No. 1 Penn State Duels No. 2 Iowa in College Wrestling’s Main Event

Over the previous eight seasons, Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson is 61-1 in Huge Ten matches. The one loss was to Iowa in 2020. Conversely, Iowa coach Tom Manufacturers is 35-1 within the Huge Ten since 2018. The one loss was to Penn State final season.

That is school wrestling’s principal occasion of the 2022-23 common season, the equal of a School Soccer Playoff championship recreation in November. Penn State and Iowa, the Huge Ten’s most dominant dual-meet groups of the previous decade, renew their rivalry Friday evening in State School, elevating school wrestling to the nationwide stage.

No. 1 Penn State hosts No. 2 Iowa at 8:30 p.m. ET on the Bryce Jordan Middle earlier than what may very well be the biggest crowd ever for an indoor school wrestling match. Penn State expects a sellout crowd of doubtless 16,000 followers at its second Bryce Jordan Middle match of the season. Huge Ten Community will televise.

The match between unbeatens marks Iowa’s first journey to State School since 2018 and guarantees the Huge Ten’s most intriguing marquee of the season. Penn State (10-0) and Iowa (12-0) might deliver 19 ranked wrestlers, seven unbeatens, 4 No. 1s and 4 bouts between top-10 opponents to the get together.

In the meantime, Iowa seeks to finish some streaks, simply as Penn State did final season at Carver-Hawkeye Area.

Penn State has received 38 consecutive twin meets relationship to its January 2020 loss at Iowa. And since their 2015 loss to No. 1 Iowa on the Bryce Jordan Middle, the Lions have received 50 consecutive dwelling matches at both the BJC or Rec Corridor.

In the meantime, Iowa has received 15 consecutive duals since its 2022 dwelling loss to Penn State. One yr in the past Saturday, Penn State defeated Iowa 19-13, ending the Hawkeyes’ 28-match Huge Ten win streak. It was the most-watched wrestling match in BTN historical past.

Friday’s match would be the fourth between Penn State and Iowa when ranked 1-2 within the NWCA Coaches Ballot. The No. 1 group has received the earlier three conferences: Iowa in 1986 and 2020 and Penn State in 2022.

Yet another factor: A win would mark Sanderson’s one hundredth profession Huge Ten victory.

The twin options some doubtlessly nice matchups. Listed here are 5 to look at.

141: No. 4 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Actual Woods

What makes Penn State’s roster so particular? Bartlett is 14-0, and his closest bout was a 3-1, sudden-victory resolution over teammate David Evans on the Black Open. Woods (9-0) is 4-0 towards ranked opponents and has six bonus-point victories.

149: No. 13 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. No. 7 Max Murin

Murin, a two-time Pennsylvania state champ at Central Cambria, returns needing a key outcome for the Hawkeyes. He is 13-3 with 10 bonus-point victories however has misplaced to 3 of the 4 ranked wrestlers he has confronted. Like Murin, Van Ness (11-2) has misplaced to No. 2  Austin Gomez of Wisconsin and No. 6 Paniro Johnson of Iowa State this season. However Van Ness has wins over 4 different ranked wrestlers, two by fall.

165: No. 5 Alex Facundo (Penn State) vs. No. 9 Patrick Kennedy

Facundo, 11-1 as a redshirt freshman, shot from 17 to five in InterMat Wrestling’s rankings after beating a pair of ranked wrestlers final week. That included an additional time win vs. then-No. 5  Cameron Amine of Michigan. Kennedy (12-2) is ninth in line with WIN Journal and averages 12.4 factors per match. Kennedy defeated Facundo 5-2 on the 2019 Who’s No. 1 highschool showcase.

197: No. 4 Max Dean (Penn State) vs. No. 7 Jacob Warner

Dean and Warner will wrestle a rematch of their 2022 NCAA title bout, which Dean received 3-2. Dean (12-2) is 2-0 in his profession towards Warner, who’s 11-2 this season and represents an necessary swing bout for the Hawkeyes. Since consecutive losses in December, Dean has received seven straight, getting bonus factors in 4.

285: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. No. 3 Tony Cassioppi

Kerkvliet, then ranked No. 1, misplaced his first bout of the season in additional time to Michigan’s Mason Parris final week. On Friday he faces a frequent nemesis in Cassioppi, who’s 3-0 of their earlier official bouts. Cassioppi (16-0) defeated Kerkvliet twice final season, together with a 6-4 additional time resolution within the Huge Ten event. However Kerkvliet (8-1) scored two takedowns to defeat Cassioppi 8-5 on the NWCA All-Star Class exhibition in December.

Noteworthy

• Spencer Lee, Iowa’s top-ranked three-time nationwide champ at 125, brings a 48-bout win streak to Penn State. He is the one wrestler from both group who competed within the 2018 Penn State-Iowa match on the Bryce Jordan Middle.
• Former Penn State wrestler Brody Teske (133) returns for the primary time since transferring to Northern Iowa in 2020 after which to Iowa this season. He’ll seemingly wrestle two-time NCAA champ Roman Bravo-Younger, whom he joined in Penn State’s No. 1 2018 recruiting class.
• Penn State’s top-ranked Carter Starocci (174) has scored 59 takedowns with out permitting one this season.
• Attendance for Penn State-Iowa on the BJC in 2018 was 15,998, the biggest crowd ever for an indoor school wrestling match. Might the constructing wedge in two extra to host school wrestling’s first indoor match with an attendance of 16,000?

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State information, opinion and perspective on the SI.com community. Writer Mark Wogenrich has coated Penn State for greater than 20 years, monitoring three teaching staffs, three Huge Ten titles and a catalog of nice tales. Observe him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And take into account subscribing (button’s on the house web page) for extra nice content material throughout the SI.com community.