STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Whoever gets to practice first gets dibs on the team music selection. 

If Max Dean rolls into Penn State’s gym first, he’s usually lining up tracks with pounding drums and heavy guitars screaming through tube amplifiers. 

“Classic rock, anything with some good electric guitar, it’s hard to beat that,” Dean said.

While the pace of rock ’n’ roll has always been enough to get the Penn State 197-pounder’s feet shuffling before a workout, Dean found earlier this season that he needed a little something extra to keep him going for the long haul.

He didn’t want to get too specific before Tuesday’s practice in Happy Valley, but hinted he was distracted — almost without knowing it — when he dropped back-to-back matches last month to two foes who want to take his place as the 197-pound champ in March.

“I’ve never really been perfect with anything I’ve done,” Dean said. “I’ve always had to lose or needed a reminder. I’m a human being just like anybody else. It stinks losing. I hate losing but just definitely there were some things personally that I needed to reconcile with and grateful that I got to do that.”

After losing to Rider’s Ethan Laird and former teammate turned Lehigh starter Michael Beard on Dec. 2 and 4, Dean realized he was experiencing what a lot of defending NCAA champions nearing the end of their college careers experience. 

He wasn’t quite chasing the high of the previous March — when the matches meant so much more — as he was missing it.

“Coming off last year was such a high and this fall was like, maybe a little bit like I was just going through the motions,” Dean said. 

Getting outpaced in a 3-1 loss to Laird, then dropping a grueling, back-and-forth bout to Beard where Dean was taken down early in each period and hit for stalling, triggered an emotion that helped the Penn State senior snap out of his malaise. 

“When you have a really humbling moment like that, it just kind of reminds you, I still want to do this,” Dean said. “I want to win.”

Dean is 4-0 since. His most recent win came against Iowa State’s vaunted Yonger Bastida, who also has his sights set on a deep March run. Dean was impenetrable against the Cyclone, winning 4-1 to set up the second half of his season.

“I had kind of a strange start to my year,” Dean said. “It was good to have that as an opportunity to fix some things and maybe change the way I was thinking about some things.”

Who’s Up?

Penn State visits Wisconsin on Friday where the big question for the Nittany Lions will be who will go at 157?

Starter Terrell Barraclough has been mending an unspecified ailment but is listed in the team’s #1 spot on the prematch release. Coach Cael Sanderson referred to Barraclough as the team’s starter on Tuesday and noted that the sophomore is “doing fine” despite being unable to wrestle in the Collegiate Duals on Dec. 19 and 20.

Levi Haines, a true freshman, stepped in and impressed. He can wrestle in two more events without burning a redshirt year. If Barraclough needs more time, Haines can spell him for a bit longer without the hit against future depth.

“Levi has done a great job,” Sanderson said. “And we know he’s more than willing to step in and compete. But yeah, it’s just one of those deals where we’ll kind of let things play out a little bit and just kind of see what happens.”

Interestingly, Sanderson hinted that both Haines and Barraclough might not be long for 157, though it’s more likely that Barraclough, who’s in his fourth year in the program, could project at 157 farther down the road.

“(Levi)’s a freshman and probably won’t see a lot of time at 157,” Sanderson said. “So you’re also looking ahead obviously when you’re planning and looking at your lineup and seeing what’s the best play for these guys. You just want to do the right thing.”

Confidence Man

Beau Bartlett went ice skating in New York over the holiday season. He wouldn’t call himself an ice skater, though he managed not to fall down.

After a week of not thinking about his primary sport, Penn State’s wins leader (11-0) at the midpoint is feeling calm, cool and confident as he eyes a postseason run at 141.

He’s experiencing exactly what his coaches have preached and is taking advantages of the resources Penn State provides. It took more effort to seek those out in the high school game where schools’ budgets differ, coaches change more often and travel can be difficult depending on your locale.

“One thing that I think is a bit surprising,” Bartlett said. “It’s really easy to separate yourself in college wrestling. It’s significantly easier to be great in college wrestling than it is in high school. In college, most things are there for. you. All you have to do is do the right thing on and off the mat and if you’re doing the right thing every day, the results start to come, so I like that.”

Slow Down Coming

The Nittany Lions are entering an interesting portion of the schedule. They’ll wrestle at Wisconsin on Friday and then be off until hosting Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center on Jan. 20.

Sanderson isn’t worried about the lack of competition, especially considering they’ll be busy on the backend with four duals in nine days from Feb. 3 to Feb. 12.

“We just want to make sure we’re taking advantage of the time off and making sure we’re moving forward and not backward,” Sanderson said. “Free time is not usually a college kid’s greatest ally. It never has been and probably never will be. We’ve just got to make sure we have our guys focused and getting better.”