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There will be a surprise Penn State wrestling dual meet in the Bryce Jordan Center this weekend. Penn State volleyball will be hosting the NCAA Tournament inside Rec Hall Sunday, forcing the wrestling team to move to the BJC for the Wyoming dual meet. The match will still begin at 1 p.m.
“I know the guys are excited about it,” Penn State assistant coach Cody Sanderson said. “It adds a little bit of flare. Hopefully the fans are excited about it as well. And we’re happy to move over there. NCAA volleyball will be coming in. Our volleyball team has looked great this year. For us to accommodate them for that event, we’re happy to do that.”
That gives Penn State three dual meets inside the BJC this season, with the other two coming in the Big Ten schedule with Iowa and Michigan.
THAT’S AWESOME
Beau Bartlett February 20, 2022 David Hague/NSN
Count Beau Bartlett as one of the others that loves the surprise.
“That’s awesome,” he said. “I love the BJC. Rec Hall is cool, but the BJC is awesome. Wrestling at the PPL Center (last weekend at Lehigh) was sweet in a big arena. It felt like NCAAs.”
The upcoming dual meet will be the first time in Penn State wrestling’s history that it will face Wyoming.
“We needed to find a date, and I just couldn’t find any other opponents,” Sanderson said. “We reached out to Wyoming and they said, ‘Okay, let’s work it out.’ We’re really excited to get a team out here from out west, and we’re working on getting back out there next year.”
BARR IMPRESSES AT LEHIGH
The match that 197-pounder Josh Barr put together last weekend in the Lehigh dual meet didn’t seem to surprise anyone in the Penn State wrestling room.
Barr not only knocked off former PSU wrestler Michael Beard, but he major-decisioned the sixth-ranked former All-American 11-3.
He also did it in front of a packed PPL Center in Allentown with nearly 10,000 people watching.
“He’s a great kid. He’s a great competitor,” Sanderson said. “He did exactly what the coaches talked to him about doing, and he found a way to win. We’re just happy for him.”
Sanderson said Barr followed the game plan to a T, which is always satisfying for a coach.
“Wrestling is a little tricky to game plan,” he said. “You have an idea what the match will be like, and then they make contact and things just change right away. But to see somebody get in a tough match with a tough crowd in that kind of environment, it’s good because you see his maturity better.”
BARTLETT GETS A LAUGH
Bartlett, who is in his fifth season at Penn State, was asked if he could do another five years of college wrestling Tuesday.
“Five more years of collegiate wrestling? No,” Bartlett said after a loud laugh.
Then, he got serious.
“I’ll take advantage of every single opportunity I get, he said “I love this. If I could travel back to 18 or 19 years old, sure. At NCAAs, I’ll be 24. So a 29-year-old at NCAAs? I don’t know about that. If I could go back and do it again, I would. To start over again? I don’t know.”
It’s a reminder of the vigorous routine that a college wrestler endures throughout the season, one that Bartlett had already lived for four years prior to this season.
“Wrestling is literally the easiest thing I do in my life,” Bartlett said. “I love this. Come practice, get better, put in the right work ethic, and good things keep happening.”
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