2024 Black Knight Invitational Preview

The Black Knight Invitational is back again. This year’s event includes Army West Point, Binghamton, Bloomsburg, Columbia, Gardner-Webb, Long Island University, Michigan State, Penn State, and Rutgers. Top-ranked Penn State will wrestle a majority of their starters, while 18th Rutgers will have a limited contingent thanks to a dual at #5 Virginia Tech two days prior. The host school, Army West Point, comes into the event ranked #27. They will look to defend their title over Penn State and Rutgers. The event will stream on Sunday, November 24th at 10AM on Flowrestling. 125: Penn State’s freshman phenom will make his NCAA debut. His delay was expected last week but had to accept a forfeit in a dual against Drexel. We finally get to see him in action. Charlie Farmer of Army comes in with a 5-2 record, claiming a one-point win over Lane of Gardner-Webb. LIU’s Robbie Sagaris will look to keep the ranked wins coming after he knocked off Peterson of Rutgers a week ago. Kurt McHenry will make his return to the mat for the first time since November of 2023. Dean Peterson of Rutgers is not registered to compete. The assumption is an injury suffered last weekend. He’s currently ranked 16th in the nation. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #33 Luke Lilledahl Penn State 2. #21 Charlie Farmer Army 3. Robert Sagaris LIU 4. Tyson Lane Gardner-Webb Sulayman Bah Columbia Jeffrey Jacome Gardner-Webb Kurt McHenry Penn State Sawyer Ostroff LIU Connor Smith Columbia Caleb Uhorchuk Army Caleb Weiand Michigan State 133: Ethan Berginc of Army West Point will be the top seed in front of the home crowd. He’s also the lone ranked wrestler in the group. He’s a two-time NCAA qualifier, which is more than the entire field combined. The next seed, Tristan Lujan, was an NCAA qualifier last year who ended the season with a 17-17 record. Coincidentally, both of these wrestlers are wrestling up a weight class from last season. Gary Steen, of Penn State, and Boris Witmer, of Columbia, round out the seeds. Steen has not seen the mat since December 9th, 2023. Witmer and Berginc met once this season at the Princeton Open where Berginc won by 13-2 major. It’s noteworthy that Penn State’s Braeden Davis is not competing – leaving out the opportunity for a potential Berginc / Davis match-up. Davis won this invitational last season over Berginc in the finals with a 5-1 result. Lujan dropped a 4-2 decision to Davis in the semifinals. Also missing from the registration is Dylan Shawver from Rutgers. He’s a returning All-American with a ranking of #6 nationally. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #25 Ethan Berginc Army 2. Tristan Lujan Michigan State 3. Gary Steen Penn State 4. Boris Witmer Columbia Takeo Davis Gardner-Webb Jared Chuquilin LIU Kaelan Francois LIU Kyison Garcia Penn State Andrew Hampton Michigan State Tyler Lamon Gardner-Webb Timothy Levine Penn State Major Lewis Bloomsburg Charlie Sly Gardner-Webb 141: Beau Bartlett was last year’s champion, and he is the top seed for this year’s event. Army’s Basile was the runner-up at 133lbs last year. Todd Carter of Gardner-Webb has a win over Basile in their dual earlier in the month. Carter was 3rd at this event a year ago. Rich Treanor rounds out the seeded wrestlers – he placed 4th at last year’s invitational. Look for Lucier of Binghamton, Matthews of LIU, and Ryan Franco of Army to compete for a top-4 finish. Fongaro of Rutgers was 6th last year. With an abundance of capable Army West Point wrestlers, look for this to be a measuring stick on who may earn the spot moving forward. With Basile earning a trip to NCAAs last season, and starting the season ranked – he may be the frontrunner. One notable wrestler not registered is Columbia’s Kai Owen. He’s a returning NCAA qualifier currently ranked 26th. He would have been a nice addition with his ability to pin. Rutgers’ 141lbs wrestler Joey Olivieri is not registered as well. His ranking is currently 22nd. He is the 2nd ranked wrestler not slated to compete at this weight. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #3 Beau Bartlett Penn State 2. #28 Todd Carter Gardner-Webb 3. Braden Basile Army 4. Rich Treanor Army Nicholas Gorman LIU Amir Avazov LIU Jaden Crumpler Michigan State Ty Edwards Gardner-Webb Joe Fongaro Rutgers Ryan Franco Army Sean Larkin Michigan State Nathan Lucier Binghamton Devin Matthews LIU Cael Nasdeo Penn State 149: We saw Van Ness make his season debut at the NWCA classic with a major decision win over #3 Ty Watters of West Virginia. The All-American claims the top seed. Trae McDaniel of Army claims the 2nd seed with Andrew Clark of Rutgers as the 3rd seed. Richard Fedalen from Columbia is slated to be the 4th seed. Both of these guys are just outside the rankings. Clark’s teammate, Michael Cetta, was 5th in this event a season ago. We can expect him to be in the mix as the 33rd-ranked wrestler in the country. One would expect Van Ness to dominate this bracket, but the remainder of the place finishers will be entertaining. With two wrestlers registered from Rutgers – we can expect a battle for this position. Cetta is not seeded top 4, but has a national ranking. Clark is still a formidable opponent. They have each competed in two duals for the Scarlet Knights. Clark’s 4-2 record at the Princeton Open may give him a slight edge over Cetta, who went 2-2. Kenny Duschek of Columbia has a one-point loss to McDaniel and a pin over Cetta. He’ll be looking to make some noise at this event. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #2 Shayne Van Ness Penn State 2. #28 Trae McDaniel Army 3. Andrew Clark Rutgers 4. Richard Fedalen Columbia Kenny Duschek Columbia Thomas Bonasera LIU Nikolas Antonelli Bloomsburg Jordan Barry LIU Mason Barvitskie Army #33 Michael Cetta Rutgers Hayden Coy Bloomsburg Ivan Garcia Binghamton Joey Giordano Gardner-Webb Sam Harris Gardner-Webb Cooper Hornack Columbia Hunter Jones Gardner-Webb Connor Pierce Penn State Yanni Vines Columbia Drew Witham LIU 157: Kasak comes in as the 4th ranked wrestler after earning All-American honors a year ago at 149lbs. Facundo is coming off an Olympic redshirt season after an NCAA tournament appearance in 2023. He’s been at 165lbs for his entire career. Assuming these two meet in the finals, all eyes will be on this one. Kasak does have a redshirt to utilize, for what it’s worth. Drew Pepin of Gardner-Webb has an overtime win over Army’s Morris, earning him the 3rd seed over Morris. Columbia is bringing six wrestlers to this event. We’ve seen Jaden Le compete at EIWAs in the past. His only appearance thus far has been at the Princeton Open. Rossetti has started in both of Columbia’s duals – if this is an indicator of how this weight class has played out for the team at this point in the season. The top 6 from this event last year will not be in action this season. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #4 Tyler Kasak Penn State 2. Alex Facundo Penn State 3. Drew Pepin Gardner-Webb 4. Dakota Morris Army Jaden Le Columbia Brayden Roberts LIU Dominic Rossetti Columbia Rawson Iwanicki Columbia Nicholas Campagna Columbia Jake Wacha Columbia Tyler Barrett Columbia Tyler Brignola Gardner-Webb Jordan Brown Binghamton Jack Conley Michigan State Micah Hanau Army William Morrow Bloomsburg Fin Nadeau Binghamton Taythan Silva Army Braden Stauffenberg Michigan State Mason Stewart Michigan State 165: This weight class will see last season’s NCAA runner-up Mitchell Mesenbrink as the top seed. He will look to repeat as champion of this event as well. Filipowicz of Army will put his undefeated season on the line with six of his eight wins coming via major. His lone two decisions were against Alvan of Columbia and White of Rutgers. DJ Shannon of Michigan State has made the move down to 165 lbs after competing at 174 lbs for the previous five seasons. He is the lone unranked, seeded wrestler – making this a good test for him. For what it’s worth – he did place 3rd at this event a season ago. Anthony White is unseeded, but he’s been a national qualifier with a current ranking of #32. You can expect him to repeat, or improve, his 4th place finish at this event last year. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink Penn State 2. #14 Gunner Filipowicz Army 3. DJ Shannon Michigan State 4. #26 Cesar Alvan Columbia Cam Adams Michigan State Carter Baer Binghamton Aurelius Dunbar Penn State Leo Hess Bloomsburg Oliver Howard Columbia James Johnston LIU #32 Anthony White Rutgers 174: The pre-seeds include Nittany Lions at the top two, and two Black Knights right behind. Levi Haines was last year’s NCAA Champion at 157lbs after he was runner-up the year prior. Matt Lee was 6th in this event a year ago. Harkins is up from 174lbs, currently holding a 6-1 record. Haase is a freshman who took a major decision loss to Harkins at the Princeton Open. Haase is 3-3 against D1 competition on the year, including a win over Columbia’s McGill. Michigan State’s three wrestlers will find themselves battling for the starting spot. Rutgers did not register 18th-ranked Jackson Turley – an All-American in 2021. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #2 Levi Haines Penn State 2. Matt Lee Penn State 3. #31 Dalton Harkins Army 4. Cooper Haase Army Jack McGill Columbia Matt Romanelli Columbia Ryan Boucher Michigan State Corey Connolly LIU Ceasar Garza Michigan State Marty Larkin Michigan State Donavan Smith LIU Andrew Wilson Gardner-Webb 184: Carter Starrocci, next topic? He may be the best pound-for-pound wrestler we’ve seen in quite some time. Rutgers will have #21 Brian Soldano and Shane Cartegena-Walsh compete in the weight class. If seeds hold, expect an all-Scarlett Knight semi-final on the bottom half of the bracket. Cartegena-Walsh was the champion a season ago down at 174 lbs. LIU’s Anthony D’Alesio is a returning NCAA qualifier looking to make his way back into the rankings after taking a few losses early in the season. Army looks to have a positional battle between Christie and Karpinski. Christie was 174lbs to begin the year. He’ll make his debut at 184lbs. One of Penn State’s young studs, Zack Ryder, will make his collegiate debut. With a few NCAA qualifiers in the field, it will be a great litmus test for him. Expect Lucas Daly and Cory Thomas from Michigan State to solidify their argument to be the earn the starting gig for the Spartans. Daly was the runner-up here last season at 197lbs, now testing his luck at 184lbs. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #1 Carter Starocci Penn State 2. #21 Brian Soldano Rutgers 3. Shane Cartegena-Walsh Rutgers 4. Anthony D'Alesio LIU Braden Brown LIU Brixan Burgess Gardner-Webb Andrew Christie Army Lucas Daly Michigan State Spencer Fine Columbia Eidson Flores Gardner-Webb Cole Karpinski Army Zack Ryder Penn State Cory Thomas Michigan State 197: Here’s another weight class where the top two seeds are Penn State Nittany Lions. Lucas Cochran is 1-0 on the season. He made a name for himself last season when he defeated Rutgers’s All-American Slavikouski handily in a dual meet while giving up a ton of size wrestling up at heavyweight. Josh Barr is a young redshirt freshman with high expectations, who has yet to take the mat this season. He was 15-0 in his redshirt year wrestling at 184lbs, including a title at this same event when he knocked off multiple-time NCAA qualifier, Jacob Nolan of Binghamton in the semis. Could we see another all-Penn State final here? Kael Wisler was the champion last year in this weight class. Cotton’s national ranking sits at 27th. Michigan State has two very solid wrestlers in this weight class too. Army’s four entrants are led by Kohlhofer and Frable. Kohlhofer is down from heavyweight, looking to overtake this weight class from Frable. Bevis of Binghamton was 5th last year in this event. When we add Mirasola from Penn State into this mix, who has a very high ceiling, this may be the most open weight of the tournament. With a couple of teammates vying for the starting spot, expect some fun results! One ranked name missing from the entrants list is John Poznanski from Rutgers. He’s an All-American who’s made multiple trips to NCAAs. With a current ranking of 12th in the nation, he may have been the favorite. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. Lucas Cochran Penn State 2. #23 Josh Barr Penn State 3. Kael Wisler Michigan State 4. #33 Austin Kohlhofer Army Jack Bernik Columbia Cayden Bevis Binghamton #27 Remy Cotton Michigan State Maxx DeCapua LIU Kolby Flank Bloomsburg Wolfgang Frable Army Josh McCutchen Gardner-Webb Connor Mirasola Penn State Eli Pack Army Mason Rebulk Bloomsburg Ike Schmidt Columbia Reid Schroeder Army David Tuttle Bloomsburg 285: No surprise to see the defending NCAA champ take the top-seed. Kerkvliet will look to continue where he left off last year. Army’s Lucas Stoddard was 3rd at this event, but has improved by leaps and bounds. He just came back from a 5th place finish at the U23 world championships after winning PanAms a few months prior. Tibbitts of Binghamton and Mirasola of Penn State round out the seeded wrestlers. Mirasola (like his brother) were highly-touted recruits expected to be dominant forces in the upper weights at Penn State. It's noteworthy that Rutgers heavyweight Yaraslau Slavikouski has not entered. He’s a returning All-American who would add some depth to this bracket. Seed (Ranking) Name School 1. #2 Greg Kerkvliet Penn State 2. #20 Lucas Stoddard Army 3. Charles Tibbitts Binghamton 4. Cole Mirasola Penn State Billy McChesney Columbia Richard Ryu Columbia Chris Powell LIU Mason Blue Gardner-Webb Brady Colbert Army Tristen Hitchcock Army Tyler McCatharn Bloomsburg Peyton Mccomas Gardner-Webb Vincent Mueller Columbia Sam Sorenson Army Max Vanadia Michigan State

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2024 Black Knight Invitational Preview

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