No. 1 Penn State wrestling's regular season closer capped off the season on a bittersweet note. While the Nittany Lions ended 2025-26 in dominant fashion, winning 93 percent of their matches and finishing with a 139-11 dual record, they also said goodbye to one of their teammates.
Former Penn State wrestling star receives 2-year suspension from competing
Aaron Nagao's career came to an unfortunate and sad end, medically retiring as of Friday, Feb. 20.
Following tonight's win over Princeton, Cael Sanderson confirmed that Aaron Nagao is medically retiring from wrestling:
— Basic Blues Nation (@BasicBlues) February 21, 2026
"Just unfortunately, got the injury bug there the last couple years. A high character kid. Obviously, really good at playing a lot of positions and helped… pic.twitter.com/ydL5WBqe3n
Nagao sustained two season-ending injuries in back-to-back seasons. He redshirted his 2024-25 season due to a shoulder surgery, something that may have lingered from the season prior. During his first season at Penn State in 2023, he battled through injury and illness from the start and finished 17-7. He went to the NCAA Championships and was one win away from claiming a second All-American title in his collegiate career after doing so at Minnesota the season prior.
During his redshirt freshman season with the Golden Gophers, Nagao was a Big Ten Runner-Up as well, losing to Penn State wrestler Roman Bravo-Young in the conference championship finals.
As a junior in 2025-26, he sustained another season-ending injury to the same shoulder he had surgery on the year before. He medically forfeited out of the Black Knight Invitational finals and the Southern Scuffle. Nagao injured his shoulder during the opening tournaments of the season and attempted to come back in January for the Southern Scuffle.
On Jan. 14, it was official that Nagao needed a second round of surgery. After the conclusion of the duals against Princeton on Friday, head coach Cael Sanderson spoke of the Nittany Lion and the unfortunate turn of events that led to his early retirement.
“He’s been very special for our program,” Sanderson said. “Just a classy, happy, grateful, obviously tremendous competitor. Just unfortunately got the injury bug there the last couple of years. He’s just a positive, he’s a kid that’s going to be really successful with his life. And, we’ll certainly miss him. Super grateful he came to Penn State."
Penn State prepares for the postseason next with its first stop being the Big Ten Tournament, which the Nittany Lions host at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The first two sessions take place on Saturday, March 7 at 10 a.m. ET and 5 p.m. ET, respectively. Both sessions can be watched on Big Ten Network and Big Ten+. Combined sessions three and four take place on Sunday, March 8 at 12 p.m. ET.