Penn State has six quarterfinalists at Division I wrestling championships; LHU has success

DETROIT -- Bathed in sweat, singlet pulled down to his waist, Carter Starocci stood with his hands on his hips in the bowels of Little Caesars Arena discussing what for most would be great but for him wasn't good enough.

The sophomore defending NCAA 174-pound champion had just won, 10-4, over Cal Poly's Adam Kemp to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2022 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Thursday. He focused on what wasn't instead of what was.

"Like I said, you build off of today. I don't think I got a bonus point that last match where the kid was running the whole time," he said. "That's on me. I gotta find new ways to score. I gotta get those guys moving and just get more offense earlier."

Starocci is one of six quarterfinalists for the Nittany Lions. He is joined by Roman Bravo-Young (133), Nick Lee (141), Aaron Brooks (184), Max Dean (197) and Greg Kerkvliet (285).

Still alive in the wrestlebacks are Drew Hildebrandt (125), Beau Bartlett (149) and Brady Berge (157). Bartlett won his first match and then dropped a Round of 16 bout, Hildebrandt and Berge each lost their first-round bouts but bounced back with first-round consolation wins.

Penn State led the team race with 27.5 points, followed by Arizona State with 22, North Carolina State with 21.5, Michigan with 21 and Iowa at 20.5.

Lock Haven's five-man contingent was shrunk to just two after two rounds. Anthony Noto (125) and Isaac Reid (285) are still alive in the second round of consolations. Dashawn Farber (149), Ben Barton (157) and Ashton Eyler (165) all went 2-0 and were eliminated.

"The rounds just get bigger. It's the same thing every year. You've just go to go get these quarters and these semi's. It's about these kids just having an opportunity to go compete for a national title," Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said.

The coach said that his team's bonus point production -- three pins, a technical fall and six major decisions -- is a sign of the Nittany Lions' team mentality.

"I think that's accurate. They know. They want to win as a team, just do as well as we can as a team," he said. "They know if they're wrestling for the team they're going to get better results for themselves. That's just how the world works. So far, so good. We've just got a lot of wrestling left."

Bravo-Young breezed into the semifinals with a pair of lopsided wins. After a 16-4 major decision in the first round over Cornell's Dominic LaJoie, he was leading Navy's Josh Koderhandt 4-0 late into the second when he turned him and pinned him in 2:45. RBY faces surprise quarterfinalist Brian Courtney of Virginia, the No. 25 seed.

Lee made two Nittany Lions into the quarterfinals with a pair of comfortable wins. He started with a 15-3 major decision over Josh Mason of Bloomsburg. Then, in the Round of 16, he throttled Rider's Quinn Kinner, 9-2. Lee meets No. 8 seed Grant Willits of Oregon State in the semifinals.

Before his Round of 16 decision, Starocci had earned a big two bonus points in the first round when he decked Rutgers' Connor O'Neill in 6:39. Starocci takes on Nebraska's Mikey Labriola in this morning's quarterfinal round.

Brooks, too, produced bonus points on his way to the quarterfinals. He took out Lehigh's A.J. Burkhart, 21-7, in the opening round before knocking off Virginia Tech's Hunter Bolen, 9-1. Brooks faces a familiar opponent in Ohio State's Kaleb Romero in the quarterfinals.

Dean endured his share of intrigue in advancing to the quarterfinals. His first-round win over Will Feldcamp of Clarion was a dominating 16-1 technical fall in 4:41. But in the second round, Dean had to rebound from a 2-0 deficit after two periods against Virginia's Jay Aiello. He escaped and emerged from a scramble with a takedown. A point for 1:31 in advantage gave him the 4-2 win, which elicited boos from the crowd. Dean meets Binghamton's Lou DePrez in the quarters.

Kerkvliet cruised his way into the quarters with a pair of convincing wins. He started his day with a fall in 4:17 over North Dakota State's Brandon Metz. Then, in the second round, he majored Ohio State's Tate Orndorff, 10-1. Kerkvliet gets surprise quarterfinalist Christian Lance from Nebraska. The No. 12 seed upset No. 5 seed Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force in the second round.

Bartlett needed a dramatic comeback to earn his first win, scoring a takedown in the final seconds to pull out a 5-4 win over Colin Realbuto of Northern Iowa in the first round. In the second round, Bartlett pushed Ohio State No. 4 seed Sammy Sasso to the limit before falling, 6-4. Barlett is still alive in the second round of wrestlebacks.

Hildebrandt had little offense in his first match, a 4-2 sudden victory loss to Lock Haven's Anthony Noto. But, in the first round of wrestlebacks, the Nittany Lion was demonstrably more aggressive and it paid off with a 3-1 win over Logan Ashton of Stanford. Hildebrandt meets former Nittany Lion and current Northern Iowa wrestler Brody Teske in the second round of consolations.

Berge could not get his offense going in the first round and dropped a 2-1 decision to Hunter Willits of Oregon State. Offense wasn't a problem in his first-round wrestleback bout as he majored Northern Iowa's Derek Holschlag, 15-7. Berge faces Central Michigan's Johnny Lovett in the second round of consolations.

Good, strong bounce backs. They both lost tough matches," Sanderson said of Hildebrandt and Berge. "There's a lot of opportunity for them to score a bunch of points and hopefully fight back for All-Americans. Sometimes coming back after a loss is revealing of character. I think that can be a special thing."

Lock Haven's day got off to a promising start as redshirt freshman Anthony Noto, seeded No. 17 at 125 pounds, won his first match, 4-2 in sudden victory. Noto converted a double leg takedown at the edge of the mat on Penn State's Drew Hildebrandt for the winning points. Noto then ran into No. 1 seed Nick Suriano of Michigan and lost, 8-3.

Noto's win was the highlight of the first round for the Bald Eagles as Dashawn Farber, Ben Barton, Ashton Eyler and Isaac Reid all fell.

Reid, the 25 seed at 285, couldn't keep pace with Central Michigan's Matt Stencel in an 8-2 loss in the first round. He bounced back with an 8-5 win over Sam Schuyler of Iowa State.

Farber, seeded 33rd at 149, was never able to generate any offense and was pinned in the second period by North Carolina's Zachary Sherman in a pigtail bout. He then lost 11-0 and was eliminated.

Barton, seeded 26th at 157, couldn't find any offense in a 4-0 loss to Lehigh seven seed Josh Humphreys. In the first round of consolations, he dropped a 9-6 decsion and was eliminated.

Eyler, the 23rd seed at 165, was pinned by Pitt's Jake Wentzel in 2:56. In wrestlebacks, he fell 6-3 and was eliminated.