7 Crucial Keystone Classic Conclusions

Takeaways from the 2017 Keystone Classic, won by the Penn State Nittany Lions, an NCAA D1 wrestling program.

Nov 22, 2017 by Andrew Spey

The 2017 Keystone Classic lived up to the hype in the City of Brotherly Love this past weekend. Penn State shined at the historic Palestra on UPenn's campus, but there was plenty of competition from the field. Northwestern, Rider, Drexel, Duke, Penn, Harvard, and Eastern Michigan all had finalists that made for an electric Sunday of NCAA wrestling. Here's what we learned.

Full brackets are on FloArena. Results can be found here.

1) Walsh Is A Classic Pinfall Master

Walsh won the 165 bracket, picking up three pins along the way. His first pin of the day set the all-time career pin record for Rider, breaking Tim Morrison's 34-year-old record of 29. Walsh now has 32 pinfalls and counting.

Congratulations to Chad Walsh, who passed Tim Morrison '83 with his 30th career pin, becoming @RiderWrestling's all-time leader! #GoBroncs pic.twitter.com/rLRpZ6Enls
— Rider Athletics (@RIDERATHLETICS) November 19, 2017

2) Nevills Established Himself As The Classic No. 3 Heavyweight In The Country

Penn State's Nick Nevills bested then-No. 3 Tanner Hall of Arizona State at the NWCA All-Star Classic on Nov. 5. The California native followed it up by winning the Keystone Classic in a field with three other ranked 285-pounders. Nevills' victory in the finals over current No. 5 Jacob Kasper of Duke firmly establishes Nevills as the No. 3 heavy, with only Michigan's Adam Coon and Ohio State's Kyle Snyder standing in his path to glory.

3) The PSU Room Has Worked Its Typical Magic On Cortez

We haven't seen Jered Cortez wrestle a full collegiate season yet, but his performance at the Keystone showed that his time in the Penn State room has rubbed off on him in a good way. The junior 141-pounder exhibited the classic Nittany Lions wrestling behavior of constant attacks and relentless pressure. Cortez is currently ranked No. 18 and climbing.

4) DeSanto Is A Classic Honey Badger

Drexel true frosh Austin DeSanto has one of the most entertaining wrestling styles in the country. His offense is in the classic honey badger manner. Watch him demolish his quarterfinals opponent, Northwestern's Anthony Rubinetti, with a tech-fall in 3:15.

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5) The Future Looks Classic At Northwestern

Northwestern fans have the pleasure of watching two studly redshirt freshmen embark on their varsity careers. No. 14 Sebastian Rivera won the 125 bracket, and No. 10 Ryan Deakin finished as a runner-up to Zain Retherford at 149. Both looked excellent in Philly.

6) The Cassar vs. McCutcheon Wrestle-Off Rumors Are Probably True

Word around the PSU campfires was that redshirt sophomore Anthony Cassar had decidedly beaten redshirt senior and three-time NCAA qualifier Matt McCutcheon in a wrestle-off. Those rumors would appear to be true, as Cassar beat McCutcheon in the semifinals on his way to winning the 197-pound bracket over No. 12 Frank Mattiace.

7) The Nickal vs. Hall Pin Competition Is Classic

Penn State had seven champions at the Keystone Classic, winning the team trophy by a 34-point margin. Two of those champs were Mark Hall at 174 pounds and Bo Nickal at 184 pounds, who appeared to be in a competition with each other to record the fasted pinfall in the finals. Their two matches were back to back and can be found below.