THIS WEEK’S ACTION:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025 -- The Penn State wrestling team (4-0, 0-0 B1G) heads to Nashville, Tenn., this weekend for the 2025 Collegiate Duals on Saturday, Dec. 20. Penn State will wrestle North Dakota State (1-3) at 5 p.m. Eastern and Stanford (1-2) at 7 p.m. Eastern (4 and 6 local). All rankings listed are InterMat/InterMat TPI. Stanford and NDSU will wrestle each other to kick off the day at 3 p.m. Eastern.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a dominant 40-7 win over Wyoming in Laramie on Saturday, Dec. 13. Penn State won the first eight bouts of the dual meet, including four pins and two tech falls. The win improved the Nittany Lions to 4-0 heading into the event in Nashville this weekend.
Penn State has ten wrestlers ranked by InterMat. Luke Lilledahl is 6-0 and No. 2 at 125; Marcus Blaze is 8-0 and No. 10 at 133; Aaron Nagao is 4-1 and No. 7 at 141; Shayne Van Ness is 7-0 and No. 1 at 149; PJ Duke is 6-0 and No. 8 at 157; Mitchell Mesenbrink is 8-0 and No. 1 at 165; Levi Haines is 7-0 and No. 1 at 174; Rocco Welsh is 6-0 and No. 4 at 184; Connor Mirasola is 6-1 and No. 8 at 197; and Cole Mirasola is 5-2 and No. 13 at 285.
A reminder that per NCAA rules, when two wrestlers from the same team meet in a tournament, the result is not official as THEY ARE NOT OFFICIAL MATCHES. It does not count as a win or a loss. Please see rule 9, section 6, article 4, found on page 79 of the official 2025-26 NCAA Wrestling rule book.
“Art. 4. Non-Allowable ISRF Matches. Matches between teammates, against opponents who are not listed on an institutional roster, a club-level wrestler, a prospective student-athlete or an armed services student-athlete shall not be counted.”
North Dakota State will enter the event with a 1-3 overall record. The Bison last wrestled on Dec. 7 when they dropped a 26-9 dual meet at Minnesota. North Dakota State has five wrestlers ranked by InterMat. Ezekiel Witt is No. 31 at 125; Tristan Daugherty is No. 29 at 133; Max Petersen is No. 24 at 149; Gavin Drexler is No. 21 at 157; and Aidan Brenot is No. 17 at 184. Penn State owns a 1-0 lead in the all-time series, having downed the Bison 39-3 on Jan. 12, 2007, at the Virginia Duals.
Stanford will enter the duals with a 1-2 mark. The Cardinal last competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas on Dec. 8, where Stanford placed third. The Cardinal have seven ranked wrestlers. Nicco Provo is No. 12 at 125; Tyler Knox is No. 6 at 133; Jack Consiglio is No. 15 at 141; Aden Valencia is No. 14 at 149; Daniel Cardenas is No. 5 at 157; Hunter Garvin is No. 6 at 165; and Angelo Posada is No. 19 at 197. Penn State leads the all-time series with Stanford 2-0 and won the last meeting, 3606, on Nov. 13, 2016, in Rec Hall.
Penn State opens up Big Ten action in its next outing, hosting Rutgers on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 4 p.m. in Rec Hall. 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.
LIONS TALLY 6 PINS, 2 TECHS, FIVE RANKED WINS
IN 40-7 VICTORY OVER WYOMING IN LARAMIE
Penn State rolled into Laramie, Wyo., on Dec. 13 and walked away with a dominant 40-7 victory over #18 Wyoming. The Nittany Lions picked up four pins, two tech falls and notched five wins over ranked opponents to secure the victory. Marcus Blaze pinned #22 Luke Willochell at 133, Shayne Van Ness pinned #30 Gabe Willochell at 149, PJ Duke pinned #23 Jared Hill at 157 and Mitchell Mesenbrink picked up a pin at 165. Luke Lilledahl had a tech fall win at 125 and Levi Haines posted an 18-1 tech fall over #28 Riley Davis at 174. Rocco Welsh picked up Penn State’s other ranked win, a 4-1 victory over #12 Eddie Neitenbach at 184. True freshman Nate Desmond also moved up two weights to 141 and grabbed his first dual win as a Nittany Lion.
MESENBRINK DOWNS #7 MAX BRIGNOLA AS
NITTANY LIONS ROLL OVER LEHIGH 36-6 IN REC HALL
Junior Mitchell Mesenbrink took care of #7 Max Brignola, posting a 15-7 major over the Mountain Hawk in Rec Hall on Sunday, Dec. 7. Mesenbrink’s victory highlighted Penn State’s 36-6 victory over Lehigh in front of yet another Rec Hall sellout crowd. Mesenbrink had four takedowns in the top-10 win. Penn State won eight of ten bouts against Lehigh, including PJ Duke’s win over #10 Logan Rozynski at 157 (Duke was up 14-3 when Rozynski injury defaulted at 5:41) and Rocco Welsh’s 4-2 win over #23 Rylan Rogers at 184.
HAINES DOMINATES #17 JASAIAH QUEEN TO
LEAD PENN STATE TO 43-3 WIN AT DREXEL
Senior Levi Haines rolled up over 2:00 in riding time and added three takedowns to post a dominant 12-1 major decision over #17 Jasaiah Queen of Drexel on Friday, Dec. 5. Haines’ win was one of nine for Penn State as the Nittany Lions rolled to a 43-3 victory in front of a sellout crowd in Philadelphia. All nine of Penn State’s wins were for bonus points. The Nittany Lions had two pins (Marcus Blaze, PJ Duke), three technical falls (Shayne Van Ness, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Connor Mirasola) and four majors (Haines, Luke Lilledahl, Rocco Welsh and Cole Mirasola).
PENN STATE DOMINATES BLACK KNIGHT INVITATIONAL
NINE LIONS WIN INDIVIDUAL TITLES, SIX TAKE SECOND
Penn State sent 20 wrestlers to the Black Knight Invitational at Army West Point on Sunday, Nov. 23. Nineteen of those wrestlers placed (one suffered an injury in his second match). Penn State came away with nine of the ten individual champions and six second place finishers. Nate Desmond (125), Marcus Blaze (133), Shayne Van Ness (149), PJ Duke (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), Rocco Welsh (184), Connor Mirasola (197) and Cole Mirasola (285) all won their weight classes. Luke Lilledahl (125), Aaron Nagao (133, injured in finals), Connor Pierce (149), Joe Sealey (157), William Henckel (174) and Asher Cunningham (184) placed second.
A REMINDER PER NCAA RULES: TOURNAMENT RESULTS
AGAINST TEAMMATES DO NOT COUNT TOWARDS RECORD
When two wrestlers from the same team meet in a tournament, the result is not official. It does not count as a win or a loss. Please see rule 9, section 6, article 4, found on page 79 of the official 2025-26 NCAA Wrestling rule book.
“Art. 4. Non-Allowable ISRF Matches. Matches between teammates, against opponents who are not listed on an institutional roster, a club-level wrestler, a prospective student-athlete or an armed services student-athlete shall not be counted.”
NITTANY LIONS SHUT OUT #22 OKLAHOMA 45-0
IN BJC TO OPEN UP SEASON
Penn State rolled to a 45-0 shutout win over visiting Oklahoma in the Bryce Jordan Center on Friday, Nov. 14, in the season opener for the Nittany Lions. Penn State tallied eight bonus point wins in the victory, the teams third shutout win in its last four duals in the Jordan Center. The Lions had a pin (Levi Haines), five technical falls (Marcus Blaze, Shayne Van Ness, Joe Sealey, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Rocco Welsh) and two majors (Luke Lilledahl, Connor Mirasola) as well as two decisions (Aaron Nagao, Cole Mirasola) to round out the shutout. Connor Mirasola majored #8 DJ Parker 13-3 at 197, Cole Mirasola downed #24 Juan Mora at 285 and Haines pinned #33 Carter Schubert (4:15) for three ranked victories.
LUCAS COCHRAN WINS HITCHCOCK INVITATIONAL;
HAYDEN CUNNINGHAM TAKES THIRD
Four members of the Penn State wrestling team competed in the Floyd ‘Shorty’ Hitchcock Invitational at Millersville University on Sunday, Nov. 15. Lucas Cochran won the 285 pound title, going 3-0 with another win over a non-collegiate wrestler. Hayden Cunningham went 3-0 and 1-1 vs. non-collegiates to take third place at 141. Sam Becket went 3-1 and 1-1 vs. non-collegiates to take sixth at 165 and Brock Weiss went 2-2 at 149.
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.