What We Learned From Penn State's 5th Straight NCAA Wrestling Title

Do the Nittany Lions have a new rival in college wrestling?

Penn State Nittany Lions Luke Lilledahl gets his hand raised after winning the 125-pound title at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

CLEVELAND | Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson let everybody else celebrate. Sure, Sanderson hugged the right people (President Neeli Bendapudi, Athletic Director Pat Kraft) and watched with a smile. But as always, Sanderson was the proud but quiet architect giving the moment to others.

"We're very blessed, very grateful," he said.

Sanderson led Penn State wrestling to its fifth straight team title at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships and 13th as the program's guiding force. The Nittany Lions set another scoring record, crowned four individual champions and tied the NCAA record with six semifinalists.

At this point, it's difficult to condense Penn State's success into single thought. Former Minnesota wrestler likely put it best last year, when he called the Nittany Lions' run "mind-boggling."

But every year we learn something new about the Penn State wrestling program. So here's what we learned about the Nittany Lions at the NCAA Championships.

Wrestling is rooting for an Oklahoma State-Penn State rivalry

Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Josh Barr competes against Oklahoma State Cowboys Cody Merrill during the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Levi Haines's walk-up music to winning his second NCAA title was the song, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." Afterward, Haines was asked whether the song choice was symbolic.

"I didn't even think about that until now," he said. "It's kind of funny and ironic, I guess. I just remember that my dad had a CD that song would play on. I always remember being really excited when that song would come, and it just kind of put my mind at ease. I guess it just kind of took me back to a different place, a different time in my life. But no, I hope they don't take it that way. That doesn't look great, huh?"

This is where college wrestling lives now: Fans are desperate for someone to challenge Penn State. And that could be the Oklahoma State Cowboys, coached by former Nittany Lion David Taylor, who had a terrific tournament. The Cowboys placed second to Penn State, scoring 131 points (a record for a runnerup), winning three titles (all by freshmen) and producing eight All-Americans (same as Penn State).

Penn State won the only head-to-head final, with Josh Barr (197) defeating Oklahoma State's Cody Merrill 6-3. But the Cowboys' Landon Robideau beat Penn State's top-seeded PJ Duke in a controversial semifinal.

Penn State's dominance is wearing on parts of the fan base, as the tournaments perpetual boos of its roster demonstrated. To the point that a Penn State wrestler almost felt compelled to apologize for his walk-up song.

"I really appreciate each and every one of those guys," Haines said. "You know, David played a big part in my life. I want to see them do well. They've had a lot of guys doing really well tonight. And it's been kind of fun to watch his career as a coach progress, and there was really no symbolism behind it. Just a song I really liked."

Speaking of booing

Stanford’s Aden Valencia, left, wrestles Penn State’s Shayne Van Ness during their 149-pound final at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena. | Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State's Shayne Van Ness lost a grueling overtime decision in the 149-pound final, giving up a sudden-victory takedown to Stanford's 10th-seeded Aden Valencia. It was Van Ness' first loss of the season, and he handled it well, performing his customary post-match bow, shaking hands with the Stanford staff and leaving the arena floor with his head up.

Yet Van Ness was booed mercilessly during the awards ceremony, when his spot on the podium initally was empty. Turns out, he had a good reason. According to Penn State, Van Ness was late because he was undergoing a drug test.

Important Van Ness note, Shayne was late to the award stand because he was being drug tested.
Thank you!#PSUwr

— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) March 21, 2026

Sanderson questions college wrestling's path

“We’re a blessed program. We follow the rules. There’s not a lot of that going on right now, and that’s one of the reasons we can sleep when the wind blows.”

Penn State’s Cael Sanderson after winning his 13th NCAA Wrestling title. pic.twitter.com/LRet5BGyYB

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) March 22, 2026

The Penn State coach doesn't use his voice publicly often, but it carries weight when he does. Before the Big Ten Tournament, Sanderson challenged the computer-based seeding process that, he thought, mis-seeded two of his wrestlers. After NCAAs, Sanderson made a sharp comment about where college wrestling is headed.

"We work every day," Sanderson said. "We love what we do. We love each other, our staff. That's what, the kids in the program and the staff we work with, that's what it's all about. Seeing those guys every day is what motivates me and just continuing to learn and grow.

"We're a blessed program. We follow the rules. There's not a lot of that going on right now. And that's one of the reasons we can sleep when the wind blows. We train hard and do the right things to the best of our ability and things will work out."

Sanderson has made NIL a peripheral recruiting component of his program, to which this was a glancing reference. Maybe there was some Oklahoma State residue in there as well. It will be interesting to see how his fellow coaches respond, since some weren't thrilled that Penn State skipped the inaugural National Duals that was meant to be a grow-the-sport event.

Luke Lilledahl wants to own the 125-pound weight class

Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Luke Lilledahl competes against the Princeton Tigers' Marc-Anthony McGowan during the NCAA Wrestling Championship at Rocket Arena. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

For all its success, Penn State had not won a national championship at 125 pounds in a decade. Nico Megaludis was the last to do it in 2016. Luke Lilledahl ended that streak Saturday and has two more years of college wrestling. He plans to spend them at 125.

"Obviously I wanted to win the nationals, but I wanted to put a stamp that 125 is my weight class for the next two years," he said. "And I feel like I've done that. So next year, it's just about going out and kind of widening the gap against these guys that are keeping it close."

Lilledahl (25-0) placed third there last year and won his first NCAA title Saturday, albeit on a penalty point against Princeton's Marc-Anthony McGowan. In their two meetings this season, McGowan was called for stalling seven times, gave up six points and was disqualified from their regular-season bout.

"Having the ability to stay patient and stay poised in those tight matches is a big skill," Lilledahl said. "And I think I've done a better job of that this year than last year. So that was just one of the things that, going into this year, I knew I was going to have to maybe sharpen a bit, and I did that."

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