Injured Penn State wrestling All-American shows off recovery progress in new video

Penn State wrestling rewrote the record books in 2024, running away with yet another undefeated National Championship-winning season and going down as one of the greatest teams ever to take the mat. The Nittany Lions were able to do it all while losing an All-American, 149-pounder Shayne Van Ness, to an injury early in December. The sophomore Van Ness has been recovering behind the scenes for the last five months, and this week, he took to social media to show off his progress.

Shayne Van Ness shows off recovery progress in new video

Shayne Van Ness burst onto the scene for Penn State wrestling during the 2022-23 season. After going 2-0 in his redshirt year, Van Ness went 24-7 in his first year as a starter, finishing third at Nationals to become an All-American at 149.

Primed to build on that success this winter, the self-proclaimed “Shayne Van Ness Stomps” campaign hit a snag after the sophomore suffered a season-ending injury in early December. Van Ness entered the year as the preseason No. 2 in his weight class.

Five months removed, the young Penn State wrestling star seems to be recovering nicely. Van Ness took to social media Thursday for the first time since the injury to show off his progress. The Nittany Lion was seen doing handstands outside of Rec Hall and in the Penn State wrestling facilities.

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A post shared by Shayne Van Ness (@shayne_finesse)

“He’s doing really well. He’s ahead of where he probably should be,” Cael Sanderson said of Van Ness in February. “But it’s going to be nice for him to feel good too. Because he always kind of had that bum knee that was kind of an issue for him off and on.”

An embarrassment of riches for Penn State wrestling in 2025

It’s hard to believe that Penn State wrestling could improve upon its performance in 2024, but that may be the reality next year.

With the return of Shanye Van Ness seeming likely at this point, there will be a log jam of talented Nittany Lions that Sanderson will have to work through. There may be some shuffling around in the middle weight classes, with Tyler Kasak, Levi Haines, and Mitchell Mesenbrink all coming off strong years. However, there are only 10 lineup slots, and the All-Americans are starting to stack up.

The Nittany Lions were further aided this week with the announced return of four-time National Champion Carter Starocci. He will join Beau Bartlett as the two seniors who have so far announced their returns for next season. Add in that Sanderson has a loaded recruiting class, headlined by top overall prospect Luke Lilledahl, set to arrive next fall, and it’s certainly shaping up to be an embarrassment of riches for Penn State wrestling in 2025.

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