Still hours away from having five wrestlers compete for individual titles, Penn State clinched the 2023 NCAA Championship team title on Saturday morning in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A forfeit by second-place Iowa in the medal round technically sealed the title for the Nittany Lions. That was soon followed by wins in the consolation semifinals by Penn State’s Beau Bartlett and Shayne Van Ness .
The national championship is Penn State’s second in a row, 10th since 2011 under head coach Cael Sanderson, and 11th overall.
Penn State had 124.5 points following the consolation semifinals and no other team has a path to catch the Nittany Lions. Second-place Iowa had 80.5, followed by Cornell (67.5), Ohio State (67.5) and Missouri (55) to round out the top five.
Bartlett, the No 6 seed at 141 pounds, will wrestle for third place against North Carolina’s 10th-seeded Lachlan McNeil on Saturday afternoon. Van Ness, the 12th seed at 149, will take on No. 3 seed Kyle Parco of Arizona State for third.
Max Dean, the No. 9 seed at 197 pounds, will wrestle in the seventh-place bout against No. 10 seed Jacob Cardenas of Cornell to finish up Penn State’s action during the medal round.
Five Nittany Lions will take the mat on Saturday night in the national finals after winning in Friday night’s semifinals.
Top-seeded and undefeated 133-pounder Roman Bravo-Young will look to finish his collegiate career with a third straight national championship when he takes on No. 3 seed Vito Arujau of Cornell.
Levi Haines, the No. 2 seed at 157 pounds, has a chance to become 21st true freshman wrestler to win an NCAA title and second Nittany Lion to accomplish the feat when he faces No. 1 seed Austin O’Connor of North Carolina.
Carter Starocci, the undefeated No. 1 seed at 174 pounds, will seek his third national title when he takes on No. 2 seed Mikey Labriola of Nebraska in a rematch of the Big Ten title bout, which Starocci won by a 6-1 decision.
Aaron Brooks, the No. 3 seed at 184 pounds, will wrestle for his third consecutive national title when he faces No. 1 seed Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa in the final. Brooks and Keckeisen most recently met in November’s NWCA All-Star Classic, where the Nittany Lion won 12-8, although the bout did not count toward season records.
Third-seeded heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet will seek his first national championship in what will be another Big Ten title bout rematch. He will face top-seeded Mason Parris of Michigan, who won in sudden victory in the conference final and who is the only wrestler to beat Kerkvliet this season.
The medal round is airing on ESPNU and Saturday night’s finals will begin at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Both sessions are streaming on ESPN+.
