‘Incredible year’: How each Penn State wrestler fared at NCAA Wrestling Championships
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2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships
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The 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships came to a close Saturday night inside Rocket Arena with another record-setting team title for Penn State — in addition to four PSU wrestlers earning individual national titles.
The Nittany Lions had six finalists overall, which allowed them to score 181.5 points to win their fifth straight team title and 13th since 2010. The score was a new NCAA record, breaking Penn State’s previous record of 177 points set last year.
It outpaced runner-up Oklahoma State, which had three champions, by 50.5 points.
“I think this was an incredible year,” coach Cael Sanderson said. “Obviously, our heart and minds are with kids who didn’t reach their goals. We’re here thinking about, ‘Hey, what can we do better?,’ We’ve got to do this better. We’ve got a lot on our minds now.
“Happy for the team. Just really an incredible group of guys; outstanding year. Our staff, they’re all unicorns. Really, up and down the lineup — director of ops, our general manager, every one of them. Our trainer, obviously; Cody (Sanderson), Casey (Cunningham) and Nick Lee, the whole crew. We’re very blessed and very grateful.”
Here’s how each of the Nittany Lions wrestlers finished:
125 pounds: Luke Lilledahl
Finish: 1st
Record for tournament: 5-0
Recap: When Lilledahl entered his post match press conference, coach Cael Sanderson was already fielding questions. Sanderson finished up a question, slapped his 125-pounder’s hand, and said “National Champ.”
Lilledahl took on Princeton’s Marc-Anthony McGowan, who he stalled out during the February dual. Saturday night’s match saw McGowan get called for stalls again, which ultimately gave the Penn State wrestler the title.
The Tigers wrestler took the lead in the second period with an escape, but he got called for his first stall. Lilledahl opened the third period with an escape five seconds into the frame.
He kept pressuring McGowan, and got another stall call for the winning point in a 2-1 victory.
“It feels amazing. (It) Just kind of solidifies that I’ve been doing everything right and having trust in my coaches and in my training,” Lilledahl said. "Obviously, I wanted to win the nationals, but I wanted to put a stamp that 125 is my weight class for the next two years. I feel like I’ve done that. Next year, it’s just about going out and kind of widening the gap against these guys that are keeping it close.”
133 pounds: Marcus Blaze
Finish: 4th
Record for tournament: 4-2
Recap: Blaze suffered a heartbreaking loss on Friday night in the semifinals, which sent him to the consolation bracket on Saturday morning.
He rebounded nicely by racking up a 20-4 technical fall on Stanford’s Tyler Knox in 5:45. With Blaze’s win and Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley suffering a loss in the 125 pound consolation semifinals, it secured the team title for the Nittany Lions.
In the consolation finals, which determines third place, Blaze took on fellow freshman Aaron Seidel of Virginia Tech, who was the No. 4 seed.
Neither wrestler scored in the first period or the second period as Seidel rode the Penn State wrestler for the entire second period. In the third period, the Hokies wrestler got an escape, fired off a takedown and got a riding time point for a 5-0 shutout of Blaze.
141 pounds: Braeden Davis
Finish: Eliminated
Record for tournament: 2-2
Recap: Davis’ tournament started out well, but it didn’t end that way.
The Penn State wrestler secured a 10-6 victory over West Virginia’s Jordan Titus to stay alive in the consolation bracket on Friday afternoon. In the next round, he took on Penn’s CJ Composto.
After no score in the first period, Composto opened the second period with a reversal. Davis escaped, but Composto tacked on a takedown before the period ended.
Davis got an escape in the third period, but couldn’t get a winning score in a 5-2 defeat to end his season.
149 pounds: Shayne Van Ness
Finish: 2nd
Record for tournament: 4-1
Recap: The odds were in Van Ness’ favor when it came to the finals as he squared off with the No. 10 seed in Stanford’s Aden Valencia.
However, just like other times this year, Van Ness gave up an early takedown. The only exception this time is he couldn’t recover for a win.
The Nittany Lions wrestler got a takedown in the second period and trailed by one at the period’s end. In the third period, Van Ness escaped to tie it.
They went to sudden victory, and Valencia picked up a takedown with 32 seconds left to win 8-5.
157 pounds: PJ Duke
Finish: 3rd
Record for tournament: 5-1
Recap: Much like teammate Marcus Blaze, Duke had to rebound after a tough loss in the semifinals.
He took on a fellow Big Ten wrestler in Illinois’ Kannon Webster for a spot in the consolation finals. Duke had a takedown in the first and second period to take care of Webster, 7-3.
In the consolation finals, the Penn State wrestler took on Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon for a third time in two weeks — and second time for the tournament. The first time around, Duke amassed a 21-5 technical fall on Cannon in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals.
The Nittany Lions wrestler dispatched the Buckeyes wrestler again with another technical fall, 20-4, in 6:37 for the third-place finish. Duke was named the tournament’s Gorriaran Award winner for most pins in the quickest time — two in 3:33.
“I lost a little bit of sleep over it (semifinals loss). But, at the end of the day, it’s just God’s plan for me. Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen; I’m just going to come forward and represent my family name,” Duke said. “I think it just shows a lot of character coming back and wrestling hard in those bouts. Nobody really wants to wrestle after a tough loss. I was raised to where I don’t quit, and my family name is so important to me, so I’m going to carry it forward and just go as hard as I can all the time. It was a good tournament. I had fun, learned a lot, and I’ll be ready next year.”
165 pounds: Mitchell Mesenbrink
Finish: 1st
Record for tournament: 5-0
Recap: It had to feel like déjà vu for Mesenbrink as he faced off with Iowa’s Michael Caliendo to defend his crown. It was the ninth time they’ve wrestled in their careers.
Last year, the Penn State wrestler came away with a six-point victory against Caliendo in the NCAA finals. On Saturday night, Mesenbrink’s margin of victory was even higher.
Mesenbrink snapped off four first-period takedowns. In the second period, he got an escape, a fifth takedown and stall points to hold a commanding lead.
Caliendo decided to go offense in the third, and Mesenbrink got a reversal right away for a 20-4 technical fall in 5:12. Mesenbrink was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler and the NCAA’s Most Dominant Wrestler.
“I feel like my ‘why’ this whole season could be summed up into this quote, ‘Sometimes it takes obtaining the goal to realize that the goal was not the thing to be obtained.’ This past year, I had some of the toughest times I’ve ever had in my young life,” Mesenbrink said. “And besides making the USA team for seniors, I won almost everything that I wanted to, and I think that sums up exactly what I was saying with that quote. No matter how many wins or things or amount of money or whatever infinite number of something that you can gain, that was not the point of all of it.
“This year I really just wanted to enjoy it. I did not come to do my will but to do the will of the One who sent me.”
174 pounds: Levi Haines
Finish: 1st
Record for tournament: 5-0
Recap: A senior, Haines was in his last ride at the NCAA championships.
He faced off with Nebraska’s Christopher Minto, whom he beat in the Big Ten finals two weeks ago.
Neither wrestler scored in the first period, but Haines’ relentless pressure forced a stall out of Minto. The second period saw the Penn State wrestler, who was in his third-ever finals, get an escape and a second stall call to earn a point.
The Cornhuskers wrestler got an escape to open the third period, but that was all as Haines collected a 2-1 victory and ride off into the sunset as a two-time champion.
“It’s easy to sit back and say you wish a guy wrestled like that the whole match. He had a game plan. He followed the game plan,” Haines said of the match. “Chris is a tough competitor, so the match went the way it did. It happened the way it was supposed to.
“Maybe fans don’t find that super appealing or whatnot, but if you’ve been around wrestling, you kind of understand that high-IQ chess match out there. You can appreciate that match if you’ve been around the sport long enough.”
184 pounds: Rocco Welsh
Finish: 2nd
Record for tournament: 4-1
Recap: Welsh took on a familiar foe in Minnesota’s Max McEnelly for the crown.
The pair squared off for the Big Ten title two weeks ago with Welsh edging McEnelly in ultimate tiebreakers. Saturday night’s match didn’t need extra time to finalize it.
McEnelly collected a first period takedown with one minute left, but Welsh escaped to trail by two. In the second period, McEnelly extended his lead with an escape.
Welsh got an escape four seconds into the third period, but couldn’t find an opening for a winning score as he finished as a runner-up for the second time of his career in a 4-3 loss.
197 pounds: Josh Barr
Finish: 1st
Record for tournament: 5-0
Recap: A year ago, Barr came into the NCAA championships with a leg injury and finished as a runner-up.
This season, he got a late start after a rib injury during the offseason, but he was able to make the NCAA finals again.
Barr took on Oklahoma State’s Cody Merrill and tallied the bout’s first points with a takedown late in the first period. Merrill was able to get within one at the end of the second period.
However, Barr’s reversal in the third period was more than enough to help him get his first title with a 6-3 victory. Barr’s victory helped Penn State set the new team scoring mark at 177.5 points before Luke Lilledahl wrestled.
“Before I walked out, I got déjà vu,” Barr said. “I remember being in the tunnel last year and being so grateful that I got to compete because I didn’t know at last year’s Big Tens if I was going to be able to wrestle nationals. I got a lot of gratitude, grateful to be here, grateful that the Lord blessed me with the talents that he has. It’s only right that I give back to Him because all this is His and all this is going to come and go.”
285 pounds: Cole Mirasola
Finish: Eliminated
Record for tournament: 2-2
Recap: Expectations were high for Mirasola even though he was the No. 9 seed, but in the end his tournament came to a close on Friday afternoon.
He had a nice opener on his day by racking up an 18-3 technical fall on Appalachian State’s Stephen Monchery in 6:03. Mirasola took on Wyoming’s Christian Carroll, who beat Mirasola in the December dual, in the next round.
After giving up a takedown in the second period, the Penn State wrestler responded with a takedown of his own, and had a one-point lead after the period ended. Carroll opened the third with an escape, and got a stall point to take a one-point lead with 1:17 left.
Mirasola was unable to get a winning score in a 9-6 defeat.
NCAA Championships
Saturday at Cleveland
Team key: Air Force (AF), American (A), Appalachian State (AS), Arizona State (ASU), Army West Point (AWP), Bellarmine (BM), Binghamton (BH), Bloomsburg (BB), Brown (B), Bucknell (BN), Buffalo (BF), Cal Poly (CP), Central Michigan (CM), Chattanooga (CT), Columbia (CB), Cornell (C), Davidson (DS), Drexel (DX), Duke (D), Edinboro (E), Franklin & Marshall (FM), Gardner-Webb (GW), George Mason (GM), Harvard (H), Illinois (IL), Indiana (ID), Iowa (I), Iowa State (ISU), Kent State (KS), Lehigh (L), Little Rock (LR), Lock Haven (LH), Maryland (MD), Michigan (M), Michigan State (MSU), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (Miss.), Morgan State (MS), Navy (N), Nebraska (Neb.), North Carolina (NC), North Carolina State (NCS), North Dakota State (ND), Northern Colorado (NCO), Northern Illinois (NIU), Northern Iowa (NI), Northwestern (NW), Ohio (O), Ohio State (OSU), Oklahoma (OK), Oklahoma State (OKS), Oregon State (ORS), Penn (P), Penn State (PSU), Pittsburgh (Pitt.), Princeton (PT), Purdue (PD), Rider (RD), Rutgers (R), SIU Edwardsville (SIE), South Dakota State (SD), Stanford (S), The Citadel (TC), Utah Valley (UV), Virginia (V), Virginia Tech (VT), VMI (VMI), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (W), Wyoming (WY)
Team scores: 1. Penn State 181.5, 2. Oklahoma State 131, 3. Nebraska 100.5, 4. Iowa 92.5, 5. Ohio State 84.5, 6. Stanford 67.5, 7. Michigan 66, 8. Iowa State 52, 9. Minnesota 48.5, 10. NC State 44.5
Finals
125: Luke Lilledahl, PSU, dec. Marc-Anthony McGowan, PT, 2-1; 133: Jax Forrest, OKS, dec. Ben Davino, OSU, 5-2; 141: Sergio Vega, OKS, dec. Jesse Mendez, OSU, 4-1 (SV); 149: Aden Valencia, S, dec. Shayne Van Ness, PSU, 8-5 (SV); 157: Landon Robideau, OKS, dec. Antrell Taylor, Neb., 4-2; 165: Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU, tech. fall Michael Caliendo, I, 20-4 (5:12); 174: Levi Haines, PSU, dec. Christopher Minto, Neb., 2-1; 184: Max McEnelly, MN, dec. Rocco Welsh, PSU, 4-3; 197: Josh Barr, PSU, dec. Cody Merrill, OKS, 6-3; 285: Isaac Trumble, NCS, dec. Yonger Bastida, ISU, 5-0
Consolation Finals
133: Aaron Seidel, VT, dec. Marcus Blaze, PSU, 5-0; 157: PJ Duke, PSU, tech. fall Brandon Cannon, OSU, 20-4 (6:37)
Consolation Semifinals
133: Blaze, PSU, tech. fall Tyler Knox, S, 20-4 (5:45); 157: Duke, PSU, dec. Kannon Webster, IL, 7-3
This story was originally published March 21, 2026 at 10:50 PM.
