Beau Bartlett drops excruciating national title shot on historic Penn State night
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Beau Bartlett nearly avenged his only defeat of 2023-24 — in hopes of winning his first NCAA Championship.
Instead, he lost in excruciating fashion here in the T-Mobile Center.
The Penn State wrestling senior couldn't beat back Ohio State's Jesse Mendez in the very end of his Saturday night match for the 141-pound crown.
Mendez hit a title-winning takedown with just one second left in the match to break a tie and win, 4-1. Penn State's coaches challenged but the ruling was upheld.
It was Penn State's first national title defeat of the evening. Action began with conquering heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet. The Nittany Lions already wrapped up the team national title Friday (their 11th in 13 years) and were looking to make history tonight.
Bartlett had beaten Mendez in overtime at Rec Hall in early February but lost to him at the recent Big Ten Championships, which cost him his No. 1 NCAA seed. Tonight, Bartlett's steady, methodical style came up just short.
Bartlett fell to 24-2 this season. He finished third at last year's NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Bartlett said this Friday in preparation for his rematch with Mendez:
"I think in our first match when I won, I didn't walk away with much to learn from. He did," Bartlett said. "You want to learn as much as you can from every win and loss, but the fact of the matter is if you lose you have more things to learn than if you win. He beat me last time. I've been focused."
Penn State wrestling: Beau Bartlett charges NCAA Championships run
Bartlett got to the finals round because of two impressive wins in the Friday quarterfinals and semis — a pin of Minnesota's Vance Vombaur and a stifling 5-1 victory over North Carolina's Lachlan McNeil.
Penn State finalists-to-come include Biglerville's Levi Haines (157), Mitch Mesenbrink (165), Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (197).
Starocci and Brooks have the chance to tie the all-time NCAA record of four individual national titles.
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Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Beau Bartlett loses NCAA Championship as Penn State wrestling soars
