THIS WEEK’S ACTION:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State (11-0, 5-0 B1G) hosts Nebraska (9-5, 2-2 B1G) on Friday, Jan. 30, in the Bryce Jordan Center. The BJC Dual is set for 8 p.m. and will air nationally on the B1G Network. All rankings are InterMat/InterMat TPI.
The Nittany Lions are coming off two wins last weekend, posting two shutout victories in less than 24 hours. Penn State downed Indiana 48-0 in Rec Hall on Friday night and then, in a dual moved up a day due to an impending winter storm, rolled into College Park, Md., to throttle the homestanding Maryland Terrapins 51-0. Penn State went 20-0 in both duals, with 19 of those wins coming with bonus points. The victories improved Penn State to 11-0, 5-0 in the Big Ten, with seven shutouts.
Penn State has ten wrestlers ranked by InterMat. Luke Lilledahl is 13-0 and ranked No. 1 at 125. Marcus Blaze is 15-0 and No. 4 at 133. Braeden Davis is 8-1 and No. 12 at 141. Shayne Van Ness is 14-0 and No. 1 at 149. PJ Duke is 13-0 and No. 3 at 157. Mitchell Mesenbrink is 15-0 and No. 1 at 165. Levi Haines is 14-0 and No. 1 at 174. Rocco Welsh is 13-0 and No. 1 at 184. Josh Barr is 12-0 and No. 1 at 197. Cole Mirasola is 12-2 and No. 12 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.”
Nebraska enters the dual with a 9-5 overall record, 2-2 in the Big Ten, after dropping duals to Iowa and Ohio State last weekend in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers have nine wrestlers ranked by InterMat. Jacob Van Dee is No. 10 at 133, Brock Hardy is No. 4 at 141, Chance Lamer is No. 18 at 149, Antrell Taylor is No. 5 at 157, LJ Araujo is No. 7 at 165, Christopher Minto is No. 4 at 174, Silas allred is No. 6 at 184, Camden McDanel is No. 9 at 197 and AJ Ferrari is No. 4 at 285.. Penn State leads the all-time series with NU 13-7-1, including the last night straight. The Nittany Lions won the last meeting, 31-7, on Jan. 17, 2025, in Lincoln last year.
The Nittany Lions hit the road for a Big Ten battle next weekend when they visit Michigan on Friday, Feb. 6. The dual is set for 6 p.m. in Ann Arbor and will air nationally on the B1G Network.
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.
#1 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (11-0, 5-0 B1G)
125 #1 Luke Lilledahl So. Weldon Spring, Mo./Wyoming Seminary 13-0
133 #4 Marcus Blaze Fr. Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg 15-0
141 #12 Braeden Davis Jr. Belleville, Mich./Dundee 8-1
149 #1 Shayne Van Ness Jr. Somerville, N.J./Blair Academy 14-0
157 #3 PJ Duke Fr. State Hill, N.Y./Minisink Valley 13-0
165 #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink Jr. Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead 15-0
174 #1 Levi Haines Sr. Arendtsville, Pa./Biglerville 14-0
184 #1 Rocco Welsh So. Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg Central 13-0
197 #1 Josh Barr So. Davison, Mich./Davison 12-0
285 #12 Cole Mirasola R-Fr. Jackson, Wis./West Bend 12-2
#5 NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (9-5, 2-2 B1G)
125 Alan Koehler So. Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake 10-11
133 #10 Jacob Van Dee Jr. Union City, Pa./Cathedral Prep 12-3
141 #4 Brock Hardy Sr. Brigham City, Utah/Box Elder 13-4
149 #18 Chance Lamer Sr. Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley 12-3
157 #5 Antrell Taylor Jr. Millard, Neb./Millard South 15-2
165 #7 LJ Araujo R-Fr. Bismark, N.D./Bismark 11-5
174 #4 Christopher Minto So. Cape Coral, Fla./Mariner 14-3
184 #6 Silas Allred Sr. Andersson, Ind./Shenadoah 12-5
197 #9 Camden McDanel So. Circleville, Ohio/Teays Valley 14-4
285 #4 AJ Ferrari Sr. Allen, Texas/Allen 8-2
Individual rankings listed are InterMat/InterMat TPI (as of 1/27/26)
PENN STATE’S DUAL SEASON / inside the numbers
(THROUGH JAN. 18, 2026)
* Record: 11-0 // Big Ten: 5-0
* Bout record in duals: 104-6 // Big Ten: 49-1
* Dual Pts for/against: 480-19 // Big Ten: 228-3
* Average points per dual: 43.6 // Big Ten: 45.6
* Margin of victory: +41.9 // Big Ten: +45.0
* Shutouts: 7 // Big Ten: 4
* Penn State in dual meets:
83 of its 104 dual wins are for bonus points
(23-0 by FALL, 35-0 by TF, 23-1 by MD, 2-0 by FF, 21-5 by DEC)
Owns a 90-8 edge in stall warnings forced
Has a 23-2 edge in riding time points earned
Has amassed a 356-27 advantage in takedowns
NITTANY LIONS POST 51-0 SHUTOUT WIN AT MARYLAND
Less than 24 hours after shutting out Indiana 48-0, Penn State rolled into College Park, Md., and throttled the homestanding Terrapins 51-0 on Saturday, Jan. 24. The dual was moved up a day due to an incoming winter storm. Penn State picked up bonus point wins in all 10 victories.
Marcus Blaze majored #15 Braxton Brown 15-3 at 133,
Shayne Van Ness picked up nine takedowns in a 31-10 tech fall over #7 Carter Young at 149 (6:41) and
Josh Barr posted a 19-4 tech fall over #13 Branson John at 197 (6:51).
PENN STATE SHUTS OUT INDIANA 48-0
Penn State shut out the visiting Indiana Hoosiers in Rec Hall on Friday, Jan. 24, with nine of its ten victories coming with bonus points.
Luke Lilledahl pinned #11 Jacob Moran at 5:20 at 125, and
Mitchell Mesenbrink pinned #19 Tyler Lillard at 4:01 at 165 to highlight the lopsided win.
Braeden Davis majored #25 Henry Porter 24-10 at 141,
Rocco Welsh downed #15 Sam Goin 15-9 at 184 and
Josh Barr majored #14 Gabe Sollars 14-6 at 197 for other ranked victories.
5 NITTANY LIONS COMPETE AT BLOOMSBURG OPEN
Five Nittany Lion wrestlers competed at the Bloomsburg Open on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Dalton Perry went 2-1 with a pin and a major to take second at 149.
Hayden Cunningham went 2-2 with a major for fourth at 141.
Sam Beckett went 2-2 with a tech fall for fourth at 174.
Dawson Bundy was 2-0 and 1-2 vs. non-collegiates to place fourth at 285.
Sean Degl went 2-2 at 174.
PENN STATE TALLIES TEN BONUS POINT WINS IN
51-0 SHUTOUT VICTORY AT NORTHWESTERN
nittany lions roll to historic 32-3 win at #3 iowa
Penn State rolled into Iowa City, Iowa, on Jan. 16, 2026 and rolled out with an historic 32-3 win. The Nittany Lions won nine of ten bouts on the Hawkeyes’ mat and handed Iowa its worst home defeat in 60 years. Penn State’s margin of victory (29) was also the largest for the Lions in series history. Then #4
Rocco Welsh downed #1 Angelo Ferrari 2-1 (tb) at 184 and then #13
Cole Mirasola took down #5 Ben Kueter 4-3 at 285 for two notable wins for Penn State.
PENN STATE BLANKS #19 RUTGERS 46-0 IN REC HALL
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.”
PIERCE, SEALEY, HENCKEL, CUNNINGHAM AND BARR
CLAIM SOUTHERN SCUFFLE TITLES; BARR B1G W.O.W.
Penn State sent 13 wrestlers to the 2026 Southern Scuffle and five came home with individual titles.
Connor Pierce went 6-0 with a major to win at 149.
Joe Sealey went 6-0 with a major and two techs to win at 157.
William Henckel went 6-0 with two majors and a tech to win at 174.
Asher Cunningham went 5-0 with two majors and two pins to win at 184.
Josh Barr went 5-0 with a major, two techs and a pin (including a 9-1 major over #3 Stephen Little of Little Rock in the finals) to win at 197. The Nittany Lions came away with the team title as well, while not entering wrestlers at two weights. Barr was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week for his efforts.
Penn State sent three wrestlers to Edinboro’s Kauffman Open on Jan. 4, each wrestling unattached.
Braeden Davis went 4-0 at 141 to win the title. Davis had two majors and two pins on the day.
Hayden Cunningham went 3-1 with a pin to take third at 141.
Brock Weiss was 3-2 with a major and a tech at 149.
van ness and blaze sweep b1g weekly honors
for week ending dec. 21, 2025
Nittany Lion junior
Shayne Van Ness was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week and true freshman
Marcus Blaze was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the week ending Dec. 21, 2025. The duo earned the honors for their performances in Penn State’s 2-0 run at the Collegiate Duals in Nashville on Dec. 20. Van Ness picked up two ranked wins, posting a 19-2 tech fall (5:16) over #24 Max Petersen of North Dakota State and downing #14 Aden Valencia of Stanford 10-4. Blaze also had two ranked victories, majoring #29 Tristan Daugherty of NDSU 11-3 and pinning #6 Tyler Knox of Stanford at the 6:44 mark (while leading 16-2 at the time). Penn State shut out the Bison 46-0 and blanked the Cardinal 42-0.
penn state shuts out #9 stanford 42-0
TO BREAK d1 all-time win streak record
Penn State dominated #9 Stanford to close out the Collegiate Duals in Nashville on Dec. 20, shutting out the Cardinal 42-0. Penn State got pins from
Marcus Blaze and
Mitchell Mesenbrink; tech falls from
Josh Barr and
Cole Mirasola; majors from
Nate Desmond and
Levi Haines; and decisions from
Luke Lilledahl,
Shayne Van Ness,
PJ Duke and
Rocco Welsh. Penn State set a new NCAA Division I dual meet win streak record with the victory, having won its 77th-straight. The old mark was 76 set by Oklahoma St. from 1937 to 1951. Ranked wins in the dual included Lilledahl’s 4-2 win over #12 Nicco Provo at 125, Blaze pinning #6 Tyler Knox at 133, Van Ness’ 10-4 win over #14 Aden Valencia, Duke’s 5-2 win over #5 Daniel Cardenas at 157 and
Josh Barr’s 19-3 tech fall over #19 Angelo Posada at 197.
NITTANY LIONS SHUT OUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE 46-0
AT COLLEGIATE DUALS
Penn State won all ten bouts in a rousing 46-0 shutout win over North Dakota State on Dec. 20 in Nashville, opening up the Collegiate Duals with a victory. The Lions got pins from
Levi Haines and
Cole Mirasola; techs from
Shayne Van Ness,
Mitchell Mesenbrink,
Rocco Welsh and
Josh Barr; majors from
Marcus Blaze and
PJ Duke; and decisions from
Luke Lilledahl and
Nate Desmond. Ranked wins in the dual included Lilledahl’s 6-4 win over #31 Ezekial Witt at 125, Blaze’s 11-3 major over #29 Tristan Daugherty at 133, Van Ness’ 19-2 tech over #24 Max Petersen at 149, and Duke’s 16-5 major over #21 Gavin Drexler at 157.
Duke named b1g freshman of the week
Nittany Lion freshman
PJ Duke was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the week ending Dec. 14, 2025. Duke pinned #23 Jared Hill of Wyoming to help lead Penn State to a 40-7 win at Wyoming in Laramie on Dec. 13.
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
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.
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 Hines), 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.
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.
