Penn State is coming off a road sweep against No. 8 Ohio State and No. 13 Illinois. The Nittany Lions defeated the Buckeyes, 27-13, and the Fighting Illini, 29-9.
“Two good teams on the road was a fun weekend. Lots of great competition, lot of great individuals but yeah we’re happy,” coach Cael Sanderson said.
The squad had a lot take place over the weekend as the Big Ten Tournament draws closer.
Breaking Records
After notching its last two wins, the blue and white became Big Ten regular season champions for the fifth straight season. The squad also garnered its 70th straight dual meet victory, which broke Iowa’s record Big Ten record.
I mean, we love dual meets and you want to compete as a team. That’s kind of really what it’s all about. I think as we put the team first, individual success will come as well,” Sanderson said. “Yeah, we really, really value doing well in those big dual meets, especially in the conference.”
Joe Sealey and Cole Mirasola get their first collegiate starts
Two highly touted recruits saw their first dual meet action this past weekend. Joe Sealey was ranked at No. 6 and Cole Mirasola was ranked at No. 15 on FloWrestling’s 2024 NCAA Recruiting Class Rankings. Neither got a win but both matches were close.
Sealey really struggled against Ohio State. He conceded two stall points and really looked unprepared throughout the match. It was a struggle for the freshman to get off the ground and get anything going on his feet.
Against Illinois, the story was very different. Sealey was down 1-0 going into the third period and elected to go down after it seemed like his coaches told him not to do that. It ended up working out as he escaped. Then, in the final seconds of the match, he got a takedown.
However, it was a takedown until the referees turned over their original call and gave Illinois the win at 157 pounds.
“Sealey hasn’t really wrestled all year he was out, he had a small surgery but something that kept him off the mat for most of his time here. I thought that experience wasn’t easy for him but he didn’t hesitate,” Sanderson said. “He wanted to wrestle and he’s going to just get better.”
Mirasola had two tough matches against top-ranked opponents. Against the Buckeyes he faced No. 9 Nick Feldman and against Illinois he faced No. 10 Luke Luffman. He lost 10-3 to Feldman and 4-0 to Luffman.
Neither is an easy match for your first match. With Feldman, he was outmatched but with Luffman, he wrestled him hard. It was competitive until he was on the ground, but Luffman was able to take advantage while on top.
