2021 NCAA champion Roman Bravo-Young (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)
Welcome to a new recurring feature from InterMat as we lead into the 2021-22 collegiate season. We are about 50 days away from the start of the new season, so what better way to ring in the new year than to use that time to count down the top-50 current collegiate wrestlers. Each day a new wrestler will be released.
These rankings have been compiled by members of the InterMat staff and used a combination of collegiate achievements, with 2021 accomplishments carrying more weight than past years, along with win-loss records and notable wins. While we are counting down the top-50 wrestlers based primarily on collegiate accomplishments, it is impossible to totally ignore achievements in the international settings, so they did factor in slightly, too.
Before getting to the next wrestler on the list, look at the wrestlers previously profiled:
#50 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
#49 - Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)
#48 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
#47 - Kaleb Young (Iowa)
#46 - Rocky Elam (Missouri)
#45 - Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska)
#44 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State)
#43 - Brock Mauller (Missouri)
#42 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)
#41 - John Poznanski (Rutgers)
#40 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota)
#39 - Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State)
#38 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
#37 - Tariq Wilson (NC State)
#36 - Jacob Warner (Iowa)
#35 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State)
#34 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa)
#33 - Vito Arujau (Cornell)
#32 - Patrick Glory (Princeton)
#31 - Max Dean (Penn State)
#30 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)
#29 - Mike Labriola (Nebraska)
#28 - Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)
#27 - Austin DeSanto (Iowa)
#26 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh)
#25 - Evan Wick (Cal Poly)
#24 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa)
#23 - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)
#22 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)
#21 - Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)
#20 - Trent Hidlay (NC State)
#19 - Stevan Micic (Michigan)
#18 - Hayden Hidlay (NC State)
#17 - Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)
#16 - Michael Kemerer (Iowa)
#15 - Mason Parris (Michigan)
#14 - Shane Griffith (Stanford)
#13 - AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)
#12 - Carter Starocci (Penn State)
#11 - Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)
#10 - Myles Amine (Michigan)
#9 - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)
Next up is…
#8 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)
Weight: 133 lbs
Year: Junior
Career Record: 59-9
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
College Accomplishments: 2021 NCAA Champ, 2021 Big Ten Champ, 2020 NWCA All-American, 2019 NCAA 8th Place
2021-22 Preseason Ranking: #1 at 133 lbs
An undefeated record in Arizona, with four state titles, and a Cadet freestyle national title in Fargo, helped make Roman Bravo-Young one of the most sought-after recruits in the high school Class of 2018. Bravo-Young chose to enroll at Penn State to help stabilize their 133 lb weight class. The Nittany Lions did not have an All-American in either of the previous two years, which has become an eternity in State College.
With that in mind, Bravo-Young was thrust into the Penn State lineup immediately and proved to be an exceptional talent immediately. Bravo-Young won his first ten bouts in a Nittany Lion singlet, a span that went into the 2019 Southern Scuffle. There he was stunned and pinned by fellow freshman Austin Gomez (Iowa State). RBY responded with a third-place finish, then proceeded to win his first three Big Ten duals.
That brief streak came to an end with a surprising loss to Purdue's Ben Thornton. Bravo-Young appeared to be injured in the bout and stumbled to a 7-3 defeat. Even so, in his next outing, Bravo-Young turned in his most significant win of the season, to date, taking out returning All-American Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), 2-1 in tiebreakers.
A few weeks later, Pletcher would get his revenge in the semifinals of the Big Ten Championships, 8-5. The Nittany Lion freshman finished fifth after another loss, this time at the hands of Iowa's Austin DeSanto.
The fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships gave RBY the 10th seed at his first NCAA Tournament. After an opening-round win over Mario Guillen (Ohio), Bravo-Young was again paired with DeSanto, the seventh seed. Again it was DeSanto who prevailed, this time by a 7-2 score.
Just to earn a spot on the podium, RBY had to down #9 Chas Tucker (Cornell), #15 Thornton, and #4 Micky Phillipi (Pittsburgh). The Phillipi win came in the Round of 12 and was only the fourth loss of the year for the stingy Panther.
Bravo-Young would settle for eighth place after losses to John Erneste (Missouri) and Ethan Lizak (Minnesota). Though he may not have been satisfied with eighth place, Bravo-Young was the only true freshman AA at 133 lbs, a weight class that was deemed by most experts as the toughest in the last decade.
That weight class wasn't much different in 2019-20, but Bravo-Young improved with another offseason in the PSU wrestling room. He won his first 14 matches of the year and tallied bonus points in nine of those contests. Most notable was an injury default over DeSanto. Early in their heated dual, Bravo-Young locked up a cradle and appeared to be on the way to a pin. But, as DeSanto was turned to his back and was injured and ended up unable to continue.
Less than a week after the DeSanto win, Bravo-Young suffered his only loss of the regular season, a one-point setback to 2018 NCAA champion Seth Gross (Wisconsin).
At the Big Ten Championships, another bout with DeSanto was on the horizon. This one had less fireworks, but still ended in Bravo-Young's favor, 3-2. He would come up just short of a title, though, losing to Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern), who was fired up to wrestle in his home state.
The finals loss to Rivera gave Bravo-Young a 19-2 record and put him in as the fifth seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships. Unfortunately, the tournament was canceled at the outset of the Covid pandemic.
Notables on RBY's half of the bracket included #1 Rivera, #4 Phillipi, #8 Montorie Bridges (Wyoming), #9 Noah Gonser (Campbell).
The abridged 2021 campaign saw RBY cruise through a regular season that did not feature any duals against the top contenders in the B1G.
The 2021 Big Ten Championships were held on Penn State's campus, so RBY was able to compete in front of his home crowd (or a select group of family and friends). Bravo-Young made it to his second consecutive conference final after breezing by tough freshman Chris Cannon (Northwestern), 8-3. For his first conference crown, Bravo-Young notched another win over his Hawkeye rival, DeSanto.
A 9-0 record and a Big Ten title netted Bravo-Young with the second seed at the 2021 NCAA Championships. RBY scored bonus points in each of his first two bouts, getting a tech fall, before a major decision. In the quarterfinals, he held off eventual All-American Louie Hayes (Virginia), 4-1. After securing All-American honors for a second time, Bravo-Young edged Hayes' in-state rival, Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech), by a 5-3 score.
The Myers victory propelled the Nittany Lion star in the NCAA finals opposite the undefeated top-seeded Daton Fix (Oklahoma State). The two were knotted in a 2-2 match after seven minutes and needed extra time to decide a victory. In sudden victory, Bravo-Young stunned his Oklahoma State foe and secured a takedown to win and national title, 4-2.
Strengths: Bravo-Young has great footwork, movement, and keeps his stance. His motion and pressure on his opponent's head often leads to snapdowns and relatively easy takedowns. Bravo-Young's movement and impeccable timing leads to excellent reshots. Perhaps his best shot is a double leg. While, Bravo-Young's offense is his calling card, his riding skills can be underrated. That skillset proved to be a difference-maker in his national final against Fix. He and the PSU staff also constructed and executed an excellent game plan against DeSanto. Bravo-Young may be the first wrestler to wrestle with his arm behind his back to nullify DeSanto's dump attempts. His ability to stick to the gameplan has led to three consecutive wins against the Hawkeye. Bravo-Young is also deadly with cradles and can score from tilts, while on top.
2021-22 Outlook: As an undefeated, returning NCAA champion, RBY will be a favorite to repeat this year. Of course, that path to a title runs through Fix, who has since won a world silver medal in the offseason.
2021 NCAA champion Roman Bravo-Young (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
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