Penn State clinches 4th straight team title at 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships
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2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships
The Penn State Nittany Lions won their 13th national title and made some history at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia. Read all of our coverage here.
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The finals for the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships don’t start until Saturday night, but the team title has already been clinched.
Penn State officially secured the team title Saturday afternoon with Shayne Van Ness’ win by fall over Oregon State’s Ethan Stiles in the consolation semifinals.
The win makes four straight NCAA team titles for the Nittany Lions, to go with their three straight Big Ten titles. This one gives them 13 national titles overall, with 12 of them coming in the last 14 tries — and under head coach Cael Sanderson.
Penn State’s team success this season has been carried by Mitchell Mesenbrink (165 pounds), Carter Starocci (184 pounds) and Josh Barr (197 pounds) who have all clinched spots in Saturday night’s finals. Beau Bartlett (141 pounds), Van Ness (149 pounds), Levi Haines (174 pounds) and Greg Kerkvliet (285 pounds) all made the semifinals, but lost Friday night to fall to the consolation bracket.
Luke Lilledahl (125 pounds), Braeden Davis (133 pounds) and Tyler Kasak (157 pounds) all lost in the quarterfinals but have achieved All-America status by staying alive in the consolation bracket. That gives the Nittany Lions 10 All-Americans, making them the second team to achieve that, joining Minnesota who did it in 2001.
Penn State’s win comes later than anticipated, with Nebraska outperforming expectations. The Huskers sit in second place, but Penn State could still potentially break the scoring record of 172.5 points — one they set a year ago.
The finals will take place 7 p.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM.
