Penn State Wrestling: Cassar, Conel Out for Season

Penn State wrestling will be without national champion heavyweight Anthony Cassar moving forward, head coach Cael Sanderson announced at his weekly media availability on Tuesday.

He said 197-pounder Kyle Conel, who transferred from Kent State this year, is also done for the season.

Sanderson said true freshman Seth Nevills will burn his redshirt to compete in place of Cassar, while Shakur Rasheed will move up to 197 lbs., a weight class he wrestled at two years ago, in place of Conel.

Cassar will spend the next few months rehabbing a shoulder injury in preparation for the Olympic Trials. His last competition came in the U.S. Senior Nationals, out of which he injury defaulted. Before his injury, Cassar had picked up right where he left off last season by going 3-0 to start his title-defense year.

Conel, meanwhile, had struggled in his return to college wrestling, going 3-3, including two dual losses.

The Nittany Lions, now looking perhaps as vulnerable ever, will resume their season this weekend after more than a month off. They’ll host Illinois at 7 p.m. on Friday, January 10 and Northwestern at 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 12.