Greg Kerkvliet runs through the entire 285 field to claim his first NCAA title for Penn State Wrestling.
When it comes to wrestling, timing is everything. And not just in the physical timing of actions during the match. I’m also talking about timing when it comes to when your career actually takes place.
In Kerkvliet’s case, his wrestling career happened to span the time between two dominant heavyweights.
How Greg Kerkvliet rose to National Championship Stardom for Penn State Wrestling
Between his true freshman, redshirt freshman, and sophomore campaigns he had to contend with both Mason Parris and Gable Steveson. Gable was there for the first two years and Mason was there for all three.
And during this time, Kerkvliet was simply a fantastic wrestler as he had three All-American finishes. But he just couldn’t quite get over the hump. Last year was the closest he could get in reaching the pinnacle when he lost in the finals.
But after tonight, that climb to the top of the wrestling world comes to an end. With Greg Kerkvliet’s 13-4 win over Michigan’s Lucas Davison, he can finally hoist an individual title.
And look, this isn’t to say this year’s version of Greg Kerkvliet would still lose to Gable or Mason. Because I think the opposite would be true.
It just took this amount of time for Kerk’s talent level to reach the maximum level with his experience and hard work. And if he decides to come back and not forgo his final year in Happy Valley, I firmly believe his name will be among the prestigious list of Nittany Lion greats to be at least four-time All-Americans and two-time NCAA champions.
Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.