3 Burning Questions for Penn State Wrestling at B1G Championships
By Chris Snyder
What do you do when you haven’t had any Penn State Wrestling action since the beat down of Maryland back on 2/22? You come up with searing, red-hot, burning questions every Nittany Lions fan is thinking to themselves heading into the B1G Wrestling Championships this weekend.
And I’m here to whet your appetite.
Burning Question No. 1
Is Greg Kerkvliet Penn State’s heavyweight going into the post-season?
Midway through the Covid-shortened 2021 season, it appeared Penn State Wrestling’s only question marks were at 125 and 149. No one occupied the role at 125 as the Nittany Lions spotted each of their first three opponents six easy forfeit points.
As we learned Tuesday, with Kerkvliet set to take part in the B1G Championships, that won’t be the case for the Nittany Lions in the tournament.
Prior to the dual meet against Ohio State on 2/19, we saw a combination of Jarod Verkleeren, Terrell Barraclough, and Luke Gardner at 149. It seemed like it was going to be a perpetual revolving door with anyone’s guess who was going to finally settle in there.
Now, let’s fast forward to the conclusion of the aforementioned Ohio State dual. Robbie Howard cemented himself in the 125 spot going 1-1 along with way with two gritty matches to open his Nittany Lion career.
We also witnessed Beau Bartlett smash the revolving 149 door as he wrestled an incredible debut match against the nation’s No. 2 grappler Sammy Sasso. Even though he dropped the decision 3-5, it appeared he was going to be the wrestler going forward at 149.
Each weight class was finally set heading into the final stretch of the 2021 season. RBY, Nick Lee, and Aaron Brooks looked like the dominant wrestlers Penn State fans are accustomed to seeing and Carter Starocci had himself a coming out party. Newcomers Michael Beard, Joe Lee, and Robbie Howard were gaining valuable experience while taking their lumps along the way. Furthermore, Brady Berge and Big Snacks (aka. Seth Nevills) were showing signs they were ready to take the next step forward.
Think back to February 10th.
Does everyone remember this announcement? Cael Sanderson indicated former No. 1 recruit and full time wrecking ball Greg Kerkvliet was not anticipated to wrestle in the 2021 season.
Hop back in our time machine to roughly 6:01pm EST on February 22nd. On a side note, this article is starting out more like a scene from the movie Memento than a Penn State Wrestling article. My apologies for the head spinning time travel.
Where was I? Oh yeah, the start of the Maryland Fighting Turtles meet.
The evening starts out at heavyweight where…GOOD GOD! THAT’S KERK KONG’S ENTRANCE MUSIC!!
Out of nowhere, Greg Kerkvliet suits up and makes his Nittany Lion debut. He quickly dispatched of his overmatched Maryland adversary, earning the pin 1:12 into the match. If collegiate wrestling matches didn’t end after tech falls or falls, and this match went the full 7 minutes, I think Kerkvliet could have pinned him about 6 times.
The standout heavyweight followed this up with another pin 1:18 into an extra match in the Maryland dual.
Even without much mat time this season, Kerkvliet is immediately in the same conversation as Mason Parris and Gable Steveson as the nation’s best heavyweight.
The question now becomes whether Kerkvliet’s immediate regular season success translates into a championship victory?