Here’s how former, current, future Penn State wrestlers fared at World Team Trials

The U.S. Senior World Team Trials took place in Omaha, Neb. this weekend.

There were four wrestlers competing that had ties to Penn State in former Nittany Lion and current Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor (92 kilograms), current team members Levi Haines (79 kg) and Connor Mirasola (92 kg) and future athlete PJ Duke (70 kg).

Of the four, Taylor was the lone competitor to secure a spot on the U.S. team that will compete in Tirana, Albania, Oct. 28-31.

Duke was the only other wrestler to place as he finished third after just winning a U20 World bronze medal in Spain last weekend.

Taylor, who competed for the first time since falling to Aaron Brooks in the Olympic Team Trials finals in April, was up at the new weight after competing at 86 kilograms. He took on current U.S. team member Zahid Valencia in a best of three series.

Taylor swept the series, but it wasn’t easy in the first match. The pair were tied 1-1 after one period of wrestling.

Valencia snapped off an early takedown in the second period, but Taylor responded right away. He had solid defense the rest of the way to win 3-3 on criteria.

In the second match, Taylor raced out to a 6-0 lead. He put Valencia in a cradle late for a fall with 11 seconds remaining in the first period to secure his world team spot.

Taylor had to work his way to that best-of-three series by winning the challenge tournament. He was the No. 1 seed in the tournament, where he cruised to the finals while not giving up a single point.

Taylor even had a fall to make the semifinals. In the finals, he topped former NC State wrestler and Mifflin County native Trent Hidlay, who gave Taylor his toughest match of the challenge tournament.

Taylor came away with a 10-6 win over Hidlay before taking on Valencia.

Duke, who was the No. 4 seed in the challenge tournament, wasted no time after coming back from Spain by reaching the semifinals with wins over Ohio State commit Vince Bouzakis (7-0) and former Missouri wrestler Jarrett Jacques (8-3 in quarterfinals). He was shutout by the No. 1 seed in former Michigan wrestler Alec Pantaleo, 7-0, in the semifinals.

Duke rebounded by topping former Michigan wrestler Will Lewan, 5-2, in the consolation semifinals. He took out another former Big Ten wrestler in Yahya Thomas, who competed for Northwestern, 5-1, for the third-place finish.

Haines and Mirasola each came up short of placing, but Haines made it the furthest of the two.

Haines opened by pinning Arkansas-Little Rock wrestler Joey Bianchi in 4:45. He then suffered a 4-1 loss to Jordan Burroughs in the quarterfinals.

In the consolation bracket, Haines opened by shutting out Bianchi’s brother, Matt, 9-0. He faced former Wisconsin wrestler Evan Wick in the quarterfinals.

Haines trailed Wick 4-4 by criteria late in the second period before throwing Wick to his back for a fall with 18 seconds left in the match. In the semifinals, Hains shut out two-time 165-pound NCAA champion Keegan O’Toole of Missouri, 6-0.

Haines faced the reigning 165-pound NCAA champion David Carr of Iowa State in the consolation finals with Carr controlling the match from the get-go in an 8-1 win.

Mirasola suffered an 11-0 loss in his challenge tournament opener against fellow Wisconsin wrestler Aeoden Sinclair.

In his opening match of the consolation bracket, the true freshman earned a 21-10 tech. Mirasola made the quarterfinals thanks to an injury default from Eric Schultz.

Mirasola saw his tournament come to a close with a 9-0 defeat from Marcus Coleman.