Penn State Wrestling Show: Intrigue heading into the NWCA All-Star Classic

The Blue-White Podcast: A Penn State Athletics Podcast

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.