UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lions, under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson, will be sending nine wrestlers to the 2021 NCAA Wresting Championships on March 18-20 in St. Louis, Mo. Penn State will have four top-four seeds at the event.
The NCAA is seeding all 33 wrestlers once again. Please note that the records vs. the field listed below include only results at the qualifying weight. Penn State is sending five freshmen and a sophomore to the NCAA tournament as part of its nine-man contingent.
True freshman Robert Howard (Cranford, N.J.) will be the No. 23 seed at 125. Howard will take on No. 10 Malik Heinselman of Ohio State in his first NCAA tournament bout. Howard earned a trip to NCAAs as a true freshman off a sixth-place finish at the 2021 Big Ten Championships. He is 5-4 overall and 1-4 vs. the field.
Junior Roman Bravo-Young (Tucson, Ariz.) will be the No. 2 seed at 133. Bravo-Young will meet No. 31 Sean Carter of Appalachian State in the opening round. Bravo-Young is a two-time All-American and won the 133-pound Big Ten Championships this year. He is 9-0 overall and 4-0 vs. the field.
Senior Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.) is the No. 2 seed at 141. Lee will take on No. 31 Julian Flores of Drexel in the opening round. Lee is a three-time All-American already and was Big Ten runner-up this season. He is 8-1 overall and 5-1 vs. the field.
Junior Brady Berge (Mantorville, Minn.) will be the No. 12 seed at 157. Berge takes on No. 21 Andrew Cerniglia of Navy in the opening round. The Lion junior earned his second trip to the NCAA tournament with a sixth-place finish at the 2021 Big Ten Championships. Berge is 8-2 overall and 2-2 vs. the field.
Freshman Joe Lee (Evansville, Ind.) is the No. 23 seed at 165. Lee meets No. 10 Travis Wittlake of Oklahoma State in his first NCAA tournament match-up. He punched his ticket to nationals with an eighth-place finish at the Big Ten tournament. Lee is 6-5 overall and 2-4 vs. the field.
Freshman Carter Starocci (Erie, Pa.) is the No. 3 seed at 174. Starocci will take face No. 30 Victor Marcelli of Virginia in his first NCAA bout. The Erie-native is coming off a second-place finish at the 2021 Big Ten Championships where he was named the 2021 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Starocci is 9-2 overall and 4-2 vs. this year's field.
Sophomore Aaron Brooks (Hagerstown, Md.) is the No. 1 seed at 184. Brooks will meet the winner of the No. 33/32 pigtail bout between Joe Accoustie of Sacred Heart and Jhaquan Anderson of George Washington in the first round in St. Louis. The All-American is coming off a second-straight Big Ten title at 184 at the 2021 Big Ten Championships and is 9-0 overall, 5-0 vs. the field.
Freshman Michael Beard (Pottstown, Pa.) is the No. 15 seed at 197. He will meet No. 18 Jacob Koser of Navy in the opening round in this, his first NCAA tourney. Beard earned a trip to nationals with a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten tournament and is 9-6 overall, 2-4 vs. the field.
Freshman Greg Kerkvliet (Grove Heights, Minn.) is the No. 9 seed at 285. He faces No. 24 Michael McAleavey of The Citadel in his first NCAA tournament match-up. Kerkvliet placed fourth at his first Big Ten Championships, earning a spot in St. Louis. He is 6-2 overall, 2-2 vs. the field.
Penn State has won eight of the last nine contested NCAA Championships with last year's being cancelled by the NCAA (all since Sanderson's arrival at Penn State and he is in his 12th season this year). The Nittany Lions have won nine NCAA titles overall, owning a championship from 1953. The Nittany Lions have won four-straight titles in 2016, '17, '18 and '19 and also won four-straight in 2011, '12, '13 and '14.
The 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships take place on March 18-20 in the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo. With capacity restrictions put in place by the NCAA, the sessions and timing are different this year. Sessions 1A and 1B are at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the 18th. Sessions 2A and 2B are at 6 and 9 p.m. on the 18th. Sessions 3 and 4 (quarterfinals) are at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the 19th. Sessions 5 (semifinals) is at 8 p.m. on the 19th. Session 6 (medal) is at 11 a.m. on the 20th and session 7 (finals) is at 7 p.m. on the 20th. The ESPN family of networks will cover the entire event. All times listed are EASTERN.
Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.
