Never before has Penn State hosted three wrestling matches at Bryce Jordan Center in one season, and never before has Penn State hosted — or competed against — Wyoming.
The schedule-newbie Cowboys (2-2) will take the mat in the BJC at 1 p.m. Sunday because the Penn State women’s volleyball team is hosting a Friday-Sunday regional at Rec Hall. The other two BJC matches are Jan. 31 against Iowa and Feb. 7 vs. Michigan.
“I didn’t realize that we haven’t faced them, so that’s pretty cool,” assistant head coach Cody Sanderson said this week when asked how the Wyoming home-and-home series materialized.
“Frankly, we were trying to find a date, and we just couldn’t find any other opponents. An acquaintance said, ‘hey, what about Wyoming?’ We reached out and they got back to us right away and said, ‘yeah, let’s work it out.’ We’re really excited to get a team in here from out west, and we’re working on getting back out there next year to get a little road trip in. We don’t do them a lot, but it’s fun when we get an opportunity.”
As far as attractive matchups go, there will be few. The prospective best of the bunch at 125 between Luke Lilledahl (4-0) and Wyoming’s seventh-ranked Jore Volk (2-2), who lost in Rec Hall’s NWCA All-Star Classic to Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State in November, isn’t likely to happen because Volk hasn’t wrestled since Nov. 23 at Oklahoma. Luke Braman would be Lilledahl’s foe if not Volk.
Another possible bout at 197 is between Penn State’s Josh Barr (4-0), who skyrocketed in the rankings to No. 7 this week after defeating No. 6 Michael Beard of Lehigh last week, 11-3, and the Cowboys’ 13th-ranked Joey Novak (6-3), who placed fourth at the Cliff Keen Invitational.
And Penn State’s fourth-ranked Tyler Kasak (4-0) is set to face No. 19 Jared Hill (6-2) at 157.
Assuming the Vore-Lilledahl does not happen, Penn State (2-0) would be favored in each of those bouts, if they occur, and heavily favored in the seven others. That adds up to a possible shutout and most certainly the team’s 59th straight victory as well as head coach Cael Sanderson’s 250th career victory.
The top-ranked Nittany Lions can break the school-record streak of 60 straight wins with victories over Binghamton and Little Rock next Sunday at the Collegiate Duals outside of Nashville.
While it’s unlikely the crowd on Sunday will be similar to other BJC matches, Penn State 141-pound senior Beau Bartlett is still looking forward to it.
“That’s awesome. I love BJC,” Bartlett said this week. “Rec Hall is cool. BJC is awesome. I’m excited for that. It was a big match wrestling down in Lehigh and the PPL Center, that arena was sweet … feels like NCAAs. So BJC, I love that; that’s gonna be sweet.”
Bartlett, one of the elder statesmen on the team, was asked this week if he would wrestle for five more years collegiately if he could. His immediate response was “No, no.” And then he explained.
“I mean, I love it. I love it. I love this stuff,” Bartlett said. “I’ve been here for a while … five more years of collegiate wrestling? No. I’ll take advantage of every single opportunity I’ve got … I love this.
“I guess if I could time travel back to being like 18-19 years old and do five years, sure, but at the NCAAs, I’ll be 24, so a 29-year-old at the NCAAs, I don’t know about that. If I could go back and do it again, I would. To start over again from here, I don’t know,” he said with a laugh.
Bartlett, 5-0 thus far, can win his 80th career match on Sunday against Cole Brooks (4-4) and he said he is continuing to improve — in all facets.
“I’m improving in all areas of life, and I think that’s a really big challenge,” he said. “Wrestling occupies a lot of my time. I think that’s where people associate me the most. And I am picking up speed there, and I think everything is coming together. But life throws things at you, and you just gotta keep going. That’s what I’ve really gotten good at recently, just growing up, being mature and just persevering.”
And as Bartlett and many other wrestlers have said, it’s all about gratitude. “You gotta practice that gratitude,” he said. “Find things you’re thankful for. Sometimes it’s not just a problem solution; it’s not as quick as that, but I think it’s easy for me in wrestling matches.
“Wrestling is a tough thing, but wrestling is one of the easiest things I do in my life. I love this. Wrestling is really just come, practice, get better, put in the right work ethic, and good things keep happening. I’m not worried at all about wrestling. Wrestling is smooth sailing.”
LION-COWBOY NOTEBOOK: Oddly, none of Wyoming’s 10 projected starters are from Wyoming, and only five of 34 on the Cowboys’ roster are from that state. … Wyoming 184-pounder Quayin Short and Penn State heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet are both from Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. … In another hometown similarity, Penn State 125-pounder Luke Lilledahl is from Weldon Spring, Missouri, and Wyoming reserve 133-pounder Josh Kyle is from Saint Charles, Missouri, just 12 miles apart. … And Wyoming 149-pounder Gabe Willochell is from Greensburg and wrestled for Latrobe and was a one-time PIAA state placewinner.