Penn State wrestling continued its run in the NCAA Championships Saturday morning as Session 5 culminated with the end of the consolation bracket.
No. 7 seed Tyler Kasak, who was upset in the first round of the tournament by No. 26 Jaden Abas of Stanford, won seven consolation matches in a row to finish third. The true freshman defeated No. 1 Ridge Lovett of Nebraska in the consolation semifinals and No. 5 Ty Watters of West Virginia to claim the third-place finish.
No. 6 Bernie Truax fell to No. 3 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State in the championship quarterfinals on Friday morning. After two consolation match victories in Session IV, Truax lost to No. 4 Trey Munoz of Oregon State in the consolation semifinals. The Nittany Lion went on to avenge his Big Ten Championship loss by beating No. 2 Isaiah Salazar of Minnesota to place fifth and extend Penn State’s lead over the rest of the field.
The Nittany Lions lead the competition with 155.5 points after clinching the team championship in the semifinals Friday. Penn State can break the team points record of 170, set by Iowa in 1997, with wins by four of its six finalists on Saturday night or three bonus point wins.
The NCAA Championships come to a close with the finals on Saturday night beginning at 7 p.m. EDT. A program-record six Nittany Lions are set to compete, including Beau Bartlett, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks and Greg Kerkvliet. The action will be broadcast on ESPN
How It Happened
149 Pounds
Up first for the Nittany Lions, No. 7 Tyler Kasak took the mat against a familiar foe in No. 1 Ridge Lovett of Nebraska. Kasak struck quickly with a takedown to take a three-point lead. Lovett failed a reversal attempt but retreived the escape point as the wrestlers went out of bounds.
Kasak got a second takedown to extend his lead to 6-1, and the score remained the same as Kasak decided to start the second period in neutral position. Kasak got in on a single-leg attempt and secured his third takedown, leading 9-1. Lovett elected to start in neutral position for the third period, and Kasak earned a point for his riding time efforts to make the final score 10-1. The Nittany Lion won by major decision to move into the consolation finals against No. 5 Ty Watters of West Virginia.
The Nittany Lion freshman drew blood first with a takedown in the first 30 seconds against Watters, who escaped to cut the lead down to 3-1 heading into the second. Watters began the second period in the bottom position and escaped quickly to make the score 3-2. The third period began with Kasak choosing to remain in neutral position, and the freshman held on to win 3-2. His seventh consecutive victory in the tournament secured a third-place finish to his NCAA Championship run.
184 Pounds
In the second consolation semifinal for Penn State, No. 6 Bernie Truax faced No. 4 Trey Munoz of Oregon State. Munoz struck first with a takedown and collected four back points. After a short struggle, Munoz pinned Truax, and the Nittany Lion moved to the fifth-place bout against No. 2 Isaiah Salazar of Minnesota.
Truax used a single-leg shot to take a 3-0 lead in the first period against Salazar, then rode out the rest of the period. The Nittany Lion began the second in bottom position and escaped with 15 seconds to lead 4-0.
Truax collected a second takedown to further extend his lead and with a single swipe for a back point, led 8-0 heading into the third period. Salazar chose to start from neutral, and Truax registered another takedown to get to an 11-0 advantage. After the riding point was added, Truax won by major decision with an emphatic 12-0 shutout. The four-time All-American avenged his Big Ten title loss and placed fifth in the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Geoff Rushton contributed to this report.
