Where Penn State wrestlers are pre-seeded for Big Ten Wrestling Championships
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2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships
Penn State wrestling has claimed another Big Ten Championship, and this time Cael Sanderson’s squad did so at home. Below is a look at all of our coverage from the March 7-8 Big Ten Wrestling Championships at the Bryce Jordan Center.
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The pre-seeds have been released for the 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships and Penn State is set to have six No. 1 seeds across the 10 weight classes.
Luke Lilledahl (125 pounds), Marcus Blaze (133 pounds), Shayne Van Ness (149 pounds), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165 pounds), Rocco Welsh (184 pounds) and Josh Barr (197 pounds) were all slotted as the top seeds at their respective weights. Three of the four remaining PSU wrestlers were all in the top four at their weights, with PJ Duke (157 pounds) and Levi Haines (174 pounds) each at No. 2 and Cole Mirasola (285 pounds) at No. 4.
Braeden Davis (141 pounds) was the lone Penn State wrestler outside the top four at his weight, coming in at No. 7.
Haines and Blaze coming in at their respective seeds were a surprise, with Haines being the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 174 pounds, according to InterMat, and Illinois’ Lucas Byrd having the same distinction at 133 pounds — Blaze’s weight. Blaze and Byrd have not wrestled this season, but Haines has already defeated the weight class’ No. 1 seed, Nebraska’s Christopher Minto, by 8-6 decision.
The seeds will be finalized Friday afternoon after the Big Ten coaches meeting, one day before the conference tournament begins. This year’s Big Tens will be in State College, with PSU’s wrestlers making their run at conference titles in the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday and Sunday.
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 2:45 PM.
