Penn State's PJ Duke Looks Unstoppable at NCAA Wrestling Championships

CLEVELAND | Penn State's PJ Duke was the most dominant wrestler Thursday at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, and he didn't even wrestle for four minutes. The rising-star freshman in Penn State's lineup scored two falls to headline the Nittany Lions' superb opening day at Rocket Arena.

Penn State, the four-time defending NCAA champ, set a pace to break its scoring record for the third consecutive year. The Nittany Lions qualified eight wrestlers to Friday's quarterfinals and scored 40.5 team points, one ahead of their Day 1 total in 2025.

Action resumes at noon ET Friday for Session 3, with the ESPN networks carrying the action live. Here's what we learned Thursday and a glance ahead to Friday's quarters.

PJ Duke is wrestling as well as anyone at NCAAs

No. 1 PJ Duke (Penn State) pins Luke Mechler (Wisconsin) in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships. pic.twitter.com/FhbUXUMRjQ
— Saturday Night Lights (@WrestlingSNL) March 20, 2026

Duke emerged from a metric ton of talent to win the outstanding wrestler award at the Big Ten Championships at the Bryce Jordan Center. He's bidding to repeat at NCAAs. Duke (157) was one of two wrestlers Thursday to record two pins with Wyoming's Joey Novak (197). However, Duke finished his falls in a total time of 3:34. Novak needed 9:39.

Duke (21-1) didn't wrestle two minutes in either bout. He scored the first takedown within 30 seconds of each bout. He led Wisconsin's Luke Mechler 18-5 before finishing the pin. And he now has a team-high 10 pins on the season.

Duke, who majored defending NCAA champ Antrell Hardy of Nebraska at Big Tens, has flipped another switch. He's wrestling as aggressively and with as much dominance as anyone in the bracket. On Friday, he'll get a rematch with Ohio State's Brandon Cannon, the nation's former No. 1 wrestler who Duke beat 20-7 at the conference tournament.

"You watch him all year, he gets after it," Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said before NCAAs. "He’s figuring out how to score on guys who are maybe being maybe a little more defensive on him and [using] some of those tactics. When he needs to go score and he has the urgency to score, he scores. It’s awesome."

Penn State wasn't perfect but scored more points

Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Levi Haines competes against Columbia's Nick Fine during the NCAA Wrestling Championships. — Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Levi Haines competes against Columbia's Nick Fine during the NCAA Wrestling Championship at Rocket Arena. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Penn State produced its best regular season of this five-year stretch on the strength of bonus points. The Nittany Lions won 77.7 percent of their regular-season bouts with bonus points and continued that Thursday.

So even though it didn't go 20-0 again Thursday, Penn State beat its opening-day points total from 2025. Penn State scored 40.5 points, one more than it did in Philadelphia, and begins Session 3 with a 13.5-point lead over Nebraska (27.5). Iowa (25.5) is third, followed by Oklahoma (25) and Ohio State (23).

Penn State scored 21.5 bonus points alone on Day 1, a total that would be tied for sixth with Iowa State in the team standings. The Nittany Lions scored bonus in 15 of their 18 wins, with seven wrestlers going 2-for-2.

After two low-scoring decisions at Big Tens, freshman Marcus Blaze (133) scored 34 points on two technical falls. Shayne Van Ness (149) looked refreshed with a technical and a fall. Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) and Josh Barr (197) maintained their 100-percent bonus rate on the season.

Matches to watch in Friday's quarterfinals

Penn State’s Marcus Blaze celebrates after his match against Missouri’s Gage Walker at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. — Penn State’s Marcus Blaze celebrates after his match against Missouri’s Gage Walker at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State's road grows appreciably more difficult Friday morning, with some intriguing bouts on tap:

125: Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. Dean Peterson (Iowa): Lilledahl grinded through a 4-2 decision in the second round, as did Peterson (4-1). Lilledahl beat Peterson twice this season, 11-5 and 8-3, and neither bout was particularly close. A win would send the Penn State sophomore to the semifinals for the first time.

133: Marcus Blaze (Penn State) vs. Drake Ayala (Iowa): Ayala, the sixth seed, is a returning finalist who has looked crisp in Cleveland with a major and a technical fall. Blaze certainly found his offense Thursday, but can he remain in attack mode against the Hawkeyes veteran? Blaze won their regular-season bout 4-2.

184: Rocco Welsh (Penn State) vs. Silas Allred (Nebraska): Allred, the eighth seed, majored Illinois' Chris Moore 15-5 in the second round, positioning himself well for the quarters. But Welsh unleashed his offense Thursday, scoring 30 points in two wins. Welsh also majored Allred 14-5 in the regular season.

What to watch in the consolations

Braeden Davis (141) and Cole Mirasola (285) lost Thursday night and will wrestle for medals in the consolations. Mirasola has a friendly bracket to the medal stand, while Davis is going to need an upset. He'll get West Virginia's 29th-seeded Jordan Titus in his first bout of consolations.

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