Penn State Wrestling: Relive The Match – Greg Kerkvliet
Reliving Greg Kerkvliet’s final collegiate match inside of Rec Hall for Penn State Wrestling.
In last year’s NCAA Championships, Kerk Kong simply ran through the entire 285 field to claim his first NCAA title for Penn State Wrestling.
But 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 Greg Kerkvliet’s case, his wrestling career happened to span the time between two dominant heavyweights.
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 for the Nittany Lions. But he just couldn’t quite get over the hump. Two years ago was the closest he could get in reaching the pinnacle when he lost in the finals.
But after his win against Michigan’s Lucas Davison in last season’s finals, that climb to the top of the wrestling world came to an end.
As it currently stands, Kerk is 16-0 in his final season in Happy Valley. And in those 16 matches he’s amassed six tech falls, six falls, and one lone major decision.
Obviously the 2025 B1G Championships and the 2025 NCAA Champions are right around the corner. Additionally, the wrestling nation may be greeted with two massive matchups in both of the those finals. But before there’s any guessing on how that’ll turn out, let’s relive Greg’s final match inside Rec Hall for Penn State Wrestling.
Final Home Match for Penn State Wrestling’s Greg Kerkvliet
No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) vs. Emmanuel Ulrich (AM)
Credit – Lloyd McCully
1st Period
Five seconds after the referee blew the opening whistle, Greg Kerkvliet had already snagged Ulrich’s right ankle. And four seconds later he had Ulrich to the mat for his first takedown of the match.
Kerk then went to work on top position. The nimble giant was simply overwhelming as he had Ulrich’s stomach squarely on the mat for the duration of his two minute and 13 second ride.
Sensing his opponent was completely out of gas, Kerkvliet cut Ulrich loose to his feet. But at this point there was only 36 seconds left in the opening period.
Doesn’t matter.
Greg dove in on a low single, however Ulrich fought off the shot.
But in doing so, he had an over-hook with his left arm and an under-hook with his right. This allowed Kerk to pull Ulrich in with a bear hug. Working quickly from this position, Kerkvliet threw the mountain of a man to the mat like he was a 15lb medicine ball. He had the body lock cinched in tight.
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Credit – Lloyd McCully
And with only 13 seconds remaining in the first period, the referee signaled the fall.
Greg Kerkvliet gave the Penn State Wrestling fans in attendance even more to cheer about. His pin was the fourth straight fall in the dual meet, he sent the home crowd out on a high note, and he finished the regular season portion of his Nittany Lion career in emphatic fashion.
Now it’s onto the real meat and potatoes of the wrestling season.
MORE Penn State Wrestling News from NittanyCentral:
- Inside Carter Starocci’s Rec Hall Curtain Call
- Nittany Lion Wrestling’s Recruiting Big Board, Top Targets to Watch
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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.