Why Penn State's Marcus Blaze Called U.S. Open Wrestling Title 'Bittersweet'

After winning one of the biggest matches of his career, Penn State freshman Marcus Blaze reflected on how he got there. Speciifically, what happened at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in March that led to his victory Saturday at the U.S. Open.

Blaze defeated Ohio State's Ben Davino 4-1 at the U.S. Open to win the 61 kg men's freestyle title and draw one step closer to making his first Senior World freestyle team. Yet Blaze said the win was "bittersweet" considering how he lost to Davino in the NCAA semifinals in Cleveland.

"It feels amazing," Blaze told reporters Saturday night in Las Vegas. "It's bittersweet. I wanted to be an NCAA champion, but the flu really does not care what tournament you’re at."

Blaze joined teammate Luke Lilledahl in winning a title at the U.S. Open. Lilledahl, the 125-pound NCAA champion, claimed his second straight U.S. Open championship by hitting a last-second headlock against Spencer Lee for a 5-4 decision.

Blaze defeated Davino, the 2026 NCAA runnerup at 133 pounds, in the latest round of what already is one of the Big Ten's best wrestling rivalries. Blaze and Davino wrestled three times during the college season, with Davino going 2-1 with victories at the Big Ten and NCAA championships.

The two wrestled tight defensive bouts, with neither scoring a takedown in any of the three matches. At the U.S. Open, Blaze finally broke through, scoring a takedown in the final 30 seconds of his championship win.

"It just feels good to get back out on the mat and push the pace like I’m used to doing and getting to my offense," Blaze said after the match.

Penn State true freshman Marcus Blaze knocks off NCAA finalist Ben Davino 4-1 to punch his ticket to Final X at 61 kg! pic.twitter.com/6jhqjd9TVw
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) April 26, 2026

In his first public interview since NCAAs, Blaze said he was dealing with more than the flu at nationals.

"I had a family member pass away and I really wanted to win a national title for them, but it just apparently wasn’t the right time," Blaze said.

The freshman from Perrysburg, Ohio, had an exceptional first season at Penn State, going 25-3 and placing fourth at NCAAs at 133. He was unbeaten entering the Big Ten Tournament final after beating Davino 3-2 during the regular season on a tiebreaker reversal.

Davino won the Big Ten rematch 3-2 in a tiebreaker before winning their NCAA semifinal by the same score, riding Blaze for the entire second tiebreaker. Affected by the flu symptoms, Blaze fell to Virginia Tech's Aaron Seidel in 5-0 in the third-place match.

"I was just really at ease after the national tournament because of how great the people are that I’m with," Davino said in Las Vegas. "They make it feel like I wasn’t the only one that lost. ... It’s just a big relief to come out and wrestle how you want to wrestle."

Blaze looked healthy and more like himself wrestling freestyle at the U.S. Open. He competed on two U.S. world teams last year, winning gold at the U20 world championships. Blaze advanced to Final X in June in Newark, where he will compete for a spot on the U.S. Senior World team.

Blaze said that he prefers freestyle wrestling because it encourages more active wrestling in the center of the mat. However, he's determined to improve his folkstyle game to win an NCAA title.

"It makes wrestling, wrestling," Blaze said of freestyle. "You have to wrestle or else you get pushed out of bounds, and then it’s not fun. But I’m going to become the best folkstyle wrestler that I can become. Because right now those are the rules, and that’s what I need to deal with, so I’m going to have to figure something out."

Blaze also foreshadowed the Penn State debut of Masanosuke Ono, a 2024 world freestyle champion who redshirted for the Nittany Lions last season. Ono wrestles at the same weight class as Blaze and served as his one of his primary training partners.

"Adding Masa to the room makes you get 10 times better," Blaze said. "Getting beat up by someone every single day is not fun, so you've got to figure out how to win."

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