B1G Question Answered: Updates on Penn State Wrestling’s Bartlett, Kerkvliet
By Evan Smith
Penn State Wrestling announced Beau Bartlett and Greg Kerkvliet will wrestle at this week’s Big Ten Championships, hosted at home in Happy Valley.
Beau Bartlett (149) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) will both wrestle for the regular season co-champion Nittany Lions (tied with the Iowa Hawkeyes).
Bartlett has only lost once this year (to #2 Sammy Sasso form Ohio State 5-3), completing the regular season at 7-1. He is ranked #10 by InterMat.
Meanwhile, Kerkvliet, who just weeks ago didn’t look like he’d be wrestling for the Lions at all this year, is 2-0 on the year, including pins against Maryland.
"“He wants to be a national champion and we think he’s right there, right now,” head coach Cael Sanderson said recently. “He has to dig deep here but every day he’s getting stronger and better.”"
The B1G Conference also announced their preliminary seedings. These can change prior to the start of the tournament but, for now, here they are:
125 — Howard (11 seed)
133 — Bravo Young (1)
141 — N. Lee (2)
149 — Bartlett (11)
157 — Berge (5)
165 — J. Lee (6)
174 — Starocci (3)
184 — Brooks (1)
197 — Beard (7)
285 — Kerkvliet (7)
If results follow the seeds, PSU would finish with 8 quarterfinalists, four semifinalsts and two champions.
Make sure you tune in this weekend on the Big Ten Network for full coverage of the entire tournament. Our final wrestling power rankings going into the tournament has the Hawkeyes and Lions 1 and 2.
Let’s see who finishes on top!