Penn State Wrestling at Michigan: LIVE FILE for PSU’s Biggest Dual Meet of Season Thus Far

Here are the  match ups for this showdown between No. 1 Penn State wrestling and No. 11 Michigan. Nittany Sports Now will be summarizing each match as it’s happening in this live file. Enjoy, Penn State fans!

197: No. 1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) vs. No. 32 Bobby Striggow (Michigan)

Striggow entered to “Cowboy” by Kid Rock. It was all downhill for him from there. It took Brooks less than 30 seconds to get a takedown and early 3-0 lead. Striggow ended up getting a point, but Brooks quickly bounced back with another takedown. With less than 20 seconds left, Brooks got his third takedown and led 9-2 after one. In the second period, Brooks got a reversal to make it 11-2, than a takedown and reversal to make it 16-4. Brooks ended up tech-falling Striggow, 20-5.

Winner: Brooks via. tech fall, 20-5.

Team score (halftime): Penn State 15, Michigan 3

184: No. 5 Bernie Truax (Penn State) vs. No. 15 Jaden Bullock (Michigan)  

The two wrestled to a scoreless first period. Truax got the first point when Bullock was ruled out of bounds. Michigan coach Sean Bormet didn’t like the call, but couldn’t challenge it due to using his challenge in the previous match. Truax seemingly through by getting a takedown with 27 seconds left to go ahead 4-0. But after review, it was ruled that Bullock went out of bounds, negating the three points. Bullock tied it up with an escape early in the third. But Turax got a takedown with 30 seconds left to take a 4-1 lead. That’s how it ended.

Winner: Bernie Truax, 4-1 dec.

Team score: Penn State 10, Michigan 3

174: Terrell Barraclough (Penn State) vs. No. 4 Shane Griffith (Michigan)

No. 1 Carter Starocci ended up not wrestling Griffith, leaving Barraclough, moving up from 165, with a tall task. Barraclough held his own through the first period, wrestling to a stalemate. In the second period, Griffith had riding time for the last minute, but Griffith reversed him to get the match’s first two points. That reversal was reviewed for a near fall, but the initial call stood. Griffith held on for the win, but it was closer than many would have expected.

Winner: Griffith, 2-0 dec.

Team score: Penn State 7, Michigan 3

165: No. 9 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. No. 7 Cameron Amine (Michigan)

The first minute had a fast pace, but neither wrestle scored in that time. Mesenbrink got the scoring started late in the period when Amine got called for a stall. He led 1-0 going into the second. Amine started the second period on bottom and tied the score with an escape. Mesenbrink controlled the pace throughout the second period, and retook the lead with 37 seconds left due to another stall call on Amine. A takedown seconds later made it 5-1 and put Mesenbrink firmly in control of the match. Mesenbrink ended up making it 8-1 when when Amine stalled again, leading to the ref warning him for that the next stall would lead to disqualification. Another takedown made it 11-1. Mesenbrink ended up winning 12-1 in a statement performance.

Winner: Mesenbrink, 12-1 major decision

Team score: Penn State 7, Michigan 0

157: No. 1 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. No. 9 Will Lewan (Michigan)

The nights kicks off with a top-10 bout in 157. Not much happened in the first period, so little that both wrestlers got called for Stalling. The two enter the second period deadlocked at zero. Haines started the scoring with a point in the second period and held that lead going into the third. Lewan got a point early in the third to tie it up. With 20 seconds left, Haines took the lead when Lewan got called for a stall. Haines went for a throw in the final seconds, but Haines hung on to win.

Winner: Levi Haines, 2-1 Decision

Team score: Penn State 3, Michigan 0

125: No. 14 Braeden Davis (Penn State wrestling) vs. No. 3 Michael DeAugustino (Michigan)

133: No. 4 Aaron Nagao (Penn State) vs. No. 6 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan)

141: No. 2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. No. 25 Sergio Lemley (Michigan)

149: No. 12 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) vs. No 6 Austin Gomez (Michigan) 

285: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. No. 4 Lucas Davison (Michigan)

Being on the road against a fringe top 10 program in any sports is usually daunting, but Penn State wrestling isn’t like everybody else.

No. 1 Penn State, winners of 10 of the past 12 national championships and 48 straight dual meets, is favored to win every meet, and this one at No. 11 Michigan is no exception.

With that said, dual meets like this in the Big Ten, which is widely regarded as America’s premier wrestling conference, will always have intriguing individual matchups.

In this one, there will be intrigue right away, assuming the evening starts with a bout in the 125 pound weight class. Last season, 125 was the only class where Penn State didn’t send a wrestler to nationals. True freshman Braeden Davis is well on his way to changing that this season. No. 14 Davis has his toughest challenge to date in No. 3 Michael DeAugustino. DeAugustino, a Northwestern graduate, finished fourth at the 2022 NCAA championships and is a four-time qualifier.

But the most intriguing bout of the night has to be the one at 174 pounds.

That bout pits Penn State’s Carter Starocci— a three-time defending national champ ranked No. 1– against Michigan’s Shane Griffith, a 2021 national champ at 165 who transferred to Michigan after five seasons at Stanford.

“I owe Shane an ass whooping,” Starocci tweeted at 1:44 a.m. on an early May morning the week Griffith announced he’d be transferring to Michigan.

Starocci went on to tweet that Griffith is a “great kid,” but “business is business.”

Here’s the backstory.

Starocci and Griffith wrestled way back in December 2016.

Starocci was a sophomore at Cathedral Prep (PA) and Griffith a junior at Bergen Catholic (New Jersey). The two met in the 152-pound class.

The older Griffith shut out Starocci, 3-0, at the Powerade Wrestling Tournament. This is one of the top in-season high school wrestling tournaments in the country. 

Follow along with Starocci-Griffith, Davis-DeAugustino and all 10 Penn State-Michigan bouts in this live file.