Lee leads Iowa to championship
Franklin Regional grad prevails again; Penn State claims second
The University of Iowa claimed its 24th NCAA Division I Wrestling title and Hawkeyes star Spencer Lee claimed his third individual title in the finals Saturday at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, but Penn State shared the spotlight in the finals.
The Nittany Lions finished second in the team standings, but had the most finalists with four, and the most champs as all four claimed titles, including three in overtime.
Spencer Lee (12-0), a Franklin Regional graduate and top seed, won his third title at 125 pounds with a 6-0 win over Arizona State’s Brandon Courtney (15-1), the No. 3 seed. Lee, considered by most to be pound-for-pound the best wrestler in the country, outscored his five opponents, 58-8, in the three-day tournament.
After becoming the seventh Hawkeyes wrestler to win three NCAA titles, Lee admitted that he wrestled with a torn ACL for the second time in three years at the tournament.
“I went through a lot. This was my toughest tournament. Eight days ago, I tore the ACL in my other knee,” said Lee, also referring to the ACL he tore in the 2019 tournament. “I didn’t want to tell anyone, because I didn’t want to make any excuses. It was a tough tournament for me. I could barely wrestle. I could barely shoot. I can’t sprawl, but I believed in my coaching staff. And everybody believed in me. And here I am.”
Lee was one of three finalists for Iowa, who claimed the team title with 129 points, but the Hawkeyes’ only champion. Michael Kemerer, Lee’s former Franklin Regional teammate, also made it to the finals for the Hawkeyes.
Kemerer (11-1), a two-time NCAA place-winner and top seed at 174, dropped a 3-1 overtime decision to Penn State’s Carter Starocci (13-2), the No. 3 seed. Starocci’s upset avenged a 7-2 loss to Kemerer in the Big Ten Conference final.
The Nittany Lions, who scored 113.5 points, opened the finals with a pair of overtime victories.
The finals began at 133 pounds and Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young (14-0), the No. 2 seed, recorded a 4-2 victory over Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix (13-1). Bravo-Young scored the winning takedown with 19 seconds left in the suddenvictory period.
“I’ve wrote 113-pound national champ every day since January,” said Bravo-Young. “Today I wrote national champion 50 times and signed it. In my head I visualized it. I’ve wanted this so bad. I’ve been training my whole life for this.”
Teammate Nick Lee (131), the No. 2 seed at 141, gave Penn State its second title with a 4-2 victory over topseeded Jaydin Eierman (121) of Iowa. The win avenged Lee’s loss to Eierman in the Big Ten Conference final. Lee scored the deciding takedown 19 seconds into the sudden-victory period.
Aaron Brooks (14-0), the No. 1 seed at 184 pounds, was Penn State’s fourth champ.
He posted a 3-2 win over North Carolina State’s Trent Hidlay (10-2), the No. 2 seed.
Pitt had two finalists for the first time since 1963, but both had to settle for a silver medal.
Jake Wentzel (13-2), the No. 3 seed at 165 pounds, was Pitt’s first finalist. Wentzel, a South Park graduate, faced Stanford’s Shane Griffith (11-1), the No. 8 seed, and dropped a 6-2 decision. Griffith was a crowd favorite because Stanford’s athletic department has decided to drop its wrestling program at the end of this season.
Nino Bonaccorsi (13-2), the No. 6 seed at 197 pounds, was the Panthers’ other finalist. Bonaccorsi, a Bethel
Park grad, dropped a 4-2 decision to Oklahoma State’s A.J. Ferrari, the No. 4 seed. An early takedown by Ferrari in the first period was the difference.
Penn State had two more medal winners: Michael Beard (10-6), seventh at 197, and Greg Kerkvliet (10-4), seventh at 285.
Four other area wrestlers earned All-American honors.
Ohio State’s Ethan Smith, a Latrobe grad, was fifth at 165 and Bucknell’s Zach Hartman, a Belle Vernon grad, was sixth at 165.
Okahoma’s Jake Woodley, a North Allegheny grad, was sixth at 197 and West Virginia’s Killian Cardinale was seven that 125.