THIS WEEK’S ACTION:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State Nittany Lions (0-0, 0-0 B1G) will host the Oklahoma Sooners (0-0) in the season opener for head coach Cael Sanderson’s squad. The dual meet is set for Friday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center. The event is a Big Ten Network national telecast.
Penn State is coming off a successful 2024-25 season that saw the team win its 12th NCAA National Championship under Sanderson and 13th overall last year in Philadelphia. The Nittany Lions went 15-0 in dual meets, 8-0 in Big Ten duals to win their 10th B1G Regular Season Championship, won the 2025 Big Ten Championship and rolled to a record setting NCAA title to close out the season. The Nittany Lions return nine All-Americans for the 2025-26 campaign, seven from last year’s title winning team and two who are coming off redshirt seasons.
Penn State features a number of wrestlers ranked by InterMat. Luke Lilledahl checks in at No. 3 at 125. Aaron Nagao is No. 11 at 141. Shayne Van Ness is No. 1 at 149. Mitchell Mesenbrink is No. 1 at 165. Levi Haines is No. 1 at 174. Rocco Welsh is No. 2 at 184. Josh Barr is No. 1 at 197. Cole Mirasola is No. 11 at 285.
Oklahoma opened its season at the Tiger Style Invitational tournament last weekend. The Sooners picked up two individual champions at the event with DJ Parker winning at 197 and Juan Mora at 285. Oklahoma is helmed by head coach Roger Kish. The Sooners went 8-4 in dual meets last year, 4-4 in conference action. Oklahoma placed 38th at national last year. The Sooners feature eight ranked wrestlers. Beric Jordan is No. 29 at 125, Jack Gioffre is No. 11 at 149. Rafael Hipolito is No. 7 at 157. Peyton Kellar is No. 17 at 165. Carter Schubert is No. 33 at 174. Brian Soldano is No. 13 at 184. DJ Parker is No. 8 at 197. Juan Mora is No. 24 at 285.
The Nittany Lions return to action next weekend, taking part in the Black Knight Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 23, at Army West Point. Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via X/twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. The 2025-26 Penn State Wrestling Season is sponsored by The Family Clothesline. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.
PENN STATE CONCLUDES OUTSTANDING
FREESTYLE SEASON WITH FOUR U23 MEDALS
Seven Penn State wrestlers took part in the United World Wrestling U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, this weekend. Four of those seven Nittany Lions brought home U23 World Championships and Gold Medals while another won Bronze. The United States U23 World Team featured ten wrestlers, seven of whom were current Nittany Lions. Junior Mitchell Mesenbrink won the Gold Medal at 74 kg, sophomore Luke Lilledahl won the Gold Medal 57 kg, senior Levi Haines won the Gold Medal 79 kg, true freshman PJ Duke won a Bronze Medal at 70 kg, sophomore Rocco Welsh went 2-1 at 86 kg, sophomore Josh Barr went 1-1 at 92 kg before bowing out with an injury and true freshman Marcus Blaze competed at 65 kg. Penn State and the Penn State Olympic Regional Training Center had a very successful freestyle season winning a combined 11 world medals at the Senior World Championships, U20 World Championships and these U23 World Championships. Haines won Silver at Senior Worlds while RTC wrestler Kyle Snyder won Gold. Blaze and Duke had already won U20 Gold while William Henckel won U20 Silver and Connor and Cole Mirasola won U20 Bronze. Mesenbrink, Lilledahl and Haines won Gold while Duke won Bronze at U23s.
FOUR NITTANY LIONS COMPETE IN JOURNEYMEN
COLLEGIATE ROUND ROBIN EVENT
Four members of the Penn State wrestling team opened up the 2025-26 season by competing in the round robin portion of the Journeymen Collegiate on Sunday, Nov. 9. Connor Pierce went 2-1 with two technical falls at 149, Joe Sealey went 2-1 with a pin at 157, Sam Beckett went 2-1 at 165 and Dawson Bundy went 1-2 with a major at 285.
HAINES AND MESENBRINK NAMED TO
B1G PRESEASON WRESTLER TO WATCH LIST
The Big Ten released, for the first time, a pre-season Wrestler to Watch list that featured a maximum of two wrestlers per school. Penn State Nittany Lion National Champions Levi Haines (2024) and Mitchell Mesenbrink (2025) were included on the list.
#FUNSTATS AFTER THE 2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
// Most Individual NCAA Titles Since 2011 -- PENN STATE 40, Cornell 14, Oklahoma State 12, Ohio State 11, Iowa 8
// Penn State National Finalists Since 2011 -- 59
// Penn State in NCAA Finals Since 2011 -- 40-19 (Since 2011, winning percentage in NCAA finals is .678)
// Penn State in NCAA Semifinals Since 2011 -- 59-12 (Since 2011, winning percentage in NCAA semis is .831)
// Penn State Team Championships Since 2011 -- 12 (of 14, no NCAA tournament in 2020)
// Penn State Percentage of Team Titles Won Since 2011 - .857 (no NCAA tournament in 2020)
// Penn State has 13 NCAA Championships (12 under Sanderson), third most in NCAA history
// Penn State is the only team in the nation to win at least one individual title at EACH WEIGHT in the last decade
// Penn State is one of only two teams in NCAA history to have five individual champions in one year TWICE.
// Penn State is one of only two teams in NCAA history to have 10 All-Americans in one year.
// Penn State’s Cael Sanderson has won 12 NCAA titles as a coach, second most in NCAA history.