Penn State Shut Out of Big Ten Wrestling Awards Despite Dominant Season

Though Penn State wrestling dominated the Big Ten during the regular season and conference tournament, Ohio State won the awards. The Big Ten awarded its conference wrestler, coach and freshman-of-the-year awards to the Buckeyes, who finished second to Penn State at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships.

Penn State overwhelmed the field at the Big Ten Tournament, winning a school-record eight titles and scoring a program-high 184 points. Penn State scored the most tournament points since Iowa in 1995 and won the most indvidual titles since the Hawkeyes claimed seven in 1986.

In addition, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson became just the second Big Ten coach to lead his team to 10 conference titles (Iowa's Dan Gable won 21). That followed a regular season during which the Nittany Lions went 15-0 with eight shutouts, compiled a 139-11 individual record during dual matches and went 74-6 against the Big Ten.

However, at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships on Sunday, the conference delivered an awards sweep to the Buckeyes. Tom Ryan was named coach of the year, Jesse Mendez was named wrestler of the year and Ben Davino was named freshman of the year.

Did the Big Ten have 'Penn State fatigue'?

If you wonder who is going to get the hodge, I'd advise you to look at the Penn State fatigue that feels obvious in this voting. Most notably with Tom Ryan over Cael Sanderson here.

Mesenbrink and Davino very much deserving of the award, but Ohio State winning all three of… https://t.co/O2I35gtGHH
— Justin Basch (@JustinJBasch) March 9, 2026

Sanderson and the Nittany Lions certainly wouldn't describe it that way, and the Ohio State contingent was quite deserving. Ryan led the Buckeyes to an 18-1 record, including a title at the inaugural National Duals Invitational, where Penn State did not compete.

Mendez, the defending NCAA champion at 141 pounds, steamrolled his schedule this season, going 22-0 with 10 technical falls. Davino (27-1) defeated fellow freshman Marcus Blaze of Penn State 3-2 in the tiebreaker for the 133-pound Big Ten title.

Penn State's contingent had a strong case, though. Sanderson, the three-time defending Big Ten coach of the year, led a team that outscored its opponents by a combined 630-39. The Nittany Lions scored bonus points in 108 of their 139 individual victories and beat Big Ten teams by an average margin of 41 points. Penn State beat Ohio State, which was dealing with injuries, 26-5 in their February dual.

Meanwhile, Penn State's roster heads to NCAAs with six undefeated wrestlers, including Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) and Josh Barr (197) who have a 100-percent bonus-point rate this season. Mesenbrink won his third Big Ten title with two major decisions and a technical fall, and Barr won his first with three technical falls.

According to Wrestlestat, Mesenbrink leads Mendez and Barr in a close race for the Hodge Trophy. Penn State featured the Big Ten wrestler of the year in 2024 (Aaron Brooks) and 2025 (Carter Starocci).

"I don’t know how to really compare teams, but this is a really good team," Sanderson said Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. "Just the character and determination, everything is outstanding. We won a lot of tough matches and close matches. It’s these guys making that decision to believe in themselves and do what they do and do it consistently like they have all year long. We’re happy and definitely grateful to have a good weekend like this."

Penn State's PJ Duke wins OW

Penn State Nittany Lions PJ Duke wrestles against Nebraska Cornhuskers Antrell Taylor at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships. — Penn State Nittany Lions PJ Duke wrestles against Nebraska Cornhuskers Antrell Taylor in the 157-pound final at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

PJ Duke, Penn State's freshman star, won the Outstanding Wrestler award at the Big Ten Championships after barnstorming the 157-pound weight class. Duke scored major decisions
over the class' defending NCAA champ (Antrell Taylor of Nebraska) and the season-long No. 1 (Brandon Cannon of Ohio State) to claim his first Big Ten title.

Duke scored 32 points in those two bouts, including a relentless 12-4 decision over Taylor, who had defeated him 2-1 during the regular season.

"PJ wrestled great," Sanderson said. "He was good and determined to score his points. He did a nice job, made some small adjustments [after the first bout vs. Taylor] and went out took care of what he needed to take care of."

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