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Penn State Wrestling regular season awards: Who’s the Nittany Lions’ MVP?

By Chris Snyder

ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 20: Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State celebrates after beating Dayton Fixx of Oklahoma State in the 133lb weight class in the first-place match during the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship at the Enterprise Center on March 20, 2021 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 20: Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State celebrates after beating Dayton Fixx of Oklahoma State in the 133lb weight class in the first-place match during the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship at the Enterprise Center on March 20, 2021 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /
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Penn State Wrestling
Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet paces before wrestling at 285 pounds during a NCAA Big Ten Conference wrestling dual, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.220127 Penn St Iowa Wr 066 Jpg /

Most Improved Wrestler

Greg Kerkvliet
14-1

As much as I would like to hand out as many awards to as many different Penn State wrestlers as I can, there’s bound to be someone taking home multiple trophies. And Greg Kerkvliet is the first wrestler to do it.

But is there even a coherent discussion to be had here? No, there isn’t.

For obvious reasons, Kerk is clearly the most improved wrestler on the team because he’s healthy. Last year was a roller coaster ride on acid for Kerkvliet as he had to deal with a life-threatening staph infection, two blood clots, and no physical activity for 2 months. Oh, and he still finished the season as an All-American.

This year the Penn State Wrestling faithful finally got to see what a fully healthy Kerk Kong looks like when unleashed. I would say “nasty” and “unfair” are some pretty good descriptions.

While the gifted heavyweight didn’t finish the regular season undefeated (loss to No. 4 Tony Cassioppi), he has certainly gained the confidence and momentum needed to make a deep run in both the Big Tens and NCAA’s.

I have a feeling the lone loss may be avenged by the time the wrestling season wraps in late March.

Honorable Mentions:
Creighton Edsell
10-3

Carter Starocci
15-0

Roman Bravo-Young
14-0

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