Men’s College Notebook: Penn State leaves no doubt, six key results from the weekend

No. 1 Penn State left no doubt they are at the top of the NCAA dual meet food chain, as the Nittany Lions rolled to a 36-5 win over previously undefeated No. 2 Ohio State Friday night in front of a new NCAA and Penn State indoor record crowd of 16,006 fans.

With the dual win, Penn State claimed the 2026 Big Ten regular-season dual meet title, its sixth straight.

Unfortunately, Ohio State came into the dual shorthanded, missing three starters. The Buckeyes were without No. 9 Ethan Stiles at 149, No. 1 Brandon Cannon at 157 and No. 5 Carson Kharchla at 174 pounds. Penn State took advantage, going tech. fall-fall-tech. fall at those three weights for 16 of their 36 points.

The dual started at 125 pounds, and the first two bouts featured four undefeated wrestlers doing battle. Both bouts went into extra time tied 1-1, and both times Penn State came out on top. 

No. 1 Luke Lilledahl scored a takedown on No. 2 Nic Bouzakis in the opener, then No. 4 Marcus Blaze notched a slight upset over No. 2 Ben Davino in ride outs.

Two-time defending national champion Jesse Mendez got Ohio State on the board with a dominating 18-2 tech fall over No. 12 Braeden Davis. The bonus point win closed the team score to 6-5 after three bouts. However, Penn State closed the door and won the remaining seven matchups.

From 149 to 174, Penn State notched all bonus point wins and pushed the lead up to 26-5 going into the match of the night at 184 pounds.

No. 8 Dylan Fishback took a 3-0 lead after the first on No. 1 Rocco Welsh, but Welsh chipped away through the final two periods and secured the winning takedown with under five seconds left to eke out a 7-6 decision against his former team.

The dual closed with the biggest upset of the night as No. 12 Cole Mirasola got the lone takedown of the bout in extra time to defeat No. 3 Nick Feldman, 4-1.

Here is a look at some other great individual battles from the weekend:

A rematch of last year’s NCAA semifinal battle. Ventresca came in 0-2 all-time against Spratley but started the VT-OK State dual with a win for the Hokies. Tied 1-1 going into rideouts, Ventresca got an early escape and rode Spratley for 30 seconds to gain the win.

The returning All-American started the dual with a convincing top-10 win. Poulin came into the battle 0-4 all-time against Strickenberger, but reversed course with a bonus point win. It was a takedown and a four-point near fall in the first that led to the major decision.

In a marquee matchup of undefeated true freshmen that had a rivalry in high school in Pennsylvania, Forrest grabbed the win. Seidel had the advantage in takedowns during the match, 3-1, but in the second period, Forrest got a takedown and turned it into four near-fall points for the seven-point move. Seidel’s last third-period takedown was not enough for the comeback.

In a battle between 2025 NCAA finalists (Blaze at 157, Caliendo at 165), Blaze came away with a decisive win at his new weight. After a scoreless first, Blaze got significant riding time in the second and later added the bout’s lone takedown to take a lead he never surrendered. He pushes his season record to a perfect 17-0.

Mantanona gave up a second-period rideout and was down 2-0 when he scored a takedown with just 15 seconds left. But a late stall tied it into OT. Kennedy was close to finishing a go-behind in sudden victory, but Mantanona reversed fortunes and scored the winning takedown for himself. It was his third top-10 win of the year.

A freshman, Posada secured the first top-10 win of his career and, in the process, knocked off a 2025 All-American. His takedown in the first period led to the victory, which also included an escape and the riding time point.