Penn State wrestling superlatives: Top wrestlers, best highlight, and a bold prediction for 2024-2025

The 2023-2024 Penn State wrestling team will be remembered for its perfect dual meet season, Big Ten title, and record-setting win at nationals. Head coach Cael Sanderson and his team dominated all year and put an exclamation point on that fact in Kansas City, Mo., where they left T-Mobile Arena with four national champions, eight All-Americans, and a record-setting 100-point win thanks to a record-setting 172.5 points in the team race.

“Just proud of our guys,” Sanderson said. “Great effort by 10 kids, and then the whole crew of 37 or whatever our roster is. Super grateful to be a part of this and them. Our coaching staff are the best, and it’s great to be a part of things. Just happy to be here.”

With the season now over, we’ve made some superlative picks plus a bold prediction for 2024-2025.

Three best wrestlers

Aaron Brooks | Sr+ | 198

Aaron Brooks will go down as one of the most dominant wrestlers in Penn State history. He won his fourth NCAA title, this one at 197 pounds after securing the first three at 184, by beating N.C. State’s Trent Hidlay in the finals. He was named the most dominant wrestler of the season, the most outstanding wrestler of the NCAA Tournament, and finished his final year in blue and white with a record of a team-best 21-0. At nationals, Brooks won twice by technical fall and twice by fall before winning by decision in the finals. It was a remarkable, and truly dominant, effort. 

Greg Kerkvliet | Sr. | 285

Kerkvliet finally broke through in the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships, where he finally finished first after beating Michigan’s Lucas Davison by major decision, 13-3. Kerkvliet was consistent throughout the year for the Lions and clearly the top heavyweight in all of college wrestling. He finished what could be his final season with a 19-0 record and showed what perseverance can do after two years of losing to the likes of Minnesota’s Gable Steveson and Michigan’s Mason Parris. 

Carter Starocci | Sr. | 174

Starocci did not wrestle as much as his teammates did in the regular season. He also did not win a Big Ten title. But, how can he be left off this list? The Erie, Pa., native wrestled with an injured knee at nationals (he hurt it in late February during the Edinboro meet) and still became the sixth (Brooks is the seventh) wrestler in NCAA history to win four championships. Few were better than Starocci in 2023-2024, and none were as gutty as he was during March.

Key moment

The NCAA reordered the finals so that Brooks could battle Trent Hidlay for the 197-pound title. The two had met often at 184 and it was clearly the bout of the night. Tournament organizers could have predicted, but they probably were not counting on that match to have such an impact on history. Not only did Brooks become a four-time individual champ, but his win in the final match of the season netted the final four points for a team total of 172.5, which is a new NCAA tournament record, surpassing Iowa’s 170 mark in 1997. What a fitting end to the season and his career.

What was the best Penn State highlight?

It would be easy to pick Starocci’s run at NCAAs here. But we can not leave Tyler Kasak out of this section. The freshman was expecting to have a redshirt season of competing in open events at 141 pounds. Instead, he moved into the starting lineup up a weight class at 149 when returning All-American Shayne Van Ness was lost for the season in December. All the first-year Penn State wrestler did was go 22-5 overall, finish third at Big Tens, and then become the second Nittany Lion ever (John Lange was the first in 1998) to win seven matches in the consolation bracket at NCAAs after losing in the first round to wrestle back for third place. His season, in totality, was a tremendous highlight in a year full of them.

Bold Penn State prediction

Mitchell Mesenbrink will follow the same path sophomore Levi Haines did in terms of finishing second at nationals during his first year as a Nittany Lion before winning it all in year two. The 165-pound redshirt freshman has an electric wrestling style that wows fans and it will guide him to the top of the podium next year in Philadelphia. That isn’t all that bold, though. Here’s the bold part: He will do so at 157 pounds while Haines will bump up to 165 and win his second NCAA title. It’s one possibility among the many potential lineup changes head coach Cael Sanderson and co., will have to ponder ahead of the 2024-2025 season.