrestlers started from neutral position for the third period, and Barr capitalized by hitting his fourth takedown of the match. Rogotzke escaped again, making the match 12-4 as time ran out in the third period.

Barr’s major decision victory extended the Nittany Lions’ lead to 37-0.

Heading into the 197-pound weight class, top-ranked Aaron Brooks (5-0) faced off against Gabe Sollars (17-7). Brooks started the match with a trio of takedowns. He leads Sollars 9-2 going into the second period. Brooks easily escaped from bottom position and quickly hit his fourth takedown of the match. He let his opponent up and earned his second takedown of the match, growing his lead to 16-4. After hitting yet another takedown, Brooks secured the 19-4 tech fall victory.

Going into the last matchup of the day, top-ranked Greg Kerkvliet (5-0) wrestled against Nick Willham (4-5). Kerkvliet started the match off with an impressive three-point takedown. To go along with the takedown Kerkvliet also secured two back points to increase his lead to 5-0. The No. 1 ranked heavyweight finished the first period with 2:41 seconds of riding time. The Nittany Lion started in the down position, where he quickly got out to increase his lead to 6-0. Kerkvliet then hit his second takedown and increased his riding time to over four minutes after two periods. Willham started from bottom position and escaped within a few seconds. Kerkvliet hit a low double-leg shot to increase his lead to 13-1 with less than a minute to go. The Nittany Lion let him up before attempting another shot, this time unsuccessful. Kerkvliet won 14-2 to seal the match for Penn State.

The Penn State Nittany Lions closed the dual match 46-0.

What’s Next?

Penn State will hit the road as the Nittany Lions will take on the No. 13 Michigan at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 19. The dual will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.