UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club and the Penn State Regional Training Center will be well represented at the 2026 U.S. Open in Las Vegas this weekend. Sixteen wrestlers will compete in the senior freestyle and three will compete in the U20 bracket. The freestyle portion of the event runs Friday through Sunday, April 24-26.
On the senior freestyle side of things, Luke Lilledahl will be the No. 2 seed at 57 kg. Marcus Blaze is the No. 3 seed at 61 kg. Nate Desmond is the No. 12 seed and Kyison Garcia is unseeded at 65 kg. Tyler Kasak is the No. 3 seed and Connor Pierce is unseeded at 70 kg. Joe Sealey will be the No. 13 seed at 74 kg. Will Henkcel is the No. 8 seed at 79 kg. Kyle Dake will be the No. 1 seed and Rocco Welsh will be the No. 3 seed at 86 kg. Josh Barr is the No. 1 seed at 92 kg. Connor Mirasola will be the No. 6 seed at 97 kg. Cole Mirasola is unseeded at 125 kg.
The three Nittany Lions competing the U20 bracket will be Brock Weiss at 70 kg, Asher Cunningham at 79 kg and Mason Ellis at 92 kg.
The senior freestyle bracket begins on Friday and concludes on Saturday while the U20 bracket will run on Saturday and Sunday. Winners of the U.S. Open will advance to Final X to determine the 2026 U.S. Senior World Freestyle Teams on Friday, June 19, 2026. Penn State RTC athletes Levi Haines and Kyle Snyder have already accepted automatic bids to Final X.
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 Family Clothesline is the presenting sponsor for the 2025-26 Nittany Lion wrestling season. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.