Handful of Penn State wrestlers ready to take on NWCA All-Star Classic matches
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A year ago, Penn State wrestlers Aaron Brooks, Carter Starocci and Greg Kerkvliet all boarded a plane for Austin, Texas, to compete in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic.
The trio will again compete in the event, but with no travel involved — Rec Hall is set to host the event at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s a lot easier to have it here than to travel to Texas or wherever it was last year. Last year, I think they did a nice job,” Nittany Lions coach Cael Sanderson said. “It was a great event. It should be cool to be here inside Rec Hall. We are well represented, so it’s exciting.”
Kerkvliet agreed with his coach.
“It’s going to be cool. I mean, having it here is cool, having a lot of guys on our team wrestle is cool, so I think it’ll just be a good representation.”
As far as that representation, the event will have Shayne Van Ness and Bernie Truax joining Brooks, Starocci and Kerkvliet to have Nittany Lions in half of the 10 matchups slated to take place.
Levi Haines was set to compete as well, but his match was withdrawn from the event on Friday.
It is unclear why Haines’ match won’t go on, as Penn State didn’t respond when contacted. The reason could be that his scheduled opponent in Arizona State’s Jacori Teemer suffered an injury last weekend at the Journeymen Wranglemania.
Nevertheless, Sanderson said that the decision to compete in this event was all of his athletes’ choices.
And there’s something of a theme to the event for the Nittany Lions wrestlers.
In all but one of the matchups, the Blue and White will take on a familiar opponent. The top one of them all will be Starocci’s match, as he is set to take on Virginia Tech’s Mehki Lewis.
“I think he’s coming back, so it’d be nice to just keep sending him messages that I’m the man,” Starocci said on Thursday during media availability. “I’m going to look to get to his legs and score a lot of points. It’s just another year, just another day, so just take care of business.”
Starocci sneaked by Lewis, 6-5, in ultimate tiebreaker thanks to riding time in the 2022 NCAA finals for his second title. Last year, the pair squared off in the NWCA All-Star Classic, which Starocci won, 2-0.
Everyone knows that the three-time NCAA champ doesn’t shy away from competition, so to be facing Lewis again doesn’t faze him.
“He’s a guy that looks to back up and look for his counters. He knows the more he wrestles me, the worse it’s going to be,” Starocci said. “I look at it as another opportunity to get better, it doesn’t matter the opponent. I like wrestling guys more than once. (I can) keep letting them know that I’m going to keep getting better. (I can) keep beating those guys to keep putting that disbelief in them. (I can) keep sending them messages.”
Van Ness and Kerkvliet are getting a chance to send another message to their opponents, who they beat in the 2023 NCAA Championships in Tulsa.
Van Ness takes on Arizona State’s Kyle Parco. The pair faced off for third at 149 pounds last season with Van Ness coming away with a 7-2 win. And Kerkvliet has Air Force’s Wyatt Hendrickson, who is a pinning machine. Kerkvliet edged Hendrickson, 4-2, in the semifinals before suffering a loss to Michigan’s Mason Parris in the finals.
“It’s always going to be fun. Every opportunity to wrestle against top guys like that is always a great opportunity to get a high level match,” Kerkvliet said.
Truax will take on Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen, who became a familiar opponent to Brooks. However, these two have a history as well.
Truax, who was wrestling for Cal Poly, topped Keckeisen, 6-5, to make the 2022 semifinals. Keckeisen got payback in the same tournament when he topped Truax, 6-4, for third place.
Brooks is the only wrestler to take on a fresh face at his new weight of 197 pounds. He’ll take on South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan, who was the NCAA runner-up at the weight last year.
“There’s great matchups up and down the lineup, a lot of big matchups,” Sanderson said. “A lot of great opportunities coming off of (the offseason), and seeing where our guys are against some of the best guys in the country is exciting.”
NWCA All-Star Classic
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Rec Hall, University Park
Radio: WAPY (103.1 FM)
Online: Video, FloWrestling (Paid subscription)
Twitter: @byncobler, @pennstatewrest
Men’s Matchups |
125: No. 4 Matt Ramos, Purdue vs. No. 1 Anthony Noto, Lock Haven |
133: No. 6 Sam Latona, Virginia Tech vs. Connor McGonagle, Lehigh |
141: No. 3 Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina vs. No. 6 Clay Carlson, South Dakota St. |
149: No. 2 Shayne Van Ness vs. No. 3 Kyle Parco, Arizona St. |
157: No. 1 (DII) Nick Novak, St. Cloud St. vs. No. 1 (DIII) Nolan Hertel, UW-La Crosse |
165: No. 4 Dean Hamiti, Wisconsin vs. No. 6 Izzak Olejnik, Oklahoma St. |
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci vs. No. 3 Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech |
184: No. 2 Bernie Truax vs. No. 1 Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa |
197: No. 1 Aaron Brooks vs. No. 3 Tanner Sloan, South Dakota St. |
285: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet vs. No. 2 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force |
Women’s Matchups |
116: No. 1 (NCAA) Jaslynn Gallegos, North Central vs. No. 2 (NCAA) Samara Chavez, King |
130: No. 1 (NAIA) Sarah Savidge, Life vs. No. 2 (NCAA) Alexis Janiak, Aurora |
136: No. 1 (NAIA) Adaugo Nwachukwu, William Penn vs. No. 1 (NCAA) Yele Aycock, North Central |
160: No. 1 (NCAA) Marlynne Deede, Iowa vs. No. 1 (NAIA) Latifah McBryde, Life |
