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Penn State Sets Multiple Program Records at Big Ten Wrestling Championships

The Nittany Lions claimed their fourth straight Big Ten tournament title in impressive form.
Mark Wogenrich|
Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler PJ Duke walks on the mat before a bout at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships at Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler PJ Duke walks on the mat before a bout at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State cruised to its fourth straight title at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, winning a program-record seven individual titles in the process. Penn State also set a school-record with 184 team points in dominating the tournament at home at the Bryce Jordan Center.

After a superb regular season, Penn State became just the second Big Ten school to win at least seven titles, joining Iowa, which did it six times in the 1980s. The Nittany Lions also qualified 10 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year.

There were plenty of highlights Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center, notably Levi Haines' triumphant final home win, freshman PJ Duke's MVP performance and Rocco Welsh's three overtime wins.

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson became just the second Big Ten coach to win 10 conference titles. He is now second behind Iowa's Dan Gable, the all-time leader with 21. The recap of Penn State's 7-1 run through the championship round.

125: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Jore Volk (Minnesota) 4-1 SV

Lilledahl (22-0) had some expected offensive trouble against Volk, the Minnesota senior who took out second-seeded Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State with a technical fall. Volk to Lilledahl to sudden victory, where Lilledahl showed his speed in circling Volk for the winning takedown.

The top-seeded Lilledahl, who made U.S. freestyle history last year, won his second Big Ten title and established himself as the lead contender at the NCAA Championships. Volk held off Lilledahl's speed for seven minutes but could not keep it going beyond that.

133: No. 3 Ben Davino (Ohio State) dec. No. 1 Marcus Blaze (Penn State) 3-2 TB

Davino won the rematch of two very defensive wrestlers, earning the riding time advantage in the tiebreaker. Neither wrestler could get to his offense, and Davino had the advantage this time in the tiebreaker,

The loss was the first this season for Blaze (21-1), who scored an overtime takedown over Iowa's Drake Ayala to win his semifinal bout. Good learning experience for Blaze headed to nationals, where he could be on the same side of the bracket as fellow freshman phenom Jax Forrest of Oklahoma State. .

149: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) pin No. 2 Ethan Stiles (Ohio State) 3:29

Van Ness wrestled an unconventional tournament in winning his first Big Ten title. After a pair of tense one-point decisions, in which he gave up the first takedown, Van Ness got Stiles into an awkward position early in the second and turned that into a fall.

Van Ness (23-0) was looking for the turn to start his second-period ride, and Stiles gave him the opening. It was the fifth pin of the season for Van Ness, who won two of his three bouts at Big Tens without scoring a takedown. He took advantage of four penalty points in a 5-4 quarterfinal win.

157: No. 2 PJ Duke (Penn State) dec. No. 1 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) 12-4

Duke, who was called a "superstar in the making" during the freestyle season, might have been the most impressive wrestler at the Big Ten Championships. He scored 20 points against Ohio State's Brandon Cannon, the nation's top-ranked wrestler who was coming off a long injury layoff.

Then Duke absolutely took apart Taylor, the defending NCAA champion at 157 who won their regular-season meeting 2-1 in the tiebreaker. This was never close.

Duke (19-1) scored three takedowns, one in each period, and was denied a fourth on stalling. Duke actually cut Taylor loose looking for a takedown to clinch the major. An all-around impressive win.

Though he's a freshman, Duke appears to be unfazed by the long season. He's wrestling at his peak and will be a tough out at NCAAs.

165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) dec. No. 3 Mikey Caliendo (Iowa) 12-3

Mesenbrink (22-0) beat Caliendo for the eighth time in the past three years and for the second straight time in the Big Ten final. Mesenbrink began as he usually does, with a takedown inside 15 seconds. He scored another in the first period and cruised from there.

Mesenbrink continued his absurd 100-percent bonus-point streak this season, with two major decisions and a technical fall. He, teammate Josh Barr and Ohio State's Jesse Mendez are the three most dominant wrestlers in the country, and they all wrestled within an hour of each other Sunday.

Meanwhile, Caliendo might be pursuing his second straight NCAA title but for Mesenbrink, who has been his three-year foil. Mesenbrink has beaten Caliendo eight times over the past three seasons, including twice in the 2025 Big Ten and NCAA finals.

174: No. 1 Levi Haines (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Christopher Minto (Nebraska) 2-1

Haines needed all seven minutes to outlast Minto and win his fourth Big Ten title in his last college appearance at the Bryce Jordan Center. He became just the fourth Penn State wrestler (with Ed Ruth, David Taylor and Aaron Brooks) to win four Big Ten titles.

Haines escaped to start the third and then parried with Minto for the final two minutes. Minto had Haines on a precarious one leg but couldn't get Haines off platform and convert the takedown. Haines followed with a counter shot that Minto deftly defended as well.

Haines (21-0) will be the major favorite in Cleveland in two weeks.

184: No. 1 Rocco Welsh (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 2-1 TB

Welsh withstood a manic tiebreaker period to win his first Big Ten title against a determined opponent. McEnelly appeared to hit a takedown before the 30-second buzzer but it wasn't called, leading to a Minnesota challenge.

A review determined McEnelly didn't get the takedown in time, sending Welsh to the second tiebreaker with a 2-1 lead. McEnelly came hard at Welsh, who skipped out of one golden takedown attempt to secure a grueling win.

Welsh, who transferred from Ohio State to Penn State this season, wrestled an exhausting Big Ten tournament. He needed extra time to win all three of his bouts but somehow remained unbeaten (20-0).

197: No. 1 Josh Barr (Penn State) tech. fall No. 2 Camden McDanel (Nebraska) 18-4 in 6:46

Barr punctuated Penn State's seven-title run by staying in contention for the Hodge Trophy. Barr (19-0) won his first Big Ten title with three technical falls, driving hard for the third vs. McDanel in the final.

After giving up the first two takedowns, McDanel smartly went for a big move in the second period, which Barr countered for his third takedown of the bout. Yet Barr continued working toward the technical fall, scoring a takedown with 14 seconds left.

Like Haines, Barr also has a 100-percent bonus-point rate this season. He scored 58 points in three Big Ten tournment bouts.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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