PISCATAWAY – Everyone in attendance at Jersey Mike’s Arena Friday night for the Big Ten Conference wrestling match between Penn State and Rutgers will get an up close opportunity to see what a dynasty looks like.
The match will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network beginning at 8 p.m. A sellout crowd is expected.
No. 1 Penn State – the three-time defending national champion and the national champion 11 of the past 13 seasons the NCAA Tournament has been held – probably has one of the great teams collegiate wrestling has ever seen.
All 10 of the the Nittany Lions’ starters are ranked in the top seven in the country in their respective weight class.
Two of them – four-time national champion Carter Starocci (184) and returning national runner-up Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) – are No. 1 in individual rankings.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Levi Haines (174), last year’s national champion at 157, and defending heavyweight champion Greg Kerkvliet are ranked No. 2. The only reasons they aren’t ranked No. 1 is Haines has a loss in sudden victory to two-time national champion Keegan O’Toole of Missouri and Gable Steveson, the heavyweight champion in 2021 and 2022, returned to Minnesota for his final season of collegate wrestling.
Beau Bartlett (141), the national runner-up last season and a two-time national third-place finisher, Shayne Van Ness (149), a national third-place finisher in 2023, and Tyler Kasak (157), the national third-place finisher at 149 last year, are all ranked No. 3.
The combined record of Penn State’s starters is 100-4. Six of them – freshman Lule Lilledahl (125), Bartlett, Kasak, Mesenbrink, Starocci and Kerkvliet – are unbeaten.
The Nittany Lions have outscored opponents 354-16 with four shutouts. They are a bonus point machine.
Can Rutgers be competitive?
Here is an example of how good Penn State is: Sixth-ranked Nebraska is a very good team and wrestled really well last Friday night against the Nittany Lions, and yet, it only won two bouts and was defeated 31-7.
Rutgers (10-3, 2-1), ranked No. 14, is a good team that has wrestled well in its three Big Ten matches. and has a wrestler ranked at every weight, with two in the top 10.
But, there is a chance, the Scarlet Knights could get shut out, if Penn State coach Cael Sanderson fields his best lineup.
Rutgers’ best chance to win a bout, if the Nittany Lions field their best lineup, is 133 with returning NCAA seventh-place finisher and defending Big Ten champion Dylan Shawver.
However, Penn State’s Braeden Davis is ranked higher and was last year’s Big Ten 125-pound champion.
Shawver was the only Scarlet Knight to win a bout in last season’s 35-3 defeat to the Nittany Lions at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center.
Rutgers will wrestle hard and well. It usually does wrestle well against Penn State, but Penn State is so good, the final score will probably not reflect that.
Possible Lineups
Rankings are from intermatwrestle.com and flowrestling.org
Rutgers wrestlers listed first
125: 19/15 Dean Peterson (14-3) or Ayden Smith (4-4) vs. 6/6 Luke Lilledahl (10-0)
133: 9/9 Dylan Shawver (14-3) vs. 7/7 Braeden Davis (6-2)
141: 14/13 Joey Olivieri (12-3) or Joe Fongaro (4-4) vs 3/3 Beau Bartlett (11-0)
149: 20/24 Andrew Clark(17-7) vs. 4/3 Shayne Van Ness (10-1)
157: 31/NR Conner Harer (12-5) vs. 3/3 Tyler Kasak (10-0) or Alex Facundo (5-0)
165: 26/26 Anthony White (12-5) or Andrew Barbosa (5-3) vs. 1/1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (12-0)
174: 22/23 Jackson Turley (12-5) vs. 2/2 Levi Haines (10-1)
184: 18/19 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (17-5) vs. 1/1 Carter Starocci (11-0)
197: 16/17 John Poznanski (11-4) or P.J. Casale (7-8) vs. 4/4 Josh Barr (9-0)
HWT: 7/8 Yaraslau Slavikouski (12-3) or John O’Donnell (7-3) vs/ 2/2 Greg Kerkvliet (11-0)
