The 2024 NWCA All-Star Classic presented by Nike Wrestling will take place on Saturday, November 16, 2024, at 7:00 pm (ET) in Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State. 

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This event can be viewed only on FloWrestling and will feature 10 highly ranked Division 1 folkstyle matchups along with 5 cross-divisional women’s freestyle matches and one men's match between a D2 and D3 athlete.

#4 Tyler Kasak and #5 Peyten Kellar, two of the top contenders for the 2025 157-pound title will collide in mid-November at the All-Star Classic. 

Peyten Kellar was perhaps one of the surprise performers at 157 last year, at least to folks outside, Athens, Ohio, when he had his breakout performance as a redshirt sophomore and placed fifth at the 2024 NCAAs in Kansas City. 

Tyler Kasak, meanwhile, was a highly touted recruit for Penn State who placed third last season at 149 as a true freshman. He'll be moving up a weight class to try and keep the momentum going in 2025. 

Peyten Kellar Stats

• NCAA Career Record: 58-17
• NCAA Championship Finishes: 2023 R32 at 157lbs, 2024 5th at 157lbs
• Three Ohio High School state placer, including a title in 2021

Tyler Kasak Stats

• 2023 Big Board Ranking: #10
• NCAA Career Record: 24-5
• NCAA Championship finishes: 2024 3rd at 149lbs
• Freestyle accolades:
  • 2021 Fargo 16U runner-up at 138lbs 
  • 2022 U17 World silver medalist at 65kg
  • 2023 U20 US Open champ at 65kg

Career Highlights

Of these two, Kasak was the much higher prospect coming out of high school. Training at David Taylor's M2 Training Center made him a well known commodity in the recruiting world, as did his many competitions at major high school events. Additionally, Kasak moved to State College, PA for his high school senior year, during which he entered several college opens. Before that, Kasak, a native of Doylestown, PA, had three successful seasons at Bethlehem Catholic high school. 

Kasak hit the ground running once his official career as a student-athlete began at Penn State. At his first collegiate tournament, the Black Knight Invite, he defeated teammate David Evans but lost to teammate Beau Bartlett at the Black Knight Invitational. This helped serve as an official wrestle-off at 141 and likely helped determine who would bump up to 149 after Shayne Van Ness unfortunately had his season cut short due to injury.

Watch Kasak beat Evans at the Black Knight Invite: 

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Kasak's freshman campaign picked up steam when he defeated Ohio State All-American Dylan D'Emilio in an early February dual. Kasak then avenged a dual loss to Iowa's Caleb Rathejn at the Big Ten Championships where he finished third. 

Kasak followed that up with another third place finish, this time at the NCAAs, though it didn't come easy. Jaden Abas defeated Kasak in the first round, sending the young Pennsylvanian on the Ultimate Road Warrior path in the consolations. Kasak reeled off 7 wins in a row, including most impressively his last two collegiate matches over Ridge Lovett and Ty Watters. 

Watch Kasak win a back-and-forth affair against fellow freshman Ty Watters to place third in Kansas City: 

Kellar had a decidedly more under-the-radar recruiting period, though he was an Ohio state champ his senior, one of the toughest wrestling states in the country. 

Credit to Joel Greenlee and the Bobcat staff for both identifying and developing Kellar's talent. A solid redshirt season in 2022 turned into a productive season as a freshman starter that saw Kellar in the national rankings for most of the season. That year culminated in Kellar qualifying for the 2023 NCAA Championships in Tulsa, though it did not end on a high note as Kellar suffered two losses against zero wins at NCAAs. 

But then came the big breakthrough by Kellar. The previous year, Peyten amassed a respectable number of pins with five. Last season, Kellar more than doubled that number to 12, including two pinfalls at the NCAA tournament over fellow All-Americans Ed Scott and Bryce Andonian. 

Watch Kellar win via pinfall over Andonian to earn fifth place in Kansas City: 

This was after Kellar won the Southeast Open to start the season, the MAC Championships directly before the NCAAs, and went undefeated in dual meets. The only matches Kellar dropped on the season were two at the CKLV (one in sudden victory and the other by a single point) and two matches at NCAAs (to eventual All-Americans). 

The Weight Question

Kellar looks to be a full size 157-pounder and then some, as evidenced by his prodigious pin count. Kasak started the 2023-24 season at 141-pounds before moving up to 149 in December. This suggests one of the biggest questions that this match will help answer is if bumping up another weight class poses any kind of problem for Tyler Kasak. 

This will be Kasak's first action of the season, whereas Ohio had a couple of events on its schedule before the All-Star Classic. Kellar kicked off the season with a win over Wisconsin on November 1st. He also won a Michigan State Open title last weekend, which included ranked wins over Chase Saldate and Johnny Lovett.

Who Will Win? 

There's little in the way of common opponents to base a conjecture on, as Kasak's collegiate career has only just begun and all of it has been at a lower weight class. Additionally, Kellar has no significant freestyle matches on his resume. If he did it could have shed some light on how this match will go, as Kasak stays busy during most summers competing in freestyle. 

Kasak's pedigree and trajectory suggests he is a slight favorite. He is a blue-chip recruit that finished third in the NCAAs as a true freshmen. Teemer, Shapiro, and Cardenas are in the top tier right now, but there's no reason to think Kasak couldn't wrestle his way into that grouping. 

Kasak avenged three of his regular season losses (his only other was to Beau Bartlett at 141) in the postseason, and another year of training under Cael Sanderson at Penn State certainly doesn't hurt his cause. 

But by similar logic, looking at the trajectory of Peyten Kellar over the last three years, one could make the argument that his progression has been just as if not steeper.

A solid redshirt season, followed by a promising freshman campaign, leading up to a stellar sophomore season that saw Kellar established as a bona fide contender.  Is there any reason to think Kellar couldn't jump levels again?

My mind keeps going to the weight factor and the highlights of Kellar using horsepower to get so many bonus wins over the season. Kasak won't exactly be lacking in the strength department and both wrestlers have ample craftiness, but in the end I'm going to go with size and experience carrying the day. 

At least for now, this early in the season, I have Kellar winning in a minor upset. But I think this match has a high propensity of becoming a shootout.

But it's tough to make any call about this match with much confidence, which means I have an easier time predicting that this will be one of the more slept on matchups at the All-Star Classic.