The Penn State Nittany Lions, under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson, will be sending seven wrestlers to the 2020 NCAA Wresting Championships on March 19-21 in Minneapolis, Minn. Penn State will have five top-five seeds at the tournament.
For the second time, the NCAA is seeding all 33 wrestlers whereas in prior years only the top 16 were seeded. Please note that the records vs. the field listed below include only results at the qualifying weight.
Sophomore Roman Bravo-Young (Tucson, Ariz.) will be the No. 5 seed at 133. Bravo-Young will take on No. 28 Collin Gerardi of Virginia Tech in the opening round. An All-American as a true freshman last year, Bravo-Young is 19-2 overall this year and is 6-2 vs. the field.
Junior Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.) will be the No. 2 seed at 141. Lee is a two-time All-American with two fifth place finishes in prior seasons. Lee will take on No. 31 Ryan Pomrinca of Lehigh in the opening round. He is 20-1 overall this year and 11-1 vs. the field.
Sophomore Jarod Verkleeren (Greensburg, Pa.) will be the No. 19 seed at 149. Verkleeren will battle No. 14 Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado in the first round. He is making his first trip to nationals. Verkleeren is 17-8 overall this season and 5-7 vs. the field.
Senior Vincenzo (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will be the No. 2 seed at 165. Joseph will take on No. 31 Chase Straw of Iowa State in the opening round of the tournament. Joseph is a three-time All-American, three-time NCAA finalist and two-time NCAA Champion (2017, 2018). Joseph heads to his final NCAA tournament with a 15-1 record, 10-1 vs. the field.
Senior Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) will be the No. 1 seed at 174. Hall will meet the winner of No. 33 Philip Spadafora of Maryland and No. 32 Mason Eaglin of Duke in the opening round of the event. Hall is a three-time All-American, three-time NCAA finalist and one-time NCAA Champion (2017). Hall carries a 23-1 overall record into his final NCAA tournament, 12-1 vs. the field.
True freshman Aaron Brooks (Hagerstown, Md.) will be the No. 3 seed at 184. Brooks will face No. 30 Max Lyon of Purdue in the first round. He is coming off winning his first Big Ten title and is making his first appearance at NCAAs. Brooks is 15-1 overall and 11-1 vs. the field.
Senior Shakur Rasheed (Coram, N.Y.) will be the No. 21 seed at 197. Rasheed will meet No. 12 Nathan Traxler of Stanford in the opening round. The Lion senior was an All-American at 197 in 2018, placing seventh. He carries an 8-6 record with him to nationals, 3-6 vs. the field.
Penn State has won eight of the last nine NCAA Championships, all since Sanderson's arrival at Penn State (he is in his 11th season this year). The Nittany Lions have won nine NCAA titles overall, owning a championship from 1953. The Nittany Lions have won the last four NCAA titles (2016, 17, 18 and 19) and also won four-straight once prior (2011, 12, 13 and 14).
The 2020 NCAA Wrestling Championships will take place in Minneapolis, Minn., on March 19-21. The three-day event takes place US Bank Stadium, home of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. Action begins on Thursday with session one at 12 p.m. and session two at 7 p.m. Session three is Friday at 11 a.m. and session four, featuring the national semifinals, is at 8 p.m. The medal rounds take place in session five on Saturday at 11 a.m. while the Championship Finals are set for Saturday at 7 p.m. All morning sessions (one, three, five) will air live on ESPNU and all evening sessions (two, four, fix) air on ESPN. Fans can view mat-by-mat coverage via ESPN+.
Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.
