Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531683
4 6 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M was obviously trending up and just kept getting better, and he's still trending up." 'I Was Ready To Wrestle' That trending arrow was pointing straight up after last season when Ka- sak as a true freshman made his mark somewhat unexpectedly. He came in as a 141-pounder, but even if he had made the lineup over veteran Beau Bartlett, making 141 would have been a tough pull. A redshirt loomed until Shayne Van Ness, a 2023 All-American at 149, injured a knee in November. Just like that, Kasak had a job at 149 and a full eight pounds to play with. He took a few bumps but handed out more bruises. Kasak won 15 of his first 19 matches, losing in overtime to Iowa's Caleb Rathjen and falling twice to Ne- braska's Ridge Lovett, once in a dual meet and again at the Big Ten Tour- nament. Kasak defeated Rathjen, 8-1, in the conference event and majored Lovett, 10-1, at NCAAs. And if people couldn't quite see how good he could be, Kasak showed out at the NCAA Championships in Kan- sas City by becoming only the ninth wrestler in NCAA history to win seven consecutive consolation bouts to bat- tle back for third place after losing his opening-round match, 4-2, to Stan- ford's Jaden Abas. Former Penn State wrestler John Lange was the first to achieve that sta- tus in 1999, when the NCAA went to full wrestlebacks. "I was ready to wrestle. I didn't come here to sit around and redshirt," was how Kasak explained his performance at nationals. "I won some wrestling matches. … Nothing crazy. I just enjoy competing. "I think the underdog story is kind of cool, just my back against the wall. I like that aspect of it, but other than that, it's nothing crazy. I came here to win, and I didn't, but that's on me. There's another time to accomplish that. I'm going to enjoy what I did and move on." A Big Matchup Kasak moved on to 157 this season, but his comfort level remained the same. "I feel pretty good at pretty much any weight class that I wrestle in," he said. "Yeah, 141 was a little bit rough. That was a little bit hard, but these last two weight classes have been pretty good, and I feel comfortable where I am." If there were any concerns about being undersized at 157, Kasak allevi- ated them against Nebraska on Jan. 17 when the third-ranked sophomore faced fifth-ranked Antrell Taylor, an All-American last season at 165 who dropped to 157 and posed the toughest test to date for Kasak. The Penn State sophomore attacked quickly with a slick single-leg takedown shot and went right to a front trip to take Taylor to his back for a seven-point move. He then showed his skills on top, building a riding time advantage of 2:01 for a 9-3 decision. He yielded a late stall call when Taylor kept driving him off the mat to get a warning and then a meaningless penalty point. "It's a big matchup for Kasak," Sand- erson said prior to the match that Penn State dominated by winning eight of 10 bouts and earning a 31-7 victory over the No. 5 Cornhuskers. "He has to make a decision to go wrestle great and do it." That's what Kasak did, upping his season record to 10-0 and career mark to 34-5, while Penn State improved to 8-0 by winning its 64th consecutive dual meet over the course of five years. Kasak appreciates being part of that dynastic program. "This team is special," he said. "The coaches are special. Everything about this program is really special. And it's a unique situation — go up and down the lineup from 125 to heavyweight, and we are two guys deep. "I feel like we could be national champions at every weight. And I know for me and pretty much everyone on this team, that's the goal. We want to go out with a bang. It's all about just outper- forming our previous performances." Kasak said he knows that he and the team overall can improve, and he has a "laundry list" of items that can help everyone continue to grow. "I keep using that word special, be- cause it really is special," Kasak said. "Everyone feeds off each other's energy. Everyone wants to learn. Just by being around people that are self-motivated and take a lot of pride in what they do helps the level every week. The more time we spend with each other helps us continue to improve and adapt and overcome obstacles." ■ Date Opponent Time/TV Nov. 16 NWCA ALL-STAR CLASSIC Individ. Nov. 17 DREXEL W, 41-3 Nov. 24 Army Black Knight Invit'l* Individ. Dec. 8 Lehigh** W, 36-3 Dec. 15 WYOMING W, 54-0 Dec. 22 Binghamton^ W, 52-0 Arkansas-Little Rock^ W, 44-0 Missouri^ W, 41-3 Jan. 10 MICHIGAN STATE W, 55-0 Jan. 17 at Nebraska W, 31-7 Jan. 24 at Rutgers 8 p.m./BTN Jan. 31 IOWA^^ 7 p.m./BTN Date Opponent Time/TV Feb. 7 MICHIGAN^^ 6 p.m./BTN Feb. 9 MARYLAND 1 p.m./B1G+ Feb. 14 at Ohio State 7 p.m./BTN Feb. 16 at Illinois 2 p.m./B1G+ Feb. 21 AMERICAN 7 p.m./B1G+ Mar. 8-9 Big Ten Championships # Mar. 20-22 NCAA Championships ## * at West Point, N.Y.; ** at PPL Center, Allentown, Pa.; ^ Journeymen Duals at Nashville, Tenn.; ^^ at the Bryce Jordan Center; # at Evanston, Ill.; ## at Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia 2024-25 Penn State Wrestling Schedule "He was just getting better every year, and when you have kids that are trending in that direction and you can see significant growth over time, that's obviously a really good sign." C A E L S A N D E R S O N O N K A S A K