Penn State at the Black Knight Invitational

SB Nation

Time once again for Coach Cael to load the crew on the bus and head up the scenic Hudson Valley for a day of rounding into folk style form.

The competition isn’t the stiffest that we’ll see this season

but it’s always a great venue for break out performances by some new faces to the program. In 2022 we got our first real look at a young Levi Haines. 2023 saw Tyler Kasak and Mitchell Mesenbrink announce their presence, and last year’s talk of the tournament was Josh Barr seizing the roster spot at 197 pounds as well as debut performances by Luke Lilledahl and the Mirasola twins.

Start Time 10:00 am EST, Sunday, November 23, 2025
Brackets and Video streaming available on Flowrestling
Audio available on Lionvision beginning at 9:40 am EST

Josh Barr, How do you do!

This event can also serve as a de facto wrestle off for any lineup positions that may be unsettled. Last year Josh Barr took the wrestling world by storm and it began here at the Black Knight Invitational. Josh is still on the mend and not expected back until later this season but there are others to consider.

“The Black Knight Open is always a deciding factor. Depending on how things go there, we’ll figure out what we’re going to do, if there’s a next step, or if there needs to be a next step in all weight classes.“ -Cael Sanderson at his meeting with reporters earlier this week

Levi earned the 157 spot with a 2-1 decision over Barraclough in that ’22 tourney. Last year gave us more decisive battles with Lilledahl over McHenry at 125, Kasak over Facundo at 157, and Josh Barr besting Lucas Cochran and Connor Mirasola with two dominating major decisions.

This season we have a couple of spots that may be considered undecided. PJ Duke is schedule to make his debut in a Penn State singlet and will be joined in 157 bracket by last week’s starter Joe Sealy. With the news that Kasak will take a red shirt season Duke has entered as the heavy favorite to claim the spot.

At 285 pounds, we can expect to see a bulked up senior Lucas Cochran battle red shirt freshman Cole Mirasola.

The Debutantes

In addition to Duke we can expect to see Nathan Desmond in the 125 bracket, Dalton Perry at 149, Will Henckel at 174, and Asher Cunningham at 184. All are expected to red shirt this season. Last year we saw an number of Lion on Lion matches go uncontested when the understudies advanced to the finals against the apparent starter. Expect the same this year if Desmond, Henckel, and Asher would be matched up with Lilledahl, Levi and Welsh respectively. As mentioned above, the only “wrestle off” matches are expected at 157 and 285. Perhaps there will be others like last year when we saw an early round matchup between McHenry and Lilledahl. Tune in, just in case.

The Field

I’d be remiss to not mention the other teams invited to participate. Our gracious hosts, the Army West Point Black Knights, are joined in the event by Buffalo, Chattanooga, Columbia, Gardner-Webb, and Long Island U. A list of expected entries can be found on Flowrestling. Here’s the PSU wrestlers and other ranked (Flo) wrestlers:

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