With the championship potential that Penn State’s 2024-25 prospective wrestling lineup boasts, it might not matter which teams are on this season’s Nittany Lion schedule.
The schedule is out and the teams on it are sure to provide at least some entertainment, but the question at hand is whether any team — Ohio State, Nebraska and Iowa included — can stop the Nittany Lions from building on their 56-match winning streak, four straight unbeaten seasons and extending their current NCAA championship run to four straight and 12 of the last 14 team titles.
The season begins for Penn State with six Nittany Lions set for the NWCA All-Star Classic sponsored by Flo, like last year set for Rec Hall on Nov. 16. Beau Bartlett (141), Shayne Van Ness (149), Tyler Kasak (157), Levi Haines (174), Carter Starocci (184) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) are scheduled to compete.
Starocci has the headliner as he is scheduled to meet last year’s 184-pound champion Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. Keckeisen defeated Penn State’s Bernie Truax in last year’s All-Star event. Another bout with incredible entertainment potential is Penn State’s Haines against 174-pound runner-up Rocco Welsh of Ohio State. Starocci defeated Welsh in last season’s finals 2-0.
The next day on the 17th marks the Nittany Lions’ home opener against the Drexel Dragons, a team from Philly that went 8-10 last season.
The non-conference schedule continues in December with the team’s first match away from Rec Hall set for 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8 at the PPL Center in Allentown against Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks look to field another competitive team led by No. 1-ranked Ryan Crookham at 133, No. 7 Michael Beard at 197 and No. 8 Nathan Taylor at heavyweight.
“Lehigh is always a great competitor,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said last week.
A new twist — literally, since according to school records the two teams have never met — is that fans will get to see the Wyoming Cowboys in Rec Hall on Dec. 15. The Cowboys, under coach Mark Branch, perennially boast a solid team that features a handful of highly competitive wrestlers such as No. 3 Jore Volk at 125 and No. 7 Joey Novak at 197.
“It’s pretty similar to the way it’s been, getting some good competitive matches in there,” Sanderson. “We have the All-Star match here, which is a great opportunity for us. It makes our schedule a little bit of a challenge, just because we have so many guys competing in it. So those are kind of the things we’ve had to kind of adapt our schedule to. But, yeah, we’re happy with our schedule.”
The Nittany Lions will kick off the Christmas break with a trip to Ensworth Frist High School 15 miles outside of Nashville, where they’ll compete in the Collegiate Duals on Sunday, Dec. 22. Teams joining Penn State are Ohio State, Iowa State, North Carolina, Lock Haven, Arkansas-Little Rock, Binghamton and Missouri.
The Lions’ half of the bracket has them paired with Binghamton (3 p.m.), Arkansas-Little Rock (5 p.m.) and Missouri (7 p.m.) for the three-team round-robin. The Missouri match should be highlighted by the 174-pound bout between Penn State’s Haines and the Tigers Keegan O’Toole, both NCAA champions.
“We’ll see some good competition at the Collegiate Duals,” Sanderson noted.
Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State and Maryland are the B1G teams that will visit State College this season, and the home highlight clearly is Iowa. The Hawkeyes and the Wolverines will be this year’s Jordan Center highlight matches on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7, respectively. Times will be announced when the Big Ten sets its television broadcast schedule.
“Those big duals at the Jordan Center, they sell out very fast,” Sanderson said. “I mean, you throw Iowa in there … they sell out pretty quickly. Michigan would sell out very quickly, obviously.”
The Hawkeyes once again hit the transfer portal like a shopping trip to Costco. They brought in Kyle Parco (149) and Jacori Teemer (157) from Arizona State and Steven Buchanan (197) from Oklahoma (and previously Wyoming). They lost Cullan Schriever (133) and Zach Glazier (197) to the portal; Nelson Brands (174) also returns.
Michigan didn’t shop around this year as much as last and is led by lightweights Dylan Ragusin at 133 and Sergio Lemley at 141.
Road trips to Illinois, Rutgers, Ohio State and Nebraska loom for the Lions, and the trips to Columbus and Lincoln will be most challenging. The Feb. 14-16 road trip to Columbus and Springfield, Illinois is one of just a pair of two-match weekends for Penn State.
The Lions’ final match and Senior Day foe is American on Feb. 21, a Friday instead of a typical Sunday season finale. It’s prior to the Big Ten Championships March 8-9 at Northwestern and the NCAA Championships March 20-22 at Philadelphia.
Penn State will be the site of next year’s Big Ten tournament and Cleveland will host the 2026 NCAAs. The NCAA announced its next four championship tournament sites (2025-28) as Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis and Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings with a capacity of 70,000 seats.
Opposing teams will have to face a Penn State team that most likely will return seven starters. Missing will be Olympic bronze medalist and four-time NCAA champion Aaron Brooks (197), All-American Bernie Truax (184) and either Braeden Davis or Aaron Nagao, each of whom are at 133 and will compete for the spot.
That leaves a hole at 125 that most likely will be filled by incoming star Luke Lilledahl, who in early September won the U-20 World Championships in Spain.
Truax’s spot at 184 will be occupied by Starocci, the sixth-year wrestler who is vying for an unprecedented fifth individual NCAA championship. The 197-pound slot most likely will be among returnee Lucas Cochran, redshirt freshman Josh Barr and incoming freshman Connor Mirasola, who just competed in the World Team Trials but did not place.
The seven other slots are equally stellar. NCAA runner-up Beau Bartlett is back at 141; 2023 All-America Shayne Van Ness returns at 149 after recovering from knee surgery just 10 months ago; All-America Tyler Kasak, who placed third at 149 as a freshman, is expected to bump up to 157 while Alex Facundo has certified at 157 and will compete for that spot as well; NCAA runner-up Mitchell Mesenbrink will stay at 165; NCAA champ Haines is set to jump to 174, and NCAA champ Greg Kerkvliet returns at heavyweight.
That’s a lineup with an overwhelming amount of firepower that will be difficult to match.
PENN STATE WRESTLING SCHEDULE
Sat.Nov. 16 NWCA All-Star Classic (Rec Hall) 7 p.m.
Sun.Nov. 17DREXEL 1 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 24 AtArmy Black Knight Invitational 10 a.m.
Sun.Dec. 8At Lehigh 2 p.m.
Sun.Dec. 15WYOMING 1 p.m.
Sun.Dec. 22 Journeymen Collegiate Duals, Nashville
Vs. Binghamton 3 p.m.
Vs. Arkansas-Little Rock 5 p.m.
Vs. Missouri7 p.m.
Fri.Jan. 10 MICHIGAN STATE TBA
Fri.Jan. 17 at Nebraska TBA
Fri. Jan. 24 at Rutgers TBA
Fri. Jan. 31 IOWA (Bryce Jordan Center) TBA
Fri. Feb. 7 MICHIGAN (Bryce Jordan Center) TBA
Sun. Feb. 9 MARYLAND TBA
Fri.Feb. 14 at Ohio State TBA
Sun.Feb. 16 at Illinois TBA
Fri. Feb. 21 AMERICAN 7 p.m.
Sat.-Sun. March 8-9Big Ten Championships, Evanston, Ill.
Thur.-Sun. March 20-22NCAA Championships, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
LINEUP FOR NWCA ALL-STAR CLASSIC
125: #3 Jore Volk, Wyoming vs #6 Tanner Jordan, South Dakota State
133: #2 Nasir Bailey, Arkansas-Little Rock vs #4 Evan Frost, Iowa State
141: #2 Jesse Mendez, Ohio State vs #3 Beau Bartlett, Penn State
149: #2 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State vs #3 Ty Watters, West Virginia
157: #4 Tyler Kasak, Penn State vs #5 Peyton Kellar, Ohio U.
165: #3 Hunter Garvin, Stanford vs #4 Peyton Hall, West Virginia
174: #2 Levi Haines, Penn State vs #3 Rocco Welsh, Ohio State
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184: #1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs #2 Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa
197: #5 Stephen Little, Arkansas-Little Rock vs #9 Zac Braunagel, Illinois
285: #1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs #3 Nick Feldman, Ohio State
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