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By Andy Stine
astine@altoonamirror.com
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Wrestling on Monday evenings is popular for pro wrestling fans as WWE's flagship "Monday Night Raw" has been running for more than three decades.
But at a place like Penn State, Nittany Lion wrestling could be scheduled pretty much any time and there would be a packed house.
Even though it wasn't on a traditional Friday night or Sunday afternoon, the annual Bryce Jordan Center dual meet still drew a large crowd of 12,049 to see the Nittany Lions' 35-3 dismantling of Rutgers.
"I have an exam on Thursday. That's going to put a little stress on it," PSU 174-pounder Terrell Barraclough said. "Yeah, now I have to study."
"We appreciate the fans coming out. I know Monday night is not ideal to travel," PSU coach Cael Sanderson said. "We made the most of it. I don't know if we wrestled great. I don't know if they would say we wrestled great."
Sanderson and Co. may not have wrestled as well as they'd like, but it was still enough to win 9 of 10 bouts, including three with bonus points.
But the most impactful wins came from a pair of backups in Barraclough and Lucas Cochran (285), who were both wrestling up a weight.
Barraclough, who usually weighs in just below 165 pounds, got a second period reversal on Rutgers' Jackson Turley to tie the match at 3. Barraclough used a tight leg ride through the third period to gain a riding time point to come away with a 4-3 victory.
It was a feel-good moment for Barraclough, who was a starter earlier in his career, but hasn't seen much mat time since the middle of last season.
"You don't want to be a Debbie Downer about it," Barraclough said. "You're just not getting any better, in my opinion, if you're going into practice every day thinking, 'What's this for?'"
Cochran did not know until halfway through the dual meet that he was going to be competing for Greg Kerkvliet, who was ill. Cochran responded with an upset of No. 8 Yaraslau Slavikouski, 7-3.
"I was just ready to go," Cochran said. "I'm just feeling grateful I got the opportunity to wrestle. You have to take advantage of those opportunities."
"We've had a lot of sickness going through as a team," Sanderson said. "Obviously Rutgers didn't have some guys in their lineup too. It's a tough time of the year."
Levi Haines (157) and Aaron Brooks (197) both picked up first period falls in their respective weight classes, while Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) continued to impress with an 18-3 technical fall over the Scarlet Knights' Anthony White.
The first two bouts of the night needed sudden victory to decide a winner with the two teams splitting the pair. Braeden Davis got a 4-1 win at 125 over Dean Peterson, while Aaron Nagao dropped a 9-6 decision to 10th-ranked Dylan Shawver for a minor upset.
Beau Bartlett also nearly needed a sudden victory period in the next bout at 141, but got a takedown in the last second on Rutgers' Max Hermes to get a 4-1 victory.
Tyler Kasak (149) and Bernie Truax (184) also picked up regular decisions on the night.
The win was the 1,000th in Penn State program history. This came just three days after Sanderson picked up his 200th victory at PSU against Iowa.
"We're very proud to be part of this program and tradition, and more so just the people that have been involved with the program," Sanderson said. It's the best of the best. We're happy to carry this flag. We're proud to be at Penn State."
Penn State (10-0 overall, 7-0 Big Ten) hosts Nebraska on Sunday at 4 p.m. for their final Big Ten dual meet of the season.
125 – Braeden Davis (PSU) dec. Dean Peterson (R, 4-1 SV. (3-0)
133 – Dylan Shawver (R) dec. Aaron Nagao (PSU), 9-6 SV. (3-3)
141 – Beau Bartlett (PSU) dec. Max Hermes (R), 4-1. (6-3)
149 – Tyler Kasak (PSU) dec. Michael Cetta (R), 7-5. (9-3)
157 – Levi Haines (PSU) pinned Dylan Weaver (R), 1:31. (15-3)
165 – Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) tech fall. Anthony White (R), 18-3 6:57. (20-3)
174 – Terrell Barraclough (PSU) dec. Jackson Turley (R), 4-3. (23-3)
184 – Bernie Truax (PSU) dec. Shane Cartegna-Welsh (R), 7-0. (26-3)
197 – Aaron Brooks (PSU) pinned Michael Toranzo (R),1:45. (32-3)
285 – Lucas Cochran (PSU) dec. Yaraslau Slavikouski (R), 7-3. (35-3)