Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/916653
F or Corey Keener, it was time for a change. If that meant moving nearer to his hometown of Schuylkill Haven, Pa., instead of living 10 hours away in Mount Pleasant, Mich., great. If it also meant that he would have a last-ditch chance to crack the lineup of reigning champion Penn State, even better. A two-time state champion at Blue Mountain High, Keener initially chose to leave the Northeast, signing with Central Michigan over North- ern Illinois. After a red- shirt year, he made noise as a freshman at 125 pounds, winning 19 r e g u l a r - s e a s o n matches and qualifying for the 2014 NCAA championships. He bowed out after two bouts, but the bar had been set and his career trajectory appeared to be heading northward. Then injury struck, delaying his quest for All- America honors. Now a graduate transfer, Keener is Penn State's first-stringer at 133 pounds and the oldest starter on the roster. So far this season, he is finding his early form. With one season of eligibility remaining, his primary objective is to finish his career on the podium. "When I ended my career at Central Michigan, I was a little bit upset with maybe the way things had turned out and what I had accomplished so far," Keener said. "I thought I needed maybe a little bit of a change of pace and maybe a little bit better of a situation for me [in order to] reach my goals, as far as top-level training partners and an environment. Being a little bit closer to home [helps] if I need to get away for whatever reason. Rather than being 10 hours away from home, I'm only two. It's a little bit of a change of pace." The injury that sidelined Keener for his redshirt sophomore season is what granted him an opportunity to eventu- ally join the Nittany Lions. Permitted a medical hardship waiver for a sixth year, and with a degree in physical education in hand, Keener used the NCAA's gradu- ate transfer rule to explore his options. After three seasons of similar results, he was ready to leap. He wasn't sure what would await him at his landing, but it was time to challenge his own status quo. At Central Michigan, Keener had grown into the next weight class prior to the 2015-16 season. He qualified for NCAAs that year, and then did so again in 2017, but he won only one match each trip. In neither year did he surpass 19 regular- season wins, the bar he had set as a fresh- man. So after coming up short of his goal for a third time, he went looking for ways to improve. His intention to seek a transfer over- lapped with the graduation of Penn State starter Jimmy Gulibon. Gulibon's depar- ture created an opening for Jered Cortez to move up to 141 for his junior season, and that change opened up a rare vacancy in the lineup of a dynasty team that had won six of the previous seven national championship trophies. By the time the season began, Keener had secured a starting spot at 133 for the first three dual meets. He made his Rec Hall debut with a fall in 2 minutes, 50 seconds over Lane Peters of Army and followed up that per- formance with a 12-4 major decision over Bucknell's David Campbell two days later. If the bonus points were any indi- cation, Keener seemed to be settling in quickly and fitting in nicely among his peers. The bout that might have been more re- vealing, however, came the following week. The dual meet at Binghamton Uni- versity was Keener's first road match of the season, thus his first time traveling with his new teammates. Keener considers himself to be a "pretty quiet guy." He's a few years older than most of the other starters on the bus, and the age disparity inevitably creates some distance. But through the spontaneity that surrounds him and the varying per- sonalities on the bus, Keener has begun finding his place and enjoying himself again. "I keep to myself, but they're always goofing around and doing stuff," he said. "Then when they're out there wrestling, it's just exciting watching them go out and score points. It makes me want to go out there and score points and dictate the pace." It's contagious in a way. When Keener was at Central Michigan, he would listen to interviews of Penn State wrestlers talk- ing about how much fun they were hav- ing. Full of skepticism, he and his friends could only shake their heads. "Those guys are just saying that," he recalls telling his teammates. Now he's starting to get it. He experienced it firsthand at Bing- hamton, and it extended beyond the road trip banter, helping fuel his competitive energy. Against Bearcat senior Jacob Nicholson, Keener fell behind, 4-3, in the third pe- riod after surrendering a reversal off the whistle. Keener remembers a time when a late setback like that would have sealed the outcome of his match. No longer. He responded with a deter- mined reversal of his own and immedi- ately rolled Nicholson to his back for near-fall points. Compiling a total of 1:27 in riding time, Keener turned a 1-point deficit into a 10-4 victory. W R E S T L I N G | CHANGE OF SCENERY 133-pounder Corey Keener relishes the opportunity to finish his career at Penn State KEENER