Penn State Wrestling: Grades, Match of the Weekend, and MVP from Nittany Lions’ wins over Michigan and Maryland
Penn State Wrestling was thoroughly successful on the mat this past weekend in defeating both No. 19 Michigan and No. 29 Maryland.
The Nittany Lions got the weekend off to raucous start Friday evening as they trounced the Wolverines 39-0 in front of a massive crowd in the Bryce Jordan Center. Then on Sunday afternoon, Penn State Wrestling won eight of the 10 matches on their way to a 35-10 beatdown of the Terrapins. Furthermore, seven of the eight wins were of the bonus points variety.
On a side note, I would like to put the Penn State/Michigan dual in perspective.
Do you know the last time a Cael Sanderson led Penn State Wrestling team held Michigan scoreless?
Never.
Prior to Friday, the largest beatdown since 2009 was when the Nittany Lions torched the Wolverines 35-7 back in 2016.
Additionally, do you know how many times either team was held scoreless in the prior 60 meetings between Penn State/Michigan dating back to 1933?
Again, never.
Apologies for the Michigan tangent.
Now onto the real reason for this article.
M & M Weekend Match Grades for Penn State Wrestling
125
Credit – Lloyd McCully
125 – No. 7 Luke Lilledahl (PSU) fall over Christian Tanefeu (MICH) 5:38
Grade: A+
Now before you ask, no, I am not going to go through and grade all 20 matches from the last two duals. Rather, I’m only going to take a handful of them. And just assume that if they aren’t included in this article, then it’s an automatic “A”.
As for the reason I chose this match, it’s fairly simple.
Following his 4-1 loss to Rutgers’ Dean Peterson, Luke Lilledahl has looked like a different wrestler. Moreover, it appears the loss has relaxed the true freshman. And when you combine that with someone who is super talented?
Well that just leads to seeing a dude let’n it rip.
Lilledahl’s last three matches have been offensive masterpieces. Additionally, Luke looks like he’s wrestling more freely and he’s using his instincts as much as anything.
Case in point was his pin against Tanefeu Friday evening.
Luke tacked on his third takedown of the match early in the second period. And at this point he was eyeing a “takedown/cut loose” tech fall. But he sensed something as he was cutting Tanefeu loose.
And that’s when he struck.
Lilledahl anticipated Tanefeu’s knee coming up to his head and he sprung into action and slapped on the cradle.
Ball game.
141
Credit – Lloyd McCully
No. 3 Beau Bartlett (PSU) dec. over No. 12 Sergio Lemley (MICH) 3-2
Grade: B
Yes, I know.
This grade does seem a bit harsh.
But man, in matches like this, I just want to see a little more offense from Beau Bartlett. Outside of the reversal he pulled early in the third period, I didn’t see much of anything from him.
And keep in mind, Lemley just lost to Brock Hardy (13-4) and Jesse Mendez (13-2). So scoring opportunities are going to be there.
At this point in his career it’s safe to say that Beau leans more towards the conservative side in matches. And that’s proven to be successful. He’s a two-time All-American and he finished runner-up last year.
I honestly think the sky is the limit for Bartlett. He’s unbelievably agile, his defense is top notch, and he can strike in the blink of an eye. And going back to the prior match, I would like to see him let it rip from time to time.
*Steps off of his soap box*
Moving on.
149
Credit – Lloyd McCully
No. 3 Shayne Van Ness (PSU) tech. fall over No. 32 Kal Miller (MD) 19-2
Grade: A+
By Shayne Van Ness’ standards, he had a bit of a tough match Friday night. Granted he only surrendered a single point to Michigan’s Dylan Gilcher in the 7-1 decision. At seemingly every turn, Gilcher frustrated Van Ness with his all out effort on defense.
So I was curious how SVN’s match on Sunday would play out.
Would he try to push too hard on offense? Would there be a loss of focus at any point?
The answers were pretty obvious. No and no.
Van Ness was a master technician in his match against Miller.
He was just the right mix of patient and aggressive. And he was a force on top position.
Like a lot of top tier athletes, wrestlers need to have a short memory. And from Shayne’s performance on Sunday it’s clear that he thinks just like a goldfish.
133
Credit – Lloyd McCully
133 – Kyison Garcia (PSU) dec. over Nolan Wertanen (MICH) 4-1
Grade: A+++
Prior to Friday night, Kyison Garcia had wrestled in a total of 12 matches for Penn State Wrestling. And the redshirt freshman had only seen action in the 2024 Edinboro Open, National Collegiate Open, and Black Knight Invite.
While these opens and tournaments are nothing to scoff at, there’s still a massive difference between wrestling in empty gyms versus in front of a packed Bryce Jordan Center. Talk about pressure.
And with Braeden Davis still nursing his injury from a scooter incident, Garcia got the call.
Following a scoreless opening period, Garcia struck with a low single midway through the second period. He was able to work this into a takedown to take a 4-0 lead. From there he gave Wertanen a tough ride to finish the period.
Garcia then gave up a quick escape in the final period. But the youngster wasn’t satisfied with his narrow 4-1 lead. Halfway through the third, Garcia again struck after a powerful snap down. Unfortunately the action moved outside of the circle and the moved to a reset.
Kyison proceeded to fight off Wertanen for the final 45 seconds and he snagged his first Nittany Lion dual meet victory, 4-1.
285
Credit – Lloyd McCully
No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) dec. over No. 12 Seth Nevills (MD) 8-3
Grade: A
I’m posting this match only because I thought it was an intriguing matchup. Especially when you consider the fact that these two giants trained in the same gym for a time.
Greg Kerkvliet posted a 6-0 win over Michigan’s Josh Heindselman Friday evening and I could see his match against Nevills playing out many different ways. With Kerk still on the mend following a bought of the flu, with his touch match against Heindselman two days prior, and with an opponent that knows him pretty well, there was a scenario in which the match could be really close.
But there’s a reason Kerkvliet was one of the top recruits coming out of high school. And there’s a reason he’s a four-time All-American, NCAA runner-up, and NCAA champion. The dude is just freaking good.
And he demonstrated that yet again on Sunday.
Kerk hit home on takedowns in each of the first two periods while adding over a minute of riding time. Seth Nevills is a tough guy from both his feet and from bottom. If I was somehow able to clone myself four times, Seth would still be able to turn us into a human pretzel without breaking a sweat.
But Kerkvliet was able to handle him with relative ease. And that says everything you need to know.
Match of the Weekend
Credit – Lloyd McCully
197 – No. 4 Josh Barr (PSU) vs. No. 2 Jacob Cardenas (MICH)
So far this season Josh Barr has had some memorable matches.
He nearly blanked teammate Lucas Cochran (10-1) in the Black Knight Invite. He slapped a major decision on Lehigh’s Michael Beard (11-0). And he did something that I have never seen in my life. Which was score 22 points in the span of one minute and 23 seconds in the final period against Rutgers’ John Poznanski (22-6).
Not to mention the redshirt freshman suffered his first loss of the season (and his Penn State Wrestling career) the prior week in a 4-1 loss to Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan. So heading into Friday night’s dual, all eyes were certainly going to be on the Barr/Cardenas matchup.
Match
And I’ll be the first to admit the first period was rather boring. But that’s what happens when two top four guys face each other for the first time. Let’s just say there was a lot of feeling each other out.
Barr chose bottom to start the second period and he promptly escaped. Both he and Cardenas then took some committed shots, however neither guy was able to get any penetration.
Barr was on top position to begin the third period. And he gave Cardenas a tough ride. Barr used his strength, quickness, and some timely ankle picks to keep Cardenas at bay. But he eventually escaped with roughly a minute and twenty seconds left in the period.
At this point Barr really picked up his energy. He continued to try and connect with some low singles but Cardenas wanted no part of it.
You could make a pretty good argument that Cardenas should have been slapped with stalling, but unfortunately it seems like every match is officiated differently.
Sudden Victory & TB
With the score knotted at 1-1 the match moved to sudden victory.
And here is where Jacob picked up his intensity. Sensing he could catch the redshirt freshman, Cardenas took several committed shots midway through SV. But to his credit, Barr fought off the attack. Furthermore, he was able to fight off a really good Cardenas shot with 50 seconds remaining.
However, there was no deciding takedown. So the match moved to the tiebreaker.
In the first tiebreaker, Cardenas was able to break free after only eight seconds. Which was less than ideal for Josh. Both guys circled the mat for the remaining 22 seconds and we moved to the second tiebreaker.
Barr was on bottom and from the opening whistle he tried to immediately kick free. But Cardenas was ready for him. Both guys continued to fight and a scramble ensued.
Cardenas had Barr is a crab ride and for the life of me, I have no idea why he didn’t just let him go. But hey, I’m not complaining.
In Cardenas’ desperate effort to keep ahold of Barr, Josh rolled through and was able to pull the reversal just as the final seconds of the tiebreaker ticked away.
The roar inside of the Bryce Jordan Center was deafening. And Josh Barr pulled out one of the most miraculous comebacks in BJC history.
Result: No. 4 Josh Barr (PSU) dec. over No. 2 Jacob Cardenas (MICH) 3-2 TB2
MVP(s) for Penn State Wrestling
Credit – Lloyd McCully
No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) tech. fall over No. 24 Jaden Bullock (MICH) 19-4
No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) tech. fall over No. 11 Jaxon Smith (MD) 20-3
No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) major dec. over No. 10 Beau Mantanona (MICH) 18-4
No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) tech. fall over Alex Uryniak (MD) 18-3
I couldn’t just pick one.
But how can you blame me?
Both Carter Starocci and Mitchell Mesesnbrink outscored their opponents a combined 75-14 this past weekend. And both guys were locked, loaded, and focused.
Just as they’ve been every single time they hit the mat.
And hey, when it comes to Penn State Wrestling and how crazy good this program is, it’s just another weekend for this squad.
MORE Penn State Wrestling News from NittanyCentral:
- Nittany Lion Wrestling’s Recruiting Big Board, Top Targets to Watch in 2026
- Carter Starocci Aiming for Wrestling History this Season
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Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.
- Penn State Wrestling: Grades, Match of the Weekend, and MVP from Nittany Lions’ wins over Michigan and Maryland - February 11, 2025
- No. 1 Penn State Wrestling vs. Maryland: Nittany Lions power their way to 35-10 win over Terrapins | FULL Results - February 9, 2025
- No. 1 Penn State Wrestling vs. Michigan: Nittany Lions crush Wolverines 39-0 | FULL RESULTS - February 7, 2025