Sunday, December 3
University Park, Pa.
2:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
Penn State
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
No. 20 Lehigh Visits No. 1 Penn State Sunday Live On Big Ten Network
11/30/2023 9:22:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - After having Thanksgiving weekend off from competition, No. 20 Lehigh travels to No. 1 Penn State Sunday for the 111th meeting of Lehigh's most-contested dual series. The Mountain Hawks dropped their dual opener to Pittsburgh at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall on Nov. 19 and will now square off against the two-time defending national champions in Penn State's dual meet opener. True first-year Luke Stanich (125), deferred first-year Ryan Crookham (133) and junior Michael Beard (197) picked up wins against the Panthers, with Crookham and Beard scoring bonus points against ranked foes, but visiting Pitt claimed six straight wins from 141 through 184 and won seven bouts by decision overall. Penn State opens its dual season with four No. 1-ranked wrestlers and has eight top three-ranked wrestlers in its projected lineup.
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Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings InterMat 11/28/23)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
133 No. 5/Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)
141 No. 10 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)Â
      Carter Bailey (So., Livermore, Calif.)
149 Drew Munch (Jr., East Stroudsburg, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
157 No. 24 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)Â
165 No. 32 Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
174 Thayne Lawrence (So., Perryopolis, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
184 Caden Rogers (Fy., Lancaster, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
      Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 10 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
285 No. 12 Nathan Taylor (So.. Brookville, Pa.)Â
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No. 17 Lehigh captured the first two bouts to take an early 7-0 lead but No. 23 Pittsburgh answered with six consecutive wins by decision on the way to a 21-12 win over the Mountain Hawks in Lehigh's dual meet opener in front of a capacity crowd Nov. 19 inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. True first-year Luke Stanich (125), deferred first-year Ryan Crookham (133) and junior Michael Beard (197) delivered wins for the Mountain Hawks, with Crookham and Beard providing bonus points, but Lehigh was unable to capture its second straight dual-opening victory. Stanich overcame an early 5-0 deficit to defeat Colton Camacho 8-5 in the opening bout of the dual and Crookham followed with an 11-2 major decision over Vinnie Santaniello to give the Mountain Hawks a 7-0 lead. Beard stopped the six-match Pitt run with a dominant 18-3 technical fall over Mac Stout.
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Lehigh will face its first top five-ranked opponent of the season Sunday after the Mountain Hawks faced two top five foes last year. The Mountain Hawks own five dual wins over top five teams under Pat Santoro including two (No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Arizona State) during the 2019-20 season. In addition, Lehigh has defeated No. 1 Cornell in 2010-11, No. 3 Ohio State in 2014-15 and No. 4 Michigan in 2017-18. All of Lehigh's top five wins under Santoro have come at home except for the win over Ohio State, which came at the NWCA National Duals in Iowa City, Iowa.
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Junior Connor McConagle represented the Mountain Hawks at the NWCA All-Star Classic, Nov. 21 at Penn State's Rec Hall. McGonagle, ranked sixth in the preseason, defeated Virginia Tech's Sam Latona 7-5 in the tiebreakers to earn Lehigh's first win in the event proper since Mitch Minotti pinned South Dakota State's Cody Pack in sudden victory in 2015. McGonagle opened the scoring with a first period takedown and scored the decisive points with a reversal in the first half of the tiebreakers. After dropping down from 141 to 133, McGonagle enjoyed an outstanding 2022-23 campaign, going 12-3 and being ranked in the top 10 nationally for most of the season. McGonagle earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships but was unable to compete due to an injury sustained in the EIWA quarterfinals. He was the first Lehigh wrestler to compete in the NWCA All-Star Classic since Darian Cruz wrestled Oklahoma State's Nick Piccininni in 2017.
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Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from InterMat, while Six Mountain Hawks are ranked by FloWrestling and WrestleStat. In addition, four Mountain Hawks are ranked by Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat. Ryan Crookham's win over previous No. 1 Vito Arujau of Cornell vaulted him into FloWrestling's No. 1 spot at 133. Crookham, juniors Malyke Hines (141) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) are ranked across all five outlets. First-year Luke Stanich joined InterMat's rankings following his dual debut victory against Pitt.
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Sunday's match marks a return to Penn State for junior Michael Beard, who was a member of the Nittany Lions from 2019 through 2022. Beard went 18-8 in two official seasons for Penn State, earning All-America honors with a seventh place finish in 2021. He transferred to Lehigh in the summer of 2022 and went 22-5 in his first season with the Mountain Hawks, finishing second in the EIWA and finishing one win short of All-America honors. Beard faced off against his former squad last year at Stabler Arena and defeated former teammate Max Dean 11-9 on the way to earning EIWA Wrestler of the Week honors. Beard is 7-1 to start the season and could face off against Penn State's NCAA Champion Aaron Brooks, who has moved up from 184.
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Top-ranked Penn State opens its dual schedule Sunday with a visit from Lehigh. Penn State has competed at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic and the Black Knight Invite and had five wrestlers compete at the NWCA All-Star Classic. The Nittany Lions have won six of the last seven and 10 of the last 12 NCAA team championships, including last year's triumph in Tulsa, Okla. Penn State has wrestlers ranked at nine of 10 weight classes by InterMat, including four No. 1-ranked wrestlers and eight in the top three. Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (197) are returning NCAA Champions, with Brooks bumping up after winning three consecutive titles at 184. NCAA wrestling legend Cael Sanderson is in his 15th season as Penn State's head coach.
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Penn State serves as Lehigh's most-often wrestled opponent. Sunday's dual marks the 111th meeting of Lehigh's most-contested series. Lehigh and Penn State met at least once in 87 consecutive seasons before the 2020-21 meeting was erased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nittany Lions have won the last 12 duals in the series. Lehigh won the first two duals with Penn State under Pat Santoro, but Santoro is now 2-12 versus the Nittany Lions as Lehigh's head coach. The Mountain Hawks' last dual win over the Nittany Lions was Cael Sanderson's first dual as Penn State head coach in Nov. 2009.
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Sunday's dual begins at 2 p.m. from Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. The dual will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 1:45 p.m.
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Prior to pausing for final exams, Lehigh will face another top-15 foe on the road as the Mountain Hawks will visit No. 11 Oklahoma State on Friday, Dec. 8. Lehigh and Oklahoma State will be meeting for the fifth time in the last six seasons (they did not meet in the 2021 COVID season) with the Mountain Hawks looking to knock off the Cowboys for the first time since November 2019. The match is set for a 7 p.m. CT start (8 p.m. ET) from Historic Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on X/Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings InterMat 11/28/23)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
133 No. 5/Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)
141 No. 10 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)Â
      Carter Bailey (So., Livermore, Calif.)
149 Drew Munch (Jr., East Stroudsburg, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
157 No. 24 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)Â
165 No. 32 Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
174 Thayne Lawrence (So., Perryopolis, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
184 Caden Rogers (Fy., Lancaster, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
      Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 10 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
285 No. 12 Nathan Taylor (So.. Brookville, Pa.)Â
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No. 17 Lehigh captured the first two bouts to take an early 7-0 lead but No. 23 Pittsburgh answered with six consecutive wins by decision on the way to a 21-12 win over the Mountain Hawks in Lehigh's dual meet opener in front of a capacity crowd Nov. 19 inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. True first-year Luke Stanich (125), deferred first-year Ryan Crookham (133) and junior Michael Beard (197) delivered wins for the Mountain Hawks, with Crookham and Beard providing bonus points, but Lehigh was unable to capture its second straight dual-opening victory. Stanich overcame an early 5-0 deficit to defeat Colton Camacho 8-5 in the opening bout of the dual and Crookham followed with an 11-2 major decision over Vinnie Santaniello to give the Mountain Hawks a 7-0 lead. Beard stopped the six-match Pitt run with a dominant 18-3 technical fall over Mac Stout.
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Lehigh will face its first top five-ranked opponent of the season Sunday after the Mountain Hawks faced two top five foes last year. The Mountain Hawks own five dual wins over top five teams under Pat Santoro including two (No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Arizona State) during the 2019-20 season. In addition, Lehigh has defeated No. 1 Cornell in 2010-11, No. 3 Ohio State in 2014-15 and No. 4 Michigan in 2017-18. All of Lehigh's top five wins under Santoro have come at home except for the win over Ohio State, which came at the NWCA National Duals in Iowa City, Iowa.
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Junior Connor McConagle represented the Mountain Hawks at the NWCA All-Star Classic, Nov. 21 at Penn State's Rec Hall. McGonagle, ranked sixth in the preseason, defeated Virginia Tech's Sam Latona 7-5 in the tiebreakers to earn Lehigh's first win in the event proper since Mitch Minotti pinned South Dakota State's Cody Pack in sudden victory in 2015. McGonagle opened the scoring with a first period takedown and scored the decisive points with a reversal in the first half of the tiebreakers. After dropping down from 141 to 133, McGonagle enjoyed an outstanding 2022-23 campaign, going 12-3 and being ranked in the top 10 nationally for most of the season. McGonagle earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships but was unable to compete due to an injury sustained in the EIWA quarterfinals. He was the first Lehigh wrestler to compete in the NWCA All-Star Classic since Darian Cruz wrestled Oklahoma State's Nick Piccininni in 2017.
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Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from InterMat, while Six Mountain Hawks are ranked by FloWrestling and WrestleStat. In addition, four Mountain Hawks are ranked by Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat. Ryan Crookham's win over previous No. 1 Vito Arujau of Cornell vaulted him into FloWrestling's No. 1 spot at 133. Crookham, juniors Malyke Hines (141) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) are ranked across all five outlets. First-year Luke Stanich joined InterMat's rankings following his dual debut victory against Pitt.
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Sunday's match marks a return to Penn State for junior Michael Beard, who was a member of the Nittany Lions from 2019 through 2022. Beard went 18-8 in two official seasons for Penn State, earning All-America honors with a seventh place finish in 2021. He transferred to Lehigh in the summer of 2022 and went 22-5 in his first season with the Mountain Hawks, finishing second in the EIWA and finishing one win short of All-America honors. Beard faced off against his former squad last year at Stabler Arena and defeated former teammate Max Dean 11-9 on the way to earning EIWA Wrestler of the Week honors. Beard is 7-1 to start the season and could face off against Penn State's NCAA Champion Aaron Brooks, who has moved up from 184.
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Top-ranked Penn State opens its dual schedule Sunday with a visit from Lehigh. Penn State has competed at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic and the Black Knight Invite and had five wrestlers compete at the NWCA All-Star Classic. The Nittany Lions have won six of the last seven and 10 of the last 12 NCAA team championships, including last year's triumph in Tulsa, Okla. Penn State has wrestlers ranked at nine of 10 weight classes by InterMat, including four No. 1-ranked wrestlers and eight in the top three. Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (197) are returning NCAA Champions, with Brooks bumping up after winning three consecutive titles at 184. NCAA wrestling legend Cael Sanderson is in his 15th season as Penn State's head coach.
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Penn State serves as Lehigh's most-often wrestled opponent. Sunday's dual marks the 111th meeting of Lehigh's most-contested series. Lehigh and Penn State met at least once in 87 consecutive seasons before the 2020-21 meeting was erased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nittany Lions have won the last 12 duals in the series. Lehigh won the first two duals with Penn State under Pat Santoro, but Santoro is now 2-12 versus the Nittany Lions as Lehigh's head coach. The Mountain Hawks' last dual win over the Nittany Lions was Cael Sanderson's first dual as Penn State head coach in Nov. 2009.
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Sunday's dual begins at 2 p.m. from Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. The dual will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 1:45 p.m.
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Prior to pausing for final exams, Lehigh will face another top-15 foe on the road as the Mountain Hawks will visit No. 11 Oklahoma State on Friday, Dec. 8. Lehigh and Oklahoma State will be meeting for the fifth time in the last six seasons (they did not meet in the 2021 COVID season) with the Mountain Hawks looking to knock off the Cowboys for the first time since November 2019. The match is set for a 7 p.m. CT start (8 p.m. ET) from Historic Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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| Date: | December 3, 2023 |
| Opponent: | No. 1 Penn State Nittany Lions |
| First match: | 2:05 p.m. |
| Arena: | Rec Hall |
| Location: | University Park, Pa. |
| Lehigh's record: | 0-1 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Penn State's record: | 0-0 overall, 0-0 B1G |
| Series: | Penn State leads 73-34-3 |
| Streak: | Penn State has won the last 12 duals |
| Television: | Big Ten Network |
| Radio: | Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton |
| Internet broadcast: | Video on the Fox Sports App Audio at LVFoxSports.com |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on X/Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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Players Mentioned
133/141
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
174
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
125/133
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
184
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