No. 1 Penn State wrestling has eight athletes competing for a Big Ten title on Sunday, March 8 following an overall dominant performance on the mat on Saturday.
Cael Sanderson has a bone to pick with Big Ten Tournament pre-seed rankings
The Nittany Lions stretched their lead to 31.5 points in the first day of the conference tournament. They currently have 146.5 points with Ohio State trailing well behind with 115. Penn State can beat its Big Ten Championship point record if it surpasses 181.5 points by the end of the tournament.
On day two, eight wrestlers — Luke Lilledahl, Marcus Blaze, Shayne Van Ness, PJ Duke, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines, Rocco Welsh, and Josh Barr — have an opportunity to reign supreme in their weight class in the Big Ten.
If five or more individual wrestlers win their championship match, the Nittany Lions will at least tie their current record. Head coach Cael Sanderson's squad is on track to break that record, though, as the eight competing for a Big Ten title are all ranked No. 1 in their weight class. The only one who isn't is PJ Duke. Duke is ranked second behind Nebraska's Antrell Taylor. These two face each other for the individual Big Ten title.
Penn State wrestling carries a 31.5-point lead heading into Day 2 of the Big Ten Championships.
— Basic Blues Nation (@BasicBlues) March 8, 2026
Eight Nittany Lions will wrestle for conference titles this afternoon.
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Sunday's matches start at 12 p.m. ET with the semifinal consolotion rounds. Following those, the seventh-place matchups begin. Both of these will be aired on Big Ten+. The championship matchups will be aired on Big Ten Network starting at 4 p.m. ET.
Penn State's Sunday matchups are:
- 125 pounds: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl vs. No. 6 Jore Volk (Minnesota)
- 133 pounds: No.1 Marcus Blaze vs. No. 2 Ben Davino (Ohio State)
- 141 pounds: No. 6 Braeden Davis vs. No. 8 Billy DeKraker (Northwestern) — seventh place match
- 149 pounds: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness vs. No. 2 Ethan Styles (Ohio State)
- 157 pounds: No. 2 PJ Duke vs. No. 1 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska)
- 165 pounds: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink vs. No. 2 Mikey Caliendo (Iowa)
- 174 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines vs. No. 2 Christopher Minto (Nebraska)
- 184 pounds: No. 1 Rocco Welsh vs. No. 2 Max McEnelly (Minnesota)
- 197 pounds: No. 1 Josh Barr vs. No. 2 Camden McDanel (Nebraska)
- 285 pounds: No. 4 Cole Mirasola vs. No. 10 Ben Kueter (Iowa) — consolation semifinal match