Penn State Wrestling's Cael Sanderson Addresses Masanosuke Ono's Competitive Timeline

Penn State wrestling returns potentially four national champions and eight All-Americans from its 2025 championship roster, but the most intriguing wrestler is the one fans haven't seen yet. When will Masanosuke Ono take the mat for the Nittany Lions? Head coach Cael Sanderson addressed that question in a recent interview at the NWCA Coaches Convention.

"Definitelty at some point," Sanderson told Christian Pyles of FloWrestling in theone-on-one interview. "I don't know when it's going to be. I don't want to lead anyone on. It could be this year, could be next year. But he's definitely going to wrestle at Penn State, hopefully for a couple years."

Ono, a 2024 Senior World freestyle champion from Japan, is one of several fascinating storyllines regarding Penn State and its pursuit of a sixth straight NCAA wrestling title. Ono redshirted for the Nittany Lions last year, when he learned the nuances of folkstyle wrestling and trained with teammate Marcus Blaze, who will represent Penn State at the 2026 Senior World Championships.

Ono recently returned to freestyle competition in Japan, winning the the 61 kg freestyle weight class at the 2026 Corporate All-Japan Championships. Ono dominated the event, scoring technical superiority over four opponents. The event marked his competitive return after a long hiatus.

However, Ono has yet to compete in a folkstyle match for Penn State. He has called folkstyle his preferred style and wants to grow his game there.

"I want to do folkstyle more because I like folkstyle more than freestyle right now," Ono said inrecent interview in Japan. "I was world champ maybe two years ago, but I know freestyle like 95 percent but folkstyle, that I don't know. So I mean, I just I'm excited [to] compete [in] folkstyle more than freestyle right now."

Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Masanosuke Ono lifts the championship trophy at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. — Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Masanosuke Ono lifts the championship trophy at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State on SI

Ono will make a rare U.S. appearance this month at a Real American Freestyle event in Cleveland. Ono is scheduled to face Ohio State's Ben Davino, the NCAA runnerup at 133 pounds, in RAF12 on Aug. 22. After that, he'll return to Penn State and continue working toward a spot in the Nittany Lions' lineup, whether at 133 or 141 pounds.

Ono was listed as a junior on Penn State's roster last season, though it's unclear how many seasons of eligiblity he has. In saying that he hopes Ono can wrestle "for a couple years," Sanderson was referencing the NCAA's new "five-for-five" eligiblity rule that allows athletes to compete for five years.

Levi Haines, Penn State's two-time NCAA champion, potentially could take advantage of the new eligiblity rule and return to the Nittany Lions for a fifth season. Should he choose that path, Haines would rejoin returning NCAA champs Luke Lilledahl, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Josh Barr in Penn State's loaded lineup.

Meanwhile, Sanderson called Ono "just such a great kid" who has become one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster.

"[He has] that energy, positivity, just love of the sport and obviously his love of life, his bigger-than-life personality," Sanderson said. "Just a lovable guy, just such a good kid and an incredible wrestler. He's very competitive, and so we're blessed to have him in the program and we want him to wrestle as many darn years as he can."

Sanderson has led Penn State wrestling to 13 NCAA team titles in his 17 years with the program. He enters his 18th season with one of his best rosters ever. In addition to three national champions, the Nittany Lions also had two NCAA runners-up and seven All-Americans last season.

The Nittany Lions recently visited the White House on a Washington, D.C., tour that included a stop at the Pentagon.

Sign up to our free Penn State Nittany Lions newsletter and follow us on social media.

Add us as a preferred source on Google