Debuts, techs highlight Penn State wrestling’s season-opening victory in the BJC
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- Penn State opened season at Bryce Jordan Center with a 45-0 shutout over Oklahoma.
- Three newcomers Mirasola, Welsh and Blaze all recorded bonus-point wins in debuts.
- Team logged eight bonus wins including five technical falls and a pin.
Penn State’s wrestling season kicked off Friday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center with three wrestlers making their debut.
Connor Mirasola, Rocco Welsh and Marcus Blaze all recorded bonus points in their starts for the Nittany Lions as they shut out Oklahoma, 45-0, thanks to eight bonus point victories — five technical falls, two major decisions and a pin.
“When you’re a little kid, you dream of moments like that, to wrestle in front of a big crowd,” Blaze said. “It was super fun, and I love the energy that Penn State fans bring.”
Welsh added: “It’s been a pretty crazy journey. Coming out of high school, I don’t know if I would see myself here, but I’m grateful to be here at Penn State. There’s nowhere like Penn State, wrestling in this atmosphere, it’s one of a kind. My freshman year (at Ohio State) I wrestled a lot of different places, but this was definitely the craziest place.”
With the dual beginning at 197 pounds, Mirasola got his debut in early against No. 8 DJ Parker.
Mirasola controlled the match from beginning to end. He tallied a takedown of Parker with 48 seconds left in the first period for a 3-1 lead. In the second period, Mirasola tacked on two more takedowns to have a 9-3 lead.
The redshirt freshman took Parker down with five seconds left in the bout to earn a 13-3 major decision.
“Big match, one of the more competitive matches on paper. His first time being out there,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “The first match of the dual is probably a different feel for him. I thought he did a nice job, scored his points and wrestled tough.”
Cole Mirasola had a 5-2 win at 285 pounds over No. 24 Juan Mora. Luke Lilledahl showed off his quickness off a 14-4 major decision of Conrad Hendrikson.
Blaze stepped on the mat against Tyson Charmoli at 133 pounds with the Nittany Lions leading 11-0.
The true freshman got to work with a takedown with just over one minute left in the first period. The second period saw Blaze turn up the heat with an 11-point barrage.
He had a trio of takedowns, collected an escape and Charmoli gave up a stall point for a 14-3 lead. Blaze put Charmoli to his back to start the third to collect an 18-3 technical fall in 5:17.
“Like I said, you just dream of moments like that. When the moment comes, it’s not too big,” Blaze said. “You’re just prepared for the moment, because you just understand that wrestling is just a small part of your life. I take wrestling and dumb it down to, I’m just wrestling a match and having fun playing a game.”
Aaron Nagao made a return to the wrestling mat for the first time in almost two years with a 9-5 victory over Alex Braun to give Penn State a 19-0 lead at the break.
The Nittany Lions racked up five straight bonus-point victories out of the break.
No. 1 Shayne Van Ness kicked things off with a 19-1 technical fall in 5:29. Joe Sealey, who wrestled for Penn State last year in two duals, racked up a 19-4 tech in 5:47.
No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink recorded a 19-4 technical fall in 2:45. No. 1 Levi Haines went into concussion protocol at the start of his match, but came back out and earned a pin in 4:14.
Welsh tallied six takedowns in his 19-4 technical fall in 5:28 to close out the dual.
“You want your guys to kind of get into the routine of scoring points, and focus on the things that score points,” Sanderson said. “We didn’t come here to win. We came here to compete, wrestle and score points, and that’s what the guys did.”
No. 1 Penn State 45, No. 22 Oklahoma 0
Friday at University Park 197: Connor Mirasola, PSU, major dec. No. 8 DJ Parker, 13-3 285: No. 11 Cole Mirasola, PSU, dec. No. 24 Juan Mora, 5-2 125: No. 3 Luke Lilledahl, PSU, major dec. Conrad Hendriksen, 14-4 133: Marcus Blaze, PSU, tech. fall Tyson Charmoli, 18-3 (5:13) 141: No. 11 Aaron Nagao, PSU, dec. Alex Braun, 9-5 149: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU, tech. fall Layton Schneider, 19-1 (5:29) 157: Joe Sealey, PSU, tech. fall Landyn Sommer, 19-4 (5:47) 165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU, tech. fall Owen Eck, 19-4 (2:45) 174: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU, pinned No. 33 Carter Schubert, 4:14 184: No. 2 Rocco Welsh, PSU, tech. fall Anders Thompson, 19-4 (5:28) Takedowns: O 1, PSU 35 Records: Oklahoma (0-1), Penn State (1-0) Next match: Penn State at Black Knight Invitational, West Point, NY, Nov. 23, 10 a.m.
This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 9:29 PM.
