Fresh off a fifth straight NCAA wrestling title, Penn State shows no signs of slowing down

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — It’s one thing to win an NCAA title, let alone two in a row. It’s another feat entirely to win 13 of the last 15 championships — an achievement thought impossible in collegiate wrestling before Penn State hired coach Cael Sanderson in 2009.

But at Rocket Arena in Cleveland on Saturday, Penn State did the unthinkable.

The Nittany Lions won their fifth straight NCAA team championship and 13th under Sanderson, further cementing their status as the kings of collegiate wrestling. Their dynasty rivals that of John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, who won 10 titles in 12 basketball seasons, and Geno Auriemma’s 12 women’s basketball championships with the UConn Huskies.

“We work every day. We love what we do. We love each other. That’s what it’s all about,” Sanderson said. “We’re a blessed program. We follow the rules. … We train hard and do the right things to the best of our ability.”

The Nittany Lions racked up an NCAA-record 181.5 team points, breaking the previous record of 177 they set in Philadelphia last year, and won an event-best four individual titles as they cruised to another championship.

How dominant has Penn State been? It has outscored the runner-up by an average of 60.4 points over its last five title runs.

Penn State entered Cleveland with seven No. 1 seeds across 10 weight classes. Four of those top seeds — Luke Lilledahl, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines, and Josh Barr — secured individual championships. Rocco Welsh and Shayne Van Ness lost in the finals.

After securing third place and All-American status at 125 pounds in his first collegiate campaign, Lilledahl finished his sophomore season 25-0. He defeated Princeton’s Marc-Anthony McGowan, 2-1, to secure his first national championship.

“It’s amazing,” Lilledahl said. “It just solidifies that I’ve been doing everything right. Just having trust in my coaches and trust in my training. Hopefully, this is just a stepping stone to what I’m going to do in the future.”

Mesenbrink headlined Penn State’s dominance in Cleveland. In the championship round, the 165-pound wrestler ended his perfect season with a 20-4 victory over Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo — the lone technical fall of the final round — to win his second straight NCAA title.

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Mesenbrink was named the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament and most dominant wrestler of the season. The junior closed his campaign with a 26-0 record and remains the favorite to win the Dan Hodge Trophy, given annually to the top college wrestler.

“Sometimes it takes obtaining the goal to realize that the goal was not the thing to be obtained,” Mesenbrink said. “No matter how many wins or amount of money you can gain, that’s not the point of it all. This year, I just wanted to really enjoy it.”

In a defensive bout at 174 pounds, Haines narrowly defeated Nebraska’s Christopher Minto, 2-1, en route to his second NCAA championship in three years. Haines went 26-0 in his senior campaign and departs Penn State with a 99-4 career record.

After a crushing defeat in last year’s championship round, Barr earned redemption with a 6-3 victory over Oklahoma State’s Cody Merrill at 197 pounds to secure his first NCAA title. Barr went 24-0 during his sophomore campaign and earned All-American status for the second straight year.

Penn State’s dominance has left the wrestling world searching for answers. Is there a potential contender that could knock the Nittany Lions off their throne?

Some believe that could be Oklahoma State, which matched Penn State with eight All-Americans and earned three individual titles to the Nittany Lions’ four. But even the Cowboys, who are coached by former Penn State wrestler David Taylor, fell 50 points short of Penn State’s team total at the championships.

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Bottom line: Sanderson’s squad isn’t going anywhere. The Nittany Lions could return nine of their 10 starters next season, pending potential transfers. And that list doesn’t include Masanosuke Ono, a 2024 under-20 world champion who redshirted this season.

Penn State keeps winning. And even after securing a 13th title, Sanderson’s reaction wasn’t one of pure jubilation.

The veteran coach remained stoic at his post-meet news conference, thinking of everything the Nittany Lions could have done better, everything they could work on this offseason to come back stronger.

“This was an incredible year. Obviously, our minds are with the kids who didn’t reach their goals,” Sanderson said. “We’re here thinking about what we can do better, so we’ve got a lot on our mind right now.”