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Penn State wrestling show: Greg Kerkvliet out of NWCA All-Star Classic, Super 32 recap, and more

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•10/17/24•

GregPickel

KERKVLIET

An all-new episode of the Penn State Wrestling Show from Blue-White Illustrated is now live! The Nittany Lions sit one month away from starting their 2024-2025 regular season with Drexel on Nov. 17 at Rec Hall. Of course, there is plenty for host Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Greg Pickel to cover in the leadup to that.

This week’s episode starts with a look at the NWCA All-Star Classic. Defending 285-pound NCAA champion Greg Kerkvliet, the No. 1 ranked wrestler at heavyweight, was set to face No. 3 Nick Feldman of Ohio State on Nov. 16 at Rec Hall. However, Iowa State announced Wednesday that its own heavyweight, No. 6 Yonger Bastida, would be facing Feldman instead. Flo Wrestling, which runs the event, quietly updated its bout sheet to reflect that the Cyclone is replacing Kerkvliet but has otherwise said nothing about the sudden change.

Last year, Clay Clarson of South Dakota State was scratched from the exhibition event, sat out the first six weeks of the season due to injury, and was never right during the 2023-2024 season. Conversely, Levi Haines and Jacori Teemer also both scratched off of last year’s original Classic bout sheet. But, they both wrestled all year, and Haines beat Teemer, then of Iowa and now of Arizona State, in the NCAA finals. But, they withdrew after the Journeymen Classic, not before. With all of that said, PSU posted a photo of Kerkvliet wrestling hours before this news broke. And, he has been frequently featured on the team’s social media account.

With no concrete news to share on Kerkvliet’s status moving forward, Pickel and Carr discuss what it all might mean moving forward.

You can watch this week’s Penn State wrestling show in the video player below and also on YouTube. Or, you can listen at your favorite destinations for audio like SPOTIFY and APPLE.

After that conversation, Pickel and Carr move on to a Super 32 recap. State College Area senior Asher Cunningham won the 165-pound bracket. The No. 6 wrestler in MatScouts’ rankings at that weight (now No. 5), he beat Missouri commit and Georgia native Dom Bambinelli (was 5, now 6) in the finals. The final score was 12-11. Cunningham made the finals by racking up two technical falls, a fall, and a major decision. He then beat No. 10 Saleh Tsarni of Maryland in the semifinals. 

Moving on, Class of 2025 Central Mountain native Dalton Perry finished second at 138 pounds. The then No. 12 (now No. 5) wrestler at that weight per MatScouts, he lost by major decision, 18-5, to No. 2 and Cornell commit Sergio Vega out of Arizona. 

Finally, at 126 pounds, Penn State Class of 2025 commit Nate Desmond finished fourth. He is still No. 5 in his weight.

Note: This week’s show was recorded before the Big Ten released start times and TV info for PSU matches on BTN and B1G+. Read about those here.

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