Penn State's Levi Haines Is Dominant in Winning Pan American Wrestling Title

Haines, a two-time NCAA champ, cruises through his weight class at the Pan American Wrestling Championships.

Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Levi Haines reacts to defeating Nebraska Cornhuskers' Christopher Minto during the NCAA Wrestling Championship at Rocket Arena. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Levi Haines, a two-time NCAA champion wrestler at Penn State, began his post-college career with an impressive title. Haines. dominated the 79 kg men's freestyle weight class at the 2026 Pan American Championships, the first step in his return to the world championships stage.

Haines, who went undefeated in winning the NCAA title at 174 pounds this past season, overwhelmed the Pan American field at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa. He went 4-0 in the bracket, outscoring his opponents 44-2 en route to the gold medal.

Haines opened with a 11-0 win over former Nebraska wrestler Michael Labriola, competing for Puerto Rico, and followed with a 10-0 win over Mexico’s Sergio Espinoza Muniz. Haines topped Canada's Patrik Leder 13-2 in his third bout before claiming the title with a 10-0 decision over Colombia’s Jhoan Serna Rodriguez.

2026 Pan American Wrestling Championships - Senior Freestyle Update!
Levi Haines goes 4-0 in 79 kg's round-robin format and clinches Gold!
Haines is the 2026 Pan Am Champion!#PSUwr pic.twitter.com/yvmMeB4Cip

— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) May 10, 2026

Haines now heads to Final X in June, when he seeks to earn another spot on the U.S. Senior World Team. Haines automatically qualified to Final X, scheduled for June 19 in Newark, New Jersey, as a 2025 Senior World medalist. He placed second last year in the 79 kg weight class.

Haines made a furious rally in the 2025 world final against Georgios Kougioumtsidis of Greece, scoring a takedown as time expired. However, he came up just short of gold, falling 3-2. Haines won a silver medal his first Senior World Championships.

Haines completed his Penn State career in March with one of his most challenging victories. He faced Nebraska's Christopher Minto, who tested him three times during the season, for the 174-pound title at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland.

Haines (26-0) ultimately won the title on a second-period stalling point for a 2-1 decision. Despite scoring 21 bonus-point victories last season, Haines needed to figure out three different ways to solve Minto, who held him to three decisions.

"It's easy to sit back and say you wish a guy wrestled like that the whole match," Haines said after winning his second NCAA title. "But he had a game plan. He followed the game plan. Chris is a tough competitor. So the match went the way it did. I don't think I need to go back and change anything.

"It happened the way it was supposed to. Maybe fans don't find that super appealing or whatnot, but if you've been around wrestling, you kind of understand that high-IQ chess match out there with styles and game plans and stuff. So you can appreciate that match if you've been around the sport long enough."

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson called Haines an "incredible human being" who was the program's strongeest leader last season.

"You know that if kids are hanging out with him, you’re not worried about them because they’re probably our hunting or something," Sanderson said. "He's disciplined. He [wrestled at] 157 his first couple years, and what that took for a young kid to be able be as disciplined as he was to compete at that level was really impressive. … He’s pretty special. He’s a guy we will miss as much as anyone we’ve had come through here."

Penn State Nittany Lions Levi Haines competes against Nebraska Cornhuskers Christopher Minto during the NCAA Wrestling Championship at Rocket Arena. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

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