UNIVERSITY, PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team sent ten athletes to the 2022 Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. Penn State's athletes were competing both attached and unattached at the two-day event on Jan. 1 and 2, 2022.
Sophomore Michael Beard (Pottstown, Pa.) was the No. 2 seed at 197 at the Southern Scuffle and took second at the two-day event. Beard began the tournament with three wins on Saturday. He posted technical falls over Duke's Kaden Russell (18-2; 2:36) and Eli Sheeren of Buffalo (17-2; 5:36) to begin the tournament and closed out Saturday with a 9-2 win over Navy's XJaxon Smith in the quarterfinals. Beard beat No. 20 Cameron Caffey of Michigan State in the semifinals and then took an injury default loss during the first period of the finals to No. 4 Rocky Elam of Missouri.
Junior Brandon Meredith (Limerick, Pa.) competed at 133 and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing his first match. He went 3-1 overall plus one loss to a non-collegiate wrestler. Sophomore Joe Lee (Evansville, Ind.) wrested at 157 and won his first two matches to advance to the quarterfinals. He ended the tournament with a 2-2 mark overall. Junior Seth Nevills (Clovis, Calif.) took to the mat at 285 for the first time this year. Nevills went 3-2 overall with a pin in his first action of the season.
Sophomore Terrell Barraclough (Kaysville, Utah) wrestled at 157 and picked up three wins, going 3-2 overall with one pin. True freshman Alex Facundo (Essexville, Mich.) competed at 165 and went 2-2 with a 3-1 sudden victory win over No. 31 Evan Barczak of Drexel. Sophomore Donovon Ball (New Cumberland, Pa.) competed at 184 and posted a 2-2 record including one major.
Sophomore Baylor Shunk (Centre Hall, Pa.) competed at 125. The Centre Hall native went 1-2 with a technical fall victory. Freshman David Evans (Tunkhannock, Pa.) wrestled at 133 and posted a 2-2 mark. He picked up a pin over CS-Bakersfield's Aaron Ibarra in his first match. Freshman Matt Lee (Evansville, Ind.) wrestled at 165 and went 1-2.
Penn State is 8-0 overall while Arizona State falls to 3-1. Penn State opens up Big Ten action on Friday, Jan. 7, when the Nittany Lions visit the Maryland Terrapins for a 7 p.m. dual in College Park, Md. Penn State then hosts Indiana in Rec Hall on Sunday, Jan. 9, with time to be determined by the Big Ten Network.
All rankings listed by Penn State wrestling are InterMat individual and team TPI. The 2021-22 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by the Family Clothesline. 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.
