Tag: Penn State wrestling

Best photos of Aaron Brooks at the U.S. wrestling Olympic trials

Check out some of the best photos of Aaron Brooks winning his spot on the U.S. national wrestling team heading to the Olympics this summer.

It was a monumental weekend in Happy Valley for Penn State wrestling star [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag]. Brooks scored one of the most surprising upsets of the weekend’s U.S. national wrestling trials to earn a spot on the national team heading to the Paris 2024 Olympics this summer when he topped fellow former Nittany Lion, and defending gold medalist, [autotag]David Taylor[/autotag] on the mat in a best-of-three series.

Brooks is coming off a fourth consecutive NCAA title and will now have a shot at Olympic gold. Taylor will still be on the U.S. National Team as the trials runner-up, but his path to defending his gold is trickier than most anticipated.

Here are some of the best photos from Brooks’ run to the U.S. trials victory this weekend in the Bryce Jordan Center. Next stop, Paris!

Penn State wrestling alums to represent Team USA at Paris 2024 Summer Olympics

It should be no surprise that the U.S. national wrestling team heading to the Olympics this summer will have these former Nittany Lions leading the way.

Penn State wrestling will be well-represented at this summer’s Olympic games in Paris, France. On Saturday, the United States wrestling team trials were held in the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, home to Penn State’s dominant national championship wrestling program, and some familiar faces battled on the mat for spots in the Olympics.

The biggest storyline was [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag] pulling an upset of Olympic gold medalist [autotag]David Taylor[/autotag] in a battle of former Nittany Lion standouts in the 84 kg trials.

While Brooks cemented his spot on the roster, Taylor will also be on the U.S. National Team as well as the trials runner-up.

Taylor and Brooks will be joined in Paris by some fellow Penn State products. [autotag]Kyle Dake[/autotag] (74 kg) came out on top of former Nittany Lion [autotag]Jason Nolf[/autotag] for a spot on the team, but Nolf will also be on the Team USA roster after finishing in second place.

A fifth member of the Penn State wrestling family will be making plans to head to Paris as well. [autotag]Kyle Snyder[/autotag] (97 kg) picked up a win in his trials over Isaac Trumble to secure a spot on the U.S. national team.

A handful of others from the Penn State family kept their Olympic dreams alive as well. [autotag]Zain Retherford[/autotag] (65 kg) will have a chance to qualify for the Paris Games in May. [autotag]Nick Lee[/autotag], who lost to Retherford, earned a spot on the U.S. team thanks to his second-place finish. [autotag]Mitchell Mesenbrink[/autotag] (74 kg) took third place in the trials and earned a spot on the U.S. national team.

The Paris 2024 Olympics are set to begin on July 26 in Paris, France. Wrestling events will begin on August 5 and run through August 11. The world is about to get a dose of Penn State wrestling up close and personal.

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Penn State wrestling clinches 11th NCAA national title under Cael Sanderson

Death, taxes, and Penn State winning a national championship in college wrestling.

Add another national title to the books for Penn State’s wrestling program. The Nittany Lions clinched the NCAA team national championship with a strong showing in the semifinals on Friday, going a perfect 6-0 in semifinal matches at the NCAA national championships.

Penn State sits in first place with 148.0 points after Friday’s semifinal matches. Michigan is in second place with a point total of 65.5, and Iowa is in third with 65.0 points. This marks Penn State’s third consecutive team national title under head coach Cael Sanderson, and its 11th in the past 13 seasons. This is Penn State’s 12th all-time national championship for the wrestling team.

[autotag]Beau Bartlett[/autotag] (141 lb), [autotag]Levi Haines[/autotag] (157 lb), [autotag]Mitchell Mesenbrink[/autotag] (165 lb), [autotag]Carter Starocci[/autotag] (174 lb), [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag] (197 lb), and [autotag]Greg Kerkvliet[/autotag] (285 lb) all will compete for individual national titles on Saturday.

Penn State has also had eight wrestlers named all-americans, bringing the school’s all-time total to 254.

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Penn State Wrestling taps into transfer portal

Penn State wrestling picks up transfer out of the portal.

Penn State football and basketball aren’t the only sports in State College that can dominate the transfer portal. Penn State wrestling and coach [autotag]Cael Sanderson[/autotag] are coming off another national championship season but they know they need to add more to their roster. They tapped into the transfer portal and secured the highly coveted [autotag]Bernie Truax[/autotag].

Truax was a redshirt his first year at Cal Poly but he came back the next season as a redshirt freshman and went 18-11 in the regular season on his way to a third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships and a 2020 National Championship appearance. The following year Truax made the jump to the 174-pound weight class as a junior and earned an impressive 13-3 record which earned him All-American status while winning a Pac-12 title.

During his 2022 season, it all looked similar as Truax upgraded to the 184-pound class and reached All-American status for the second time. Despite being in a smaller program, he has shown an ability to keep growing and developing as a wrestler. Placing him with Sanderson and the best wrestling program in the country could make the sky the limit for him.

Penn State Wrestling will be pursuing its third straight NCAA national championship and its second straight undefeated season in 2023.

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Recap: Penn State at the NCAA Divison 1 Wrestling Finals

A rundown of Penn State’s results from the NCAA wrestling championships.

Penn State wrestling has become a dynasty in college sports ever since coach [autotag]Cael Sanderson[/autotag] took over in 2009. He has produced a plethora of All-Americans, Big Ten champions, and national titles.

2023 was no different for the Nittany Lions as heading into the individual title matches, the team had already locked up it’s second consecutive overall title.

On the same night the basketball team fought for respect in the NCAA basketball tournament, their classmates and fellow Nittany Lions were in Tulsa, Oklahoma looking to earn some respect of their own.

Five wrestlers individually were competing for national championships, as well as competing for an overall team title for the second straight year.

Check-in below with how they fair in the BOK Arena with all the action taking place on the famed mat one.

NCAA wrestling championship photos: Penn State nearing another national title

Penn State’s wrestling team is inching closer to yet another national championship.

The month of March has much more than basketball madness popping up around Happy Valley. At Penn State, March is when the school’s wrestling program performs at its best, and it is once again closing in on another national championship at this year’s NCAA wrestling championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Penn State’s top wrestlers went 5-2 in the semifinals to inch closer to another team title under head coach Cael Sanderson. Following Friday’s round, Penn State owned 116.5 points in the standings, with Iowa in second with 77.0 points in the overall team standings. Five Penn State wrestlers will have a chance to secure an individual national title on Saturday; [autotag]Roman Bravo-Young[/autotag], [autotag]Levi Haines[/autotag], [autotag]Carter Starocci[/autotag], [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag], and [autotag]Greg Kerkvliet[/autotag]. [autotag]Beau Bartlett[/autotag] and [autotag]Shayne Van Ness[/autotag] will battle for third-place in consolation matches on Saturday.

Here are some of the best photos of Penn State hitting the mats at the NCAA wrestling national championships in Tulsa.

Best photos from Penn State wrestling’s Big Ten championship

Best photos of Roman Bravo-Young and the Penn State wrestling program’s Big Ten championship.

Death, taxes, and Penn State wrestling. Once again the most dominant athletics program at Penn State celebrated a Big Ten championship at this year’s Big Ten wrestling championships, thus setting the tone for another potential national championship run for the program.

[autotag]Roman Bravo-Young[/autotag] (133), [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag] (184),  [autotag]Carter Starocci[/autotag] (174), and [autotag]Levi Haines[/autotag] (157) all won individual Big Ten titles in their respective weight classes to help Penn State build its lead for the team championship. [autotag]Max Dean[/autotag] (197) and [autotag]Greg Kerkvliet[/autotag] (285) were finalists in their weight class as well but fell shy of a Big Ten championship.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s wrestling stars at the Big Ten championships.

Not everyone is excited about Bo Nickal’s UFC debut

One UFC fighter is not happy about being bumped in favor of Bo Nickal’s debut at UFC 285

Former Penn State wrestler and current UFC middleweight [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag] is set to make his promotional debut on Saturday but not everyone is excited.

Despite getting the rub from the fighting promotion to be on the pay-per-view main card, Nickal being placed there for his debut doesn’t sit well with other fighters in his weight class. No.10-ranked UFC middleweight Dricus du Plessis went off during a media session when discussing how he is on the free portion of the monumental card.

“This guy (Nickal) coming in here, making his pro debut, his UFC debut fighting on the main card, I’ve had four fights, three performance bonuses and I get booted off the card,” du Plessis said, while also clarifying there is no animosity with Nickal.

“He’s (Nickal) only here to fight but you know, the proof’s in the pudding, once you get under those lights, let’s see how you perform then,” du Plessis added.

This is just one mention of Nickal during UFC 285 fight week. He has had run-ins with other memorable fights such as Jon Jones who praised his wrestling, even having an impromptu match breaking out between them.

Nickal fights Jamie Pickett on Saturday in what will be his third professional fight since leaving Penn State where he was a three-time national champion wrestler for the program.

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Bo Nickal featured on UFC Countdown prior to debut

Former Penn State wrestling star Bo Nickal received some special treatment before UFC 285.

Former Penn State national champion wrestler [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag] got some special treatment ahead of his promotional debut on Saturday at UFC 285.

The pay-per-view card is headlined by a major return within the sport which means there will be lots of people buying the show. In those instances, the UFC likes to plug up-and-coming stars who they believe in so this speaks volumes to what they see in Nickal.

In the video posted by the UFC, they followed Nickal back to State College as he trains for his upcoming bout. They interviewed his former coach Cael Sanderson who shared his thoughts on his star pupil and how great he thinks he can be.

“When Bo Nickal was here, the team won every dual meet for four straight years,” Sanderson said. “We won the nationals all four years, he had so many big moments for us…college wrestlers aways have an advantage transitioning to mixed martial arts and guys like Bo Nickal have a very big advantage.”

Nickal was an All-American and national champion individually for all four years he was on campus which has the promotion advertising him as a “wrestling phenom.”

Nickal added, “Fighting in the UFC was always in the back of my mind during my time at Penn State.”

Bo Nickal fights against Jamie Pickett who has seven times the professional bouts he does. despite that, Nickal remains a heavy favorite and will be kicking off the card when the pay-per-view starts at 10 PM EST/7 PM PST.

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Micah Parsons returns to Penn State for massive wrestling match with Iowa

Micah Parsons enjoyed his return to Penn State to watch the big wrestling match with Iowa

There may be no bigger fan and supporter of Penn State wrestling than former linebacker and current Dallas Cowboys star [autotag]Micah Parsons[/autotag]. So there may have been nothing stopping Parsons from making the trip home to State College to catch Penn State wrestling take on Iowa in a massive Big Ten showdown between the top two programs in the country.

Penn State’s wrestling stars made a statement at home against the Hawkeyes with a convincing victory with a strong finish to the night. Penn State handed Iowa its first loss of the year while the Nittany Lions remain undefeated. And Parsons enjoyed every second of it.