PENN STATE WRESTLER GREG KERKVLIET ANNOUNCES PLAN FOR 2024-2025

Penn State wrestler Greg Kerkvliet is returning to the Nittany Lions for the 2024-2025 season. The newly-crowned NCAA 285-pound champion will be back in State College to try and win his second collegiate title in as many years next winter. He announced the news on social media.

Kerkvliet had his best season to date last year. He was 20-0 and became a four-time All-American after finishing the national tournament in eighth, third, and second over the three preceding years. He beat Michigan’s Lucas Davison by major decision, 13-4, in this year’s heavyweight title match.

What will the Penn State wrestling lineup look like in 2024-2025?

At this point, we know for a fact that Beau Bartlett will wrestle at 141 pounds. Greg Kerkvliet, now that he is set to join Bartlett and Starocci in returning, will man the heavyweight spot. The rest of the potential Penn State lineup, is up in the air. Here are just some of the questions that must be answered:

–Will sophomore-to-be Braeden Davis handle 125 pounds again? Could he redshirt instead? Might he bump up and challenge Aaron Nagao at 133 pounds? All options are on the table.

–Who will handle 149 pounds? It was returning All-American Shayne Van Ness’ spot until he suffered a season-ending injury in December. Sophomore-to-be Tyler Kasak took it after that and finished third at NCAAs. Could he redshirt this winter with Van Ness back in the lineup?

–Starocci told reporters Levi Haines is struggling to make 157 and Alex Facundo, who took an Olympic redshirt this year, might not be able to return to the 165-pound he vacated for Mitchell Mesenbrink. It could lead to an upper-weight lineup that sees Mesenbrink go to 157 pounds, Haines to 165, Facundo to 174, Starocci to 197, and Kerkvliet at heavyweight. That leaves 184 up for grabs, where a battle between sophomore-to-be Josh Barr and others would likely play out.

It’s a good problem for head coach Cael Sanderson and his staff to have. But, it will lead to some hard decisions and some potentially unhappy competitors. As we’ve seen, though, the members of the room rarely doubt the plan Sanderson and co., put in place for them, which is why there has been stunningly little transfer portal activity in the outbound direction for the program over the years even though Penn State has numerous backups on its roster who could absolutely start and perhaps even reach All-American status if they were competing elsewhere.

More information about the 2024-2025 Nittany Lion wrestling season will be announced later this year.

The post Penn State wrestler Greg Kerkvliet announces plan for 2024-2025 appeared first on On3.

2024-05-09T01:04:09Z dg43tfdfdgfd