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Men’s College Notebook: No. 1 upset at Black Knight Invite, plus Keystone Classic and dual meet notables

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by Brian Reinhardt

Jude Swisher of Penn at the 2025 NCAA Championships.

Jude Swisher of Penn at the 2025 NCAA Championships.

After a busy first month of the season, and with all the matches at National Duals, this past weekend was a bit of a lighter schedule in men’s college wrestling. Let’s look at some of the notable dual results and recap a couple of the tournaments that took place.


DOWN GOES ANOTHER #1 … 

… BUT it will not count on the season record because matches against teammates don’t count if it’s a win or loss. At the Black Night Invitational, Penn State dominated the competition. At 125 pounds, #1 Luke Lilledahl and true freshman Nate Desmond met in the final. After a scoreless first period, Desmond’s escape gave him a 1-0 lead heading into the third. Lilledahl started on top and got a quick two-point near fall. Desmond’s escape cut the lead to 3-2. But a winning takedown with 27 seconds left was the difference in the 5-3 win.


Desmond was the #31 overall recruit out of Bethlehem Catholic and will redshirt this season. In addition to his win over Lilledahl, Desmond took out #18 Cooper Flynn of Chattanooga in the quarterfinals (7-0) and then #23 Charlie Farmer of Army in the semifinals (17-4 major decision).


BLACK NIGHT INVITE TURNS INTO PENN STATE WRESTLE-OFFS 

Penn State claimed first place in nine of the 10 weight classes at the Black Night Invite, and another six Nittany Lions finished in second place.


In addition to 125 pounds, four other weight classes saw two Penn State wrestlers tangle in the final for the title:

149: Shane Van Ness dec. Connor Pierce; 14-7

157: PJ Duke dec. Joe Sealey; 2-1

174: Levi Haines dec. William Henckel; 4-0

184: Rocco Welsh major dec. Asher Cunningham; 13-5


Army was the only other school to break into the finals in any of the 10 weight classes, with one champ (#20 Braden Basile at 141 pounds – due to Penn State’s Aaron Nagao having to injury default in the match) and four second-place finishers.


PENN & RUTGERS LEAD WAY AT KEYSTONE CLASSIC 

Penn protected its home mat, coming away with the most individual champions at its own Keystone Classic. #28 Evan Mougalian (133 pounds), #6 Cross Wasilewski (149), #11 Jude Swisher (157), and Sean Seefeldt (165) all won individual titles for the Quackers.


Rutgers claimed the team title and posted three individual titles: #33 Ayden Smith (125 pounds), #15 Joseph Olivieri (141), and #5 Lenny Pinto (174).


IOWA ENTERTAINS THE HOME FANS 

Two duals inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena this year, two shutouts for Iowa. The Hawkeyes took out #19 Pitt, 36-0, Friday night. In the two home duals this year, Iowa outscored Pitt and Bellarmine a combined 76-0, winning all 20 bouts.


197 pounds was the featured bout of the night, as three-time Division III national champion Massoma Endene faced 2025 D1 All-American Mac Stout in a top-10 battle. Endene scored the winning takedown in the final five seconds for the slight 5-4 upset win.

Gabe Arnold returned to action, scoring a 15-5 major decision at 184 pounds. Post dual news broke that he would work his way down to 174 pounds and challenge #2 Patrick Kennedy for the starting spot.


At heavyweight, it was a 2025 Blood Round rematch between #6 Ben Keuter and #12 Dayton Pitzer. And the result was the same, as the All-American Keuter scored a 2-0 shutout to close out the dual, and seal the team shutout.


Up next for Iowa, a trip to rival Iowa State on Sunday.


MORE SHUTOUTS 

Ohio State started the week of action with a 44-0 shutout over visiting Kent State. The Buckeyes had seven bonus point wins and are still figuring out the starting spots at 125 and 197 pounds, as Brendan McCrone and Seth Shumate got the nods this dual.


North Carolina posted a trio of shutouts – 49-0 over UNC Pembroke, 57-0 over Greensboro, and 47-0 over Davidson. The Tar Heels have four shutouts in their five duals this year, outscoring foes 213-18, and 5-0 is the team’s best start to a season since 2005-06. The news of the week for the Tar Heels, two starters will miss the rest of the season with injury: Jayden Scott (149 pounds) and Joshua Ogunsanya at 174 pounds.


Davidson also shutout Greensboro, 50-0, while Duke blanked Mercyhurst, 53-0.


RANDOM DUAL NOTES 

West Virginia scored a 28-10 win over visiting Rider, winning seven of the 10 matches. The Mountaineers are now off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 1992.


One of the Rider wins was one of the biggest upsets of the weekend, as #20 Tyler Klinsky scored a top-10 win over #9 Jett Strickenberger by major decision, 20-11. Klinsky fell behind 6-2 after the first period, but a strong second period put him back in front 10-8 heading into the third. He then posted a 10-point third period. It was the third ranked win of the season for the 2024 NCAA qualifier who sat out last season.


Michigan had a statement weekend, first taking a 25-9 win at Columbia then dominating Virginia at home on Sunday, 35-3. Against UVA, Michigan only lost one bout and recorded four pins and one tech fall.


Oklahoma State continued with its Great Roadshow, picking up wins at Air Force (34-6) and at Arizona State (25-11).


In the Oklahoma State-Arizona State dual, former Sun Devil national champion Richie Figueroa fell against his former team. Now up at 133 pounds, the 2024 national champion fell to freshman who improved to 7-0 on the season.