Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson weighed in on the debate around Jax Forrest’s top seed in the 133-pound. He linked it with Carter Starroci’s past seeding controversy. The NCAA Wrestling Championships are slated for March 19 to 21.
With the championships arriving, seeding debates are common in college wrestling, and currently one of the most talked-about is Forrest’s top seed at 133 pounds. He was originally expected to be a high school senior in 2026; however, he quickened his enrollment at Oklahoma State, and he has made an undefeated start to his collegiate career. After wins against top contenders, such as Aaron Seidel, and winning a dominant Big 12 title, he received the top seed at 133 pounds.
However, his ranking is being questioned due to fewer high-level college matches as compared to wrestlers including Ben Davino and Marcus Blaze. The Penn State coach, Sanderson, recently addressed the media and was asked for his thoughts on Forrest’s top seed. Recalling Starroci’s seeding controversy, he said:
“This year I didn’t really look too deep into the seeds. In the past, obviously, there were like putting Carter at an 8/9 seed, you know, when you heard before that he was the seven, and then they went home that night, came back, and switched him to the 8/9, and you put three national champs in the same little, you know, section of the bracket, that kind of stuff. But it’s hard too because you don’t know if somebody’s actually hurt, if they’re not hurt. I mean, Carter won a national title with a messed-up leg, right? Messed up knee,” said Cael Sanderson.
He added:
“I mean, not very many human beings could do that, but this year I didn’t really look at it too closely. I think in the past there’s always you’re looking saying, “Okay, well, who’s on the committee? Okay, this makes sense. This doesn’t make sense.” And we just got to go wrestle and do our thing and just be ourselves. And we have a great group of kids, and you know, they’re going to compete regardless of where they’re at in the bracket.”
Sanderson recently opened up about why this Penn State team is different after their staunch Big Ten Championship win.
Cael Anderson made his feelings known about Penn State’s overall performance after Big Ten win
The Penn State wrestling team emerged victoriously from the Big Ten Championships by scoring 184 points and also produced seven champions. Following this stellar dominance on the mat, Sanderson sat for a post-meet press conference, where he discussed his team’s overall performance, stating that the wrestlers performed well and calling it a ‘tough conference.’
He further expressed relief, highlighting that all the wrestlers are heading towards the nationals in a healthy state.
“I think overall, obviously, it’s a very tough conference tournament with a lot of great wrestlers, and right before the nationals, sometimes it can be a little more of a challenge to get fired up. But you want to get in here and wrestle well, and, uh, we’re going through healthy, which is good. That doesn’t always happen. So, yeah, we’re excited to move into the nationals and happy for this weekend. Penn State did a great job, and the Big 10 also did a great job,” Cael Sanderson said.
Cael Sanderson recently
revealed how Penn State peaks during the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
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