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What We Learned From Penn State Wrestling's 74th Consecutive Win

The top-ranked Nittany Lions defeat Lehigh 36-6, drawing closer to a major college wrestling record.
Mark Wogenrich|
Shayne Van Ness of Penn State wrestles Gabe Willochell of Wyoming during the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Center.
Shayne Van Ness of Penn State wrestles Gabe Willochell of Wyoming during the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Center. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Penn State wrestling rolled to its third straight win to open the season, defeating Lehigh 36-6 in a sold-out match at Rec Hall. The top-ranked Nittany Lions won their 74th consecutive dual match as they close on Oklahoma State's NCAA Division I record.

Penn State (3-0) needs three more victories to break Oklahoma State's win-streak record of 76 consecutive matches. The Nittany Lions have not lost a dual since 2000. Here's what we learned from another dominating Penn State wrestling performance.

Penn State faces a decision regarding PJ Duke

Penn State wrestler PJ Duke gets his hand raised after a victory.
Penn State wrestler PJ Duke, pictured at the 2025 New York Wrestling Championships, is 5-0 with the Nittany Lions this season. | John Meore/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

PJ Duke, Penn State's electrifying 157-pound freshman, led 10th-ranked Logan Rozynski 14-3 before the Lehigh wrestler was forced to take an injury default in the third period. Duke (5-0) has four pins this season and was majoring a top-10 opponent until the injury.

Duke, ranked 15th nationally according to InterMat Wrestling, would appear to have the weight class locked in Penn State's lineup, though head coach Cael Sanderson wasn't ready to say that publicly yet.

Duke has wrestled in three events; wrestlers can compete in five without burning their redshirts. Though Duke likely will wrestle out his freshman season, Sanderson said Penn State also could redshirt him and put redshirt freshman Joe Sealey (6-1) in the lineup.

"We've got to look at that and figure out what we're doing at that weight," Sanderson told reporters in State College after the match. "Obviously PJ's going out there and wrestling great, crushing people. ... We love Joe. He's awesome, too. He's gotten better and better. ... Those are some of the things we've got to figure out moving forward."

Lehigh was missing three top wrestlers

The 14th-ranked Mountain Hawks were short-handed without three of their top-ranked wrestlers. Lehigh was expected to be without Ryan Crookham (133) and Luke Stanich (141), who have not wrestled yet this season, but also didn't have fifth-ranked Sheldon Seymour at 125.

That prevented a top-five matchup between Seymour and Penn State's Luke Lilledahl, ranked second at 125. Lilledahl won his bout by technical fall, as did freshman Marcus Blaze at 133. Lehigh's Carter Bailey defeated Penn State's Cael Nasdeo at 141.

Blaze, another true freshman, improved to 7-0 with his fourth technical fall of the season. Blaze, ranked 11th in the country, has generated bonus points in all seven wins.

Mitchell Mesenbrink scores a ranked win

Mitchell Mesenbrink of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates a win over Michael Caliendo of the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Mitchell Mesenbrink of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates a win against Michael Caliendo of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the NCAA Wrestling Championship held at Wells Fargo Center. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Mesenbrink, the defending NCAA champ at 165 pounds, has won 32 consecutive bouts and is 62-1 in his three-year career. Lehigh's 10th-ranked Max Brignola sought to challenge Mesenbrink and held the redshirt sophomore to a major decision.

Mesenbrink often takes on wrestlers who seek to slow his offense, which was Brignola's strategy. Still, Mesenbrink scored four takedowns but also gave up his first takedown in a dual match this season.

"He just stayed on it," Sanderson said of Mesenbrink. "People are going to wrestle Mitchell more defensively and kind of move away from him. ... It's all good practice and good preparation."

Penn State match notes

Aaron Nagao (141) and Josh Barr (197) missed the match. Nagao was injured at the Army West Point Invitational, and Barr continues to recover from an injury he sustained at the U23 World Championships in October. Neither is expected to be out long-term.

In Barr's place, redshirt freshman Connor Mirasola scored an 8-3 decision. Leading 4-2 late in the third period, Mirasola scored a takedown and added a riding-time point for the win.

Fourth-ranked Rocco Welsh (184) got a workout from Lehigh's 23rd-ranked Rylan Rogers, who took Welsh deep into the third period tied 1-1. Welsh turned a shot into a scramble takedown with 30 seconds left for the 4-2 win. Welsh is 5-0 on the season.

"When he needed a takedown, he went and got it," Sanderson said of Welsh.

Penn State's Cole Mirasola, ranked 10th at 285, gave up significant weight to Lehigh's seventh-ranked Nathan Taylor. Mirasola looked to have a chance at two third-period takedowns, but Taylor scrambled away from both for a pair of scores and a 7-2 win.

Penn State 36, Lehigh 6

  • 125: Luke Lilledahl (PSU) tech. fall Logan Wadle 17-2 in 3:21
  • 133: Marcus Blaze (PSU) tech. fall Mason Ziegler 19-4 in 5:37
  • 141: Carter Bailey (L) dec. Cael Nasdeo 5-1
  • 149: Shayne Van Ness (PSU) dec. Owen Reinsel 19-6
  • 157: PJ Duke (PSU) by injury default over Logan Rozynski 5:41
  • 165: Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) dec. Max Brignola 15-7
  • 174: Levi Haines (PSU) pin Bekhruz Sadriddinov 2:15
  • 184: Rocco Welsh (PSU) dec. Rylan Rogers 4-2
  • 197: Connor Mirasola (PSU) dec. Remy Brancato 8-3
  • 285: Nathan Taylor (L) dec. Cole Mirasola 7-2

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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