Penn State Wrestling's Marcus Blaze Is Dominant in Winning U20 World Title

Blaze punctuated a superb tournament in Bulgaria for the Nittany Lions, who won five medals, including two golds.

Penn State freshman wrestler Marcus Blaze is pictured at the 2025 Ohio state championships, where he won a state title competing for Perrysburg High. | ANDREW DOLPH/TIMES-REPORTER / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Marcus Blaze punctuated an enormously successful trip to Bulgaria for the Penn State wrestling team, winning gold at the U20 World Wrestling Championships. All five Nittany Lions medaled at the world event, with Blaze and fellow freshman PJ Duke becoming world champions.

Blaze, who recently graduated from Perrysburg (Ohio) High as a four-time state champion, won his second gold medal on the world stage in dominant form. The 18-year-old won four bouts by technical superiority, including a 10-0 victory over Iran’s Ahora Khateri in the men's 61 kg freestyle final.

Blaze rolled to a 5-0 record at worlds, which included a victory by disqualification over Sargis Begoyan of Armenia. Begoyan received three cautions during the match, which Blaze led 7-3 when the referee ended it after Begoyan made multiple hand shots to Blaze's face.

Marcus Blaze beats a very tough Sargis Begoyan by DQ. Blaze was leading the whole match and Begoyan couldn't handle it, so he started wrestling dirty...

Bye bye Begoyan! pic.twitter.com/OvkU9LKgY0

— Jon Kozak (@KozakJon) August 19, 2025

In the final, Blaze piled up stepout points early against Khateri, who did not drive the action. Blaze led 5-0 at the break, got another point on a stepout and then was able to secure his first takedown of the match. He turned that into the 10-0 technical fall.

The United World Wrestling coverage said that Blaze "has to be one of the most exciting talents in Freestyle out there." And the incoming Penn State freshman has been exceptional on the freestyle world stage. He won his second gold medal at U20 worlds, adding to the U17 title he won in 2023. Blaze took third at U20 worlds in 2024.

Marcus Blaze secures his 2nd age level World title after locking up a tech fall in the 2025 U20 World finals 🇺🇸🥇 pic.twitter.com/33a481kcDg

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) August 20, 2025

Five Nittany Lions win medals at U20 worlds

Penn State's Connor Mirasola, left, faces former Nittany Lion Aaron Brooks during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials at the Bryce Jordan Center. | Andy Mason/Herald-Mail / USA TODAY NETWORK

Penn State's five U20 world-team qualifiers all made the podium in Bulgaria, quite the feat for Nittany Lions wrestling. William Henckel, who will be a true freshman this season with Blaze and Duke, claimed silver in the 79 kg freestyle weight class. Henckel went 4-0 with an 8-5 victory in the semifinals before falling 8-6 to Mahdi Yousefi Hajivar of Iran in the championship match.

Cole Mirasola, a redshirt freshman heavyweight, went 3-1 with a 12-2 technical decision over
Narantulga Darmaabazar of Mongolia to win bronze in the 125 kg freestyle weight class. His twin brother Connor went 3-1 with three technical decisions to take third in the 92 kg freestyle weight class.

All five of Penn State's U20 medalists have four seasons of eligibility remaining. They will join a Nittany Lions team coached by Cael Sanderson that returns seven All-Americans and seeks to win its fifth consecutive NCAA team championship.