Penn State wrestling at the NWCA All-Star Classic: How to watch, best bout, tickets, and more

Penn State wrestling sent numerous competitors to last year’s NWCA All-Star Classic in Texas. This year, the annual high-level exhibition event is being held in State College. Rec Hall will host it tonight at 7 p.m. ET in conjunction with FLO Wrestling. Tickets are still available as lunchtime Tuesday.

“It’s exciting,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson told reporters. “A lot of big matchups, a lot of great opportunities and seeing where our guys are against some of the best guys in the country is exciting, for sure. It will be a fun event.”

Get ready for it below.

When is the NWCA All-Star Classic, and how can I watch it?

It is at 7 p.m. ET tonight. Anyone with a FLO subscription can watch it live on the outlet’s streaming platform. Click here to learn more. Ticket information can be found HERE.

Which Penn State wrestlers are competing?

First things first: These matches do not count for stat purposes. They could change rankings and NCAA seeds, however, based on how things play out. But, from a record-keeping perspective, they are exhibitions and non-counters.

Penn State will have five wrestlers competing. A sixth, Levi Haines, dropped out of the scheduled 157-pound bout after his opponent suffered an injury. So, the Lions will be represented by Shayne Van Ness (149 pounds), Carter Starocci (174), Bernie Truax IV (184), Aaron Brooks (197), and Greg Kerkvliet (heavyweight).

The Lions went 3-0 at the event last year, with Starocci, Brooks, and Kerkvliet all winning.

What is the full slate of matches?

Here is a look at it:

125 pounds: No. 1 Anthony Noto, Lock Haven vs. No. 4 Matt Ramos, Purdue

133 pounds: No. 5 Sam Latona, Virginia Tech vs. Connor McGonagle, Lehigh

141 pounds: No. 3 Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina vs. No. 6 Clay Carlson, South Dakota State

149 pounds: No. 2 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State vs. No. 3 Kyle Parco, Arizona State

157 pounds: No. 1 (Division II) Nick Novak, St. Cloud State vs No. 2 (Division III) Nolan Hertel, Wisconsin-LaCrosse

165 pounds: No. 4 Dean Hamiti, Wisconsin vs No. 6 Izzak Olejnik, Oklahoma State

174 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. No. 3 Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech

184 pounds: No. 1 Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa vs. No. 2 Bernie Truax IV, Penn State

197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, Penn State vs. No. 2 Tanner Sloan, South Dakota State

285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. No. 2 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force

What should Penn State fans be watching for?

Let’s start with this: What an absolutely incredible slate of matches. Most years, you can only see these bouts at nationals. And, sometimes upsets happen which means the most anticipated matches of the year never actually take place. So, this is a treat for wrestling fans.

Penn State fans, in particular, should be interested to see if Kerkvliet can beat Hendrickson after doing so in last year’s NCAA semifinal at heavyweight. The home crowd will also see Truax IV in action for the first time since becoming a Nittany Lion this offseason. Keckeisen could not beat Brooks. Can he handle Truax IV? We’ll see. And, speaking of Brooks, what will he look like at his new weight? We expect the multi-time 184-pound champ to do well at 197.

Last but not least, what does ‘SVN’ have for Parco this year? It’s a rematch of last year’s third-place bout at nationals, which the Nittany Lion won 7-2. And, can Starocci beat Lewis at this event for the second straight season? We’ll see. And, we expect that to be the bout of the night in terms of the one fans are talking about most at the end of the event.