Penn State Transfer Alex Facundo Commits to Oklahoma State

David Taylor has landed a transfer from his alma mater.

Alex Facundo, a Penn State transfer, announced his commitment to Oklahoma State on Monday. Facundo was an NCAA qualifier for the Nittany Lions at 165 pounds in 2023. He went 5-0 this past season at 157 pounds.

 

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Out of Essexville, Michigan, Facundo was a four-time state champ in Michigan. Intermat considered Facundo the No. 2 wrestler in the 2021 recruiting class. He redshirted his first season at Penn State, going 11-3 in open tournaments with three pins and six major decisions.

He broke into the Nittany Lions’ lineup as a redshirt freshman in the 2022-23 season at 165 pounds. He went 19-6 that year with all of his losses coming to ranked competition. Facundo beat Cameron Amine and Caleb Fish in back-to-back duals that year while those Cowboy All-Americans were at Michigan and Michigan State, respectively. Facundo finished seventh at Big Tens before going 0-2 at the NCAA Championships.

Facundo took an Olympic redshirt for the 2023-24 season.

The Penn State lineup is tough to crack into. The Nittany Lions’ starter at 157 this past season was Tyler Kasak, who went 24-2, finishing third at NCAAs. Penn State’s 165-pound starter is Mitchell Mesenbrink, who was a finalist for the Hodge Trophy, while going 27-0 and winning a national title. Facundo’s situation is similar to that of Terrell Barraclough’s last season. After battling for years to try to crack Penn State’s lineup, Barraclough transferred to Utah Valley ahead of this past season and ended up finishing fifth at NCAAs at 165 pounds.

Facundo is the second wrestler the Cowboys have grabbed from the portal this offseason, joining Casey Swiderski (Iowa State). There are probably a few different spots Facundo could compete at in Stillwater, as the Cowboys graduated their starters at 157 (Fish), 165 (Amine) and 174 (Dean Hamiti Jr.).