Penn State Wrestling to Skip National Duals Invitational Again in 2026

The National Duals Invitational wrestling tournament returns in 2026 with another impressive 16-team field and a prize purse of more than $1.2 million. It also returns without five-time defending national champion Penn State.

For the second straight year, the Nittany Lions are not in the field for the most lucrative event of the college wrestling season. Penn State swam upstream in the sport last year, skipping the inaugural duals tournament despite its impressive field and $1 million prize purse.

And after winning its fifth straight NCAA wrestling title, Penn State again has chosen not to participate in the second National Duals Invitational, scheduled for Dec. 12-13 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Penn State has not released its 2026-27 wrestling schedule, and coach Cael Sanderson has not specifically addressed the decision not to compete again. But last year, Sanderson explained why the Nittany Lions would not participate in the first National Duals Invitational.

Sanderson's reason essentially boiled down to: "Just not really interested."

"We’re always going to do what’s in the best interests of our kids and our team, and that’s my job and that’s what we’re going to do and that’s what we did," Sanderson said.

Penn State had other mitigating circumstances following a busy freestyle season, Sanderson said. Seven members of its 2025-26 team competed at the U23 World Wrestling Championships in late October in Serbia. Three Nittany Lions won three gold medals at the championships, where eventual NCAA champion Josh Barr sustained an injury that caused him to miss the first part of the season.

Sanderson also said that the National Duals Invitational did not fit Penn State's style of scheduling. "But maybe in our future," Sanderson added.

"Create big events, that’s cool, but I think they knew right away when they were putting it when and where they were putting it, we’re probably not [going to participate] because we’re pretty consistent," Sanderson said. "We haven’t really changed a whole lot in that regard."

The Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling team poses with the team trophy at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State on SI

The National Duals Invitational once again are sponsored by Paycom, which has helped increase the prize purse to more than $1.23 million. The winner will earn $250,000, $50,000 more than Ohio State earned as the 2025 champion. The second- and third-place teams earn $175,000 each.

“Seeing this caliber of programs commit so quickly reinforces what we’re building in Tulsa,” tournament director Matt Surber said in a statement. “The National Duals Invitational is bringing together some of the most historic programs to compete for significant prize money in the exciting duals format. We expect this tournament to continue elevating the sport of college wrestling.”

Defending champ Ohio State returns to the field, though some of last year's top teams will not. Nebraska, which finished fourth at the 2026 NCAA Championships, is not in the field. Neither is Iowa, which tied for sixth at nationals.

Joining Ohio State at the 2026 National Duals Invitational are Arizona State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Iowa State, Minnesota, Missouri, NC State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Stanford, Virginia Tech and Wyoming.

Before last year's event, Ohio State coach Tom Ryan said that Penn State should have participated.

"I think it's a shame that Penn State's not here," Ryan said on the Saturday Night Lights podcast. "We can stick to the positives, but I think the fact that they're not here is a bit of a sign of how they see things and do things. They should be here. They're not."

Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan didn’t hold back when talking about Penn State skipping the National Duals: pic.twitter.com/SXanT2gD3H
— Saturday Night Lights (@WrestlingSNL) November 11, 2025

Penn State likely would be a huge favorite at the 2026 National Duals Invitational. The team is scheduled to return nine starters from a lineup that went undefeated for a fifth consecutive season and broke its own NCAA scoring record.

Three undefeated national champs return, including two-time champion and Hodge Trophy winner Mitchell Mesenbrink. Penn State also brings back eight All-Americans, including a two-time All-American in Tyler Kasak who redshirted last season. And that list doesn't include 2024 Senior World freestyle champion Masanosuke Ono, who also redshirted in his first year on campus.

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

Add us as a preferred source on Google