Penn State wrestler Shayne Van Ness to miss rest of 2023-2024 season due to injury: Reports
Penn State wrestling will be without a returning All-American and second-year starter for the remainder of the 2023-2024 season. Head coach Carl Sanderson told reporters on Tuesday that 149-pound wrestler Shayne Van Ness is out for the year due to an undisclosed injury. Travis Johnson of FLO and Nate Cobler of the Centre Daily Times for reported the news.
The first indication that something might be up with ‘SVN’ came last Sunday. A sophomore, Van Ness did not take the mat as expected for the Lions’ dual meet with Lehigh. Instead, freshman Tyler Kasak wrestled Mountainhawk Drew Munch and won, 7-6.
“It’s like who’s ready to go and who’s available and we’ll wrestle our best team,” Sanderson said, per PennLive. “It’s finals coming up and coming off a week after Thanksgiving has not been our best time in the past as far as having everybody ready to roll.”
That is true. But, the problem for the Lions is that Van Ness won’t be ready to roll at any point this year moving forward. He was off to a strong start. After finishing third at nationals last year, the Penn State wrestler won his first three bouts in November by fall then beat top-five foe Kyle Parco of Arizona State 5-1 in the NWCA All-Star Classic. It ended up being his last match of the year.
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“Unfortunately, he’s had issues with something. And, it’s kind of gotten tough and kind of got tweaked again in practice and. (He will) get it repaired and get ready for next year,” Sanderson said Tuesday, per FLO. “Obviously, he’ll be sorely missed. There’s nothing worse than injuries.”
What will Penn State do from here?
This is the obvious big question after the program puts Van Ness on the best path to one day return to the mat in a Penn State singlet. Kasak, by virtue of getting the first call and winning, should be out again this weekend when the Lions host Hofstra in their final dual meet in 2023. Program return David Evans could get a look, too. He was fifth at the Army Black Knight Invitational. That performance included a 2-1 tiebreaker loss to Kasak.
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