Despite losses, they were ready to compete, Sanderson adds.
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson was able to watch two new faces in his lineup last weekend. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.comPenn State coach Cael Sanderson was down a pair of starters for last weekend’s matches at Ohio State and Illinois, so he scanned his roster and found a two-time national Prep champion and a three-time Wisconsin state champ and penciled them into the starting lineup.
Both true freshmen, Joe Sealey of Wyoming Seminary and Cole Mirasola from Jackson, Wisconsin, stepped in for the injured Tyler Kasak at 157 and the flu-stricken Greg Kerkvliet at 285 against the Buckeyes and Fighting Illini. There was no fairy tale ending as each wrestler lost both of his bouts, but the experience factor was invaluable in Sanderson’s eyes. “Those are tough matches to throw them out there in the first dual — two really good teams and in tough environments — but I thought the experience would be worth it for them,” Sanderson said Tuesday. “Sealey hasn’t wrestled all year. He had a small surgery, but something that kept him off the mat for most of his time here. So that experience for him wasn’t easy for him, probably, but he didn’t hesitate, he wanted to wrestle. We were happy to give him that opportunity, and he’s going to just get better. “Mirasola has been able to wrestle, but he was, I guess, blessed to wrestle two top-10 guys, and it’s a great experience to kind of see where you’re at. We were grateful they both got that opportunity to wrestle. It’s good.” To recap, Sealey was majored by Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon and lost 2-1 to Jason Kraisser of Illinois in a bout that he appeared to have won. Sealey and Kraisser traded escapes but Kraisser earned over a minute in riding time and had a point secured. Sealey got a takedown call in the waning seconds of the bout but Kraisser was able to quickly turn in to get his hips up and throw in a whizzer. Illinois challenged the call and the takedown was reversed, meaning that Sealey lost. The officials told Sanderson the call was changed because of reaction time, a rule that seems to change annually and often be called inconsistently. “The rule’s kind of gone back and forth, where there was no reaction time, and now they’re maybe giving a little bit too much reaction time,” Sanderson said. “Wrestling is a hard sport to call, so we try not to dwell on it. Even when you’re wrestling, you’ve got to wrestle through those positions, just in case they go back and change it, which is a good experience for Joe. “It probably would have been different had he not known he had the three; he probably could have wrestled through the position a little bit more. But just a good experience for him. Wrestling’s a tough sport to call; sometimes they go your way, and sometimes they don’t.” Mirasola faced No. 8 Nick Feldman and No. 10 Luke Luffman and dropped 10-3 and 4-1 decisions. At 220 pounds, he was considerably outweighed in each bout. Josh Barr, Penn State’s second-ranked redshirt freshman at 197, said Cole Mirasola, whose twin brother, Connor, is at Barr’s weight in the Penn State room, is improving all the time. “He’s getting bigger. He’s still lifting and still eating and growing into heavyweight in college,” Barr said. “When I came in as a 74-84 pounder, that adjustment from high school to college is really big, but I can’t even imagine the adjustment coming in like Cole is, a little bit bigger than me when he got here, and then having to grow into college heavyweight … it’s a big adjustment. But those guys train so freaking hard. They do all the right things inside the room and outside room. They’re gonna be great.” Sanderson reiterated that he would not have placed Sealey and Mirasola in the lineup if he didn’t think they would represent themselves in a good way. “We have a lot of confidence in both of them or we wouldn’t have put them out there in that kind of environment,” Sanderson said.Tyler Kasak, the nation’s No. 1-ranked 157-pounder who went into concussion protocol against Michigan and Maryland and was forced to default against Maryland, is recovering, according to Sanderson. “He’s doing really well. He’s a tough kid, just kind of a physical specimen. I think he’s bouncing back really fast. Yeah, we’re trying to hold him back,” Sanderson said.Heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet did not make last weekend’s trip because of illness, Sanderson said. “Even today, we have a lot of sickness around. Just like the general population, the same thing is going on with our team,” he said.Penn State senior Beau Bartlett moved to the top of the rankings at 141 pounds after his 4-2 win over former No. 1 Jesse Mendez of Ohio State. A first-period counter takedown and some strong defense did the trick. Those two have met five times, including the November all-star match, and Mendez is up 3-2 in the series. Sanderson was asked if Bartlett did anything differently vs. Mendez. “It’s a fine line. There were some differences, obviously, but within a match like that, we’re looking at ‘hey, we’re going to meet again here in two weeks, and then again in the nationals, potentially, so we have to just keep getting better and kind of figure out what Bo can do,” Sanderson said. “There are going to be small adjustments, obviously, and they’re going to make adjustments. And that’s what makes it fun.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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