By Todd Irwin

sports@altoonamirror.com

The last time we saw the Penn State wrestling team, it was winning its ninth national championship in the last 11 contested NCAA tournaments and going 5-for-5 in the individual finals.

It’s a new season for the Nittany Lions, who have four of those NCAA champs back in Roman Bravo-Young (133), Carter Starocci (174), Aaron Brooks (184) and Max Dean (197). Only Nick Lee (141) has graduated, but he’s a member of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

“I’m still sticking around,” Lee said on Monday.

What can Penn State fans expect to see at 7 p.m. Friday when the Lions, who went 17-0 last season, open at Rec Hall against Lock Haven University, and for the entire season?

“We have the potential to have a very good team,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said at media day on Monday. “It’s up to each individual to go out there and do their thing, be themselves, have fun, compete and look to improve. It’s just a fun group to train. We’ve seen this in the past the bigger the match the better they wrestle. We’ll just keep doing our thing.”

“I’m very excited for the team,” returning NCAA qualifier Beau Bartlett said. “At the end of the day, you want a team national championship. People want to be a national champion. Another big goal is 10 All-Americans. It’s been done one time in history (Minnesota in 2001). It’s a lofty goal. We’re going to see what we can do, but we’re all really motivated.”

Bravo-Young, Starocci and Brooks have won two NCAA titles, while Dean won his first after being a runner-up for Cornell in 2019.

“Progress is the name of the game and never being satisfied where you’re at,” Sanderson said. “It’s not necessarily about winning again. It’s about climbing and improving. You can improve in technique and mental approach and so many different avenues you can improve. I think each one of (the returning champs) is going to better this year than they were last year.

“But it’s up to them. They’re the ones who still have to go out there and let it rip when they compete. They look really good.”

Bravo-Young told reporters at last year’s media day he wasn’t returning for this season, but then he said after beating Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix, 3-2, for the title that he was.

“He’s in school, and he’s planning on wrestling,” Sanderson said. “I think there will be some matches if we can sit him, we’ll be definitely looking to do that. I think the plan is for him to wrestle a handful of matches.

“We’re obviously very excited to have Roman back. I think everyone in college wrestling is excited to see him come back. He’s a special one. He’s improved every year. He’s just always working, always training.”

Dean joked with reporters about how he was entering his seventh year of college wrestling.

“This is my seventh year post-high school, and I’m still an undergrad,” Dean said. “We make jokes that I should be a doctor or something like that right now. I’ll be wrapping things up this year. I’m excited to finish school up.”

PSU 285-pounder Greg Kerkvliet also has returned after finishing fourth at the NCAAs last season. Bartlett, who moved up to wrestle at 149 last season, is down to 141 this year.

“That was exciting. No regrets with that,” Bartlett said of moving up to 149. “I’m happy I went up instead of redshirting. With redshirting, I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity. I would have had to sit behind the scenes and watch everyone wrestle. I’m grateful for the opportunity to wrestle against those big names.

“Now going down a weight, I feel more prepared than ever.”

Sanderson told the media that Robert Howard will “most likely” not be wrestling season. Redshirt freshman Gary Steen, a two-time state champ at Reynolds, will begin the season as the starter at 125.

Howard was sidelined last year with a knee injury, and then he suffered a shoulder injury in June at the U20 World Team Trials.

“Gary Steen has done a nice job,” Sanderson said. “We have a few different guys who will be competing for that spot, but Gary Steen will probably kick things off and hopefully get things rolling there.”

Steen will likely be wrestling against a returning NCAA qualifier in Anthony Noto. The Bald Eagles are a new addition to the Penn State schedule. The last time Penn State wrestled Lock Haven was in 2015, when the Lions won, 50-0.

“Lock Haven just kind of filled in last minute,” Sanderson said. “We had a team that wasn’t able to come in for whatever reason. Coach (Scott) Moore loves to compete, and he stepped up right away. We know they have a really good team. We’re expecting a great match, and we’re looking forward to competing.”