Black Knight Invitational

[NM1965]

Courtesy of Flo the ranked wrestlers attending. Will PSU get 1st place at every weight in this creampuff tournament? Where is the 157 pound entrant for PSU? The only PSU guy I don't think will win his weight is Nagao, but even he will probably be top seed. 

Black Knight Invitational, hosted by Army West Point, 10:00 AM

• 125: #1 Luke Lilledahl, Penn State
• 125:# 18 Cooper Flynn, Chattanooga
• 125: #29 Charlie Farmer, Army
• 133: #9 Marcus Blaze, Penn State
• 133: #17 Takeo Davis, Gardner-Webb
• 133: #23 Ethan Berginc, Army
• 141: #12 Aaron Nagao, Penn State
• 141: #20 Braden Basile, Army
• 141: #28 Lorenzo Frezza, Columbia
• 149: #1 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State
• 157: #17 Cody Chittum, Chattanooga
• 157: #31 Kaleb Burgess, Buffalo
• 157: #32 Joe Antonio, Army
• 165: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State
• 165: #21 Gunner Filipowicz, Army
• 174: #1 Levi Haines, Penn State
• 174: #31 Carter Baer, Binghamton
• 174: #32 Nick Fine, Columbia
• 184: #4 Rocco Welsh, Penn State
• 184: #16 Aaron Ayzerov, Columbia
• 197: #1 Josh Barr, Penn State
• 197: #20 Wolfgang Frable, Army
• 197: #25 Jack Wehmeyer, Columbia
• 285: #10 Cole Mirasola, Penn State
• 285: #16 Brady Colbert, Army

Edited November 20, 2025 by NM1965

[Pinnacle]

8 minutes ago, NM1965 said:

Courtesy of Flo the ranked wrestlers attending. Will PSU get 1st place at every weight in this creampuff tournament? Where is the 157 pound entrant for PSU? The only PSU guy I don't think will win his weight is Nagao, but even he will probably be top seed. 

Black Knight Invitational, hosted by Army West Point, 10:00 AM

• 157: #17 Cody Chittum, Chattanooga
• 157: #31 Kaleb Burgess, Buffalo
• 157: #32 Joe Antonio, Army
•  
• 197: #1 Josh Barr, Penn State
• 197: #20 Wolfgang Frable, Army
• 197: #25 Jack Wehmeyer, Columbia

 

197 Barr is not wrestling, they are sending Mirasola. 

157 Penn State is sending PJ Duke and Joe Sealey. I expect Duke wo win that bracket and Sealey might be good enough to take 2nd. 

174 I hope Penn State sends William Henckel. He beat Brock Mantanona 10-0, 10-0 this summer in WTT so he would be worth the watch.

Edited November 20, 2025 by Pinnacle

[NM1965]

3 minutes ago, Pinnacle said:

 

197 Barr is not wrestling, they are sending Mirasola. 

157 Penn State is sending PJ Duke and Joe Sealey. I expect Duke wo win that bracket and Sealey might be good enough to take 2nd. 

174 I hope Penn State sends William Henckel. He beat Brock Mantanona 10-0, 10-0 this summer in WTT so he would be worth the watch.

Probably Duke isn't ranked because he has no matches yet, but didn't Sealey wrestle last week against OU? I'm surprised he didn't crack the top 33 at FLO. 

Mirasola is still probably the best at 197 since Barr isn't coming. 

What do you think of Nagao's chances? I don't like his offense at all, it looks like he's made no strides on offense. The tournament is weak enough he should probably win it anyway. 

[Pinnacle]

3 minutes ago, NM1965 said:

Probably Duke isn't ranked because he has no matches yet, but didn't Sealey wrestle last week against OU? I'm surprised he didn't crack the top 33 at FLO. 

Mirasola is still probably the best at 197 since Barr isn't coming. 

What do you think of Nagao's chances? I don't like his offense at all, it looks like he's made no strides on offense. The tournament is weak enough he should probably win it anyway. 

 

At his weekly press conf. Sanderson said Sealey was probably a top ten wrestler at 157, so a potential match up with Chittum would show one way or the other.

Nagao looked to me like he looked 2 years ago. He has been in college for 6 years now and guys have typically shown by that point where they are at. 

[NM1965]

5 minutes ago, Pinnacle said:

 

At his weekly press conf. Sanderson said Sealey was probably a top ten wrestler at 157, so a potential match up with Chittum would show one way or the other.

Nagao looked to me like he looked 2 years ago. He has been in college for 6 years now and guys have typically shown by that point where they are at. 

I watched Nagao's match with Braun from OU last week. Braun was the guy taking all the shots in that match. Nagao had a pretty awesome defensive takedown coming out the backdoor on the first takedown, but that was about it from him.  I concur, he's pretty much the same guy he was years ago. 

[Spencerlee]

Good to see Buchanans son back on the mat

[GimJustafan]

1 hour ago, Pinnacle said:

 

At his weekly press conf. Sanderson said Sealey was probably a top ten wrestler at 157, so a potential match up with Chittum would show one way or the other.

 

while the top ranked guy listed (17)  / not sure Chittum is the litmus test needed for Sealy when it comes to being a top 10 guy - 

CC he has a bounced around from school to school with meteoric results after coming in extremely hyped from HS 

 

i look for an all PSU  final assuming they are on opposites of the bracket 

[Antitroll2828]

2 hours ago, NM1965 said:

Courtesy of Flo the ranked wrestlers attending. Will PSU get 1st place at every weight in this creampuff tournament? Where is the 157 pound entrant for PSU? The only PSU guy I don't think will win his weight is Nagao, but even he will probably be top seed. 

Black Knight Invitational, hosted by Army West Point, 10:00 AM

• 125: #1 Luke Lilledahl, Penn State
• 125:# 18 Cooper Flynn, Chattanooga
• 125: #29 Charlie Farmer, Army
• 133: #9 Marcus Blaze, Penn State
• 133: #17 Takeo Davis, Gardner-Webb
• 133: #23 Ethan Berginc, Army
• 141: #12 Aaron Nagao, Penn State
• 141: #20 Braden Basile, Army
• 141: #28 Lorenzo Frezza, Columbia
• 149: #1 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State
• 157: #17 Cody Chittum, Chattanooga
• 157: #31 Kaleb Burgess, Buffalo
• 157: #32 Joe Antonio, Army
• 165: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State
• 165: #21 Gunner Filipowicz, Army
• 174: #1 Levi Haines, Penn State
• 174: #31 Carter Baer, Binghamton
• 174: #32 Nick Fine, Columbia
• 184: #4 Rocco Welsh, Penn State
• 184: #16 Aaron Ayzerov, Columbia
• 197: #1 Josh Barr, Penn State
• 197: #20 Wolfgang Frable, Army
• 197: #25 Jack Wehmeyer, Columbia
• 285: #10 Cole Mirasola, Penn State
• 285: #16 Brady Colbert, Army

Who is beating Nagao? He pinned the next highest ranked guy in 52 seconds last time he was at the black knight invitational 

[NM1965]

8 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Who is beating Nagao? He pinned the next highest ranked guy in 52 seconds last time he was at the black knight invitational 

That's what I'm saying, the meet is so weak he'll probably win anyway. But his offense is so bad I could maybe see somebody beating him. 

[Antitroll2828]

1 hour ago, NM1965 said:

That's what I'm saying, the meet is so weak he'll probably win anyway. But his offense is so bad I could maybe see somebody beating him. 

I dont think Nagao will ever be ncaa champ but he’s a legit guy. Idk where this narrative about his bad offense came from. He wrestles a funky style and wants guys in on his legs and wants to scramble , that’s just his style. He was 5th as freshman beating 2 eventual ncaa champs , then R12 wrestling with a bum knee, then misses an entire year and Cael still has enough faith in him to redshirt both Davis and Ono and not look for someone in portal. I think a little too much weight is being put on this match with Braun, it was his first folk match in 2 years and he was literally inviting him into his legs the entire match and smiling most of the time doing it, the guy was just out there having fun competing.
 

 

[nhs67]

4 hours ago, NM1965 said:

Probably Duke isn't ranked because he has no matches yet, but didn't Sealey wrestle last week against OU? I'm surprised he didn't crack the top 33 at FLO. 

Mirasola is still probably the best at 197 since Barr isn't coming. 

What do you think of Nagao's chances? I don't like his offense at all, it looks like he's made no strides on offense. The tournament is weak enough he should probably win it anyway. 

Because Flo knows that Duke is the starter, they wouldn't rank Sealey.

[GV4444]

On 11/20/2025 at 9:38 AM, NM1965 said:

I watched Nagao's match with Braun from OU last week. Braun was the guy taking all the shots in that match. Nagao had a pretty awesome defensive takedown coming out the backdoor on the first takedown, but that was about it from him.  I concur, he's pretty much the same guy he was years ago. 

Exactly.  His offense is weak.  He lets people get in on his legs and then scrambles.   Works fine against #30 or worse, but doesn't against top competition.   Just like his double boot ride.   He's only going to turn the lesser competition from that position.   It's a great ride, but I think he's going to get some quick stall calls with it.  The other issue with his double boot rides is that he can get too high.  I think this weight is one of the two that PSU doesn't get an AA, with the other being 285.  Nagao and Cole M.  will need a very favorable draw to reach AA.

PSU had 20 wrestlers at the event, 3 at 149 and 1 at 197.

Edited November 23, 2025 by GV4444

[Hilton Head Joe]

This is a PSU wrestle off at 157!!!!! And to a lesser extent 174 & 184. 157 if we are honest will be the 1 and 2 guys in the nation. I would pay just to watch this match! Supposedly Sealey is finally back at full strength.

Edited November 23, 2025 by Hilton Head Joe

[Pinnacle]

6 minutes ago, Hilton Head Joe said:

This is a PSU wrestle off at 157!!!!! And to a lesser extent 174 & 184. 157 if we are honest will be the 1 and 2 guys in the nation. I would pay just to watch this match! Supposedly Sealey is finally back at full strength.

PJ Duke being a freshman would probably wrestle sealey.

Haines does not need to wrestle Henckel outside of the room, and probably the same can be said of Welsh and Cunningham.

[Antitroll2828]

1 hour ago, GV4444 said:

Exactly.  His offense is weak.  He lets people get in on his legs and then scrambles.   Works fine against #30 or worse, but doesn't against top competition.   Just like his double boot ride.   He's only going to turn the lesser competition from that position.   It's a great ride, but I think he's going to get some quick stall calls with it.  The other issue with his double boot rides is that he can get too high.  I think this weight is one of the two that PSU doesn't get an AA, with the other being 285.  Nagao and Cole M.  will need a very favorable draw to reach AA.

PSU had 20 wrestlers at the event, 3 at 149 and 1 at 197.

Only works for #30 or worse? That’s strange because he has wins over Mendez, Byrd, Bouzakis, Van Dee, Shawver, Kai Orine, Mickey Phillipi, Taylor Lamont, Ravon Foley in his career. All of which are AAs or top 10 guys that he beat using the same exact style 

[Pinnacle]

Marcus Blaze turns 19 today and celebrates with a first period TF.

 

Edited November 23, 2025 by Pinnacle

[Pinnacle]

Nate Desmond with 4 minute TF. Kysen Garcia with 3rd period TF.

[Pinnacle]

Nagao win 3:31 TF. Van Ness by bow and arrow fall in a little over 1 minute.

Dalton Perry and Connor Pierce are on the mat as is PJ Duke.

Matches are going quick. Duke win by fall over Army in 1:38. Had a tight cradle on his opponent after 3 prior takedowns.

Edited November 23, 2025 by Pinnacle

[Truzzcat]

PJ looks like hes drilling

[Pinnacle]

Perry with 6 takedowns on the way to a TF in 5:22. Higher attack rate than I have seen from him b4. 

Connor Pierce wins by TF in 5:55.

Mesenbrink and Sealey are on deck.

[scorenomore]

13 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

PJ looks like hes drilling

I thought the same thing, each takedown was different and smooth. Amazing that he look like he is just drilling with live competition!

[Pinnacle]

Joe Sealey vs a freshman from Army. Instant TD. Esc. This looks like a catch and release set up. 6 tds and 1:42 rt in period 1. Cross face to Fall in 3:24. 

Mesenbrink needed 3 seconds to get first Td. Period 1 ends at 6-2 as a late td waived off.

Henckel now on the mat. Go behind for quick td. Now another td. 

[Pinnacle]

Mesenbring by Fall in 4:40. 

Henckel leads 15-3 in 2nd period. Now a blast double. 18-4 after 2. Pulled singlet makes it 19-4 TF early 3rd period.

[Pinnacle]

Haines and Mirasola soon in round of 16.

Lilledahl soon in QF match.

[Le duke]

Iowa fans will be disappointed to learn that Will Henckel is going to be a very minimal drop off when Levi Haines graduates.