Penn State gets better and better.
No surprise that they continue to win and win.
Penn State 46, North Dakota State 0
The Day 1 Journeymen Collegiate Duals schedule lined up like this:
- 3p: North Dakota State vs Stanford
- 5p: PSU vs North Dakota State
- 7p: PSU vs Stanford
As we head into the bout-by-bouts, for reference, here are the bout results of Stanford 25, NDSU 15 from Wrestlestat:
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125 #2 Luke Lilledahl DEC #31 Ezekiel Witt, 6-5; PSU 3-0
#31 Witt defeated #12 Provo in the earlier dual and again showed his toughness in this bout vs Lilledahl. They traded first-period takedowns, before Lilledahl started accruing riding time.
In the second, Lilledahl escaped, but neither could
earn another TD.
In the third, eventually Witt escaped, but not until after Lilledahl had the riding time secured, and that turned out to be the victory margin.
All in all, call it tied in neutral, but Lilledahl with the slight edge on both top and bottom, for a 2-1 positions win advantage.
133 #10 Marcus Blaze MD #29 Tristan Daugherty, 11-3; PSU 7-0
Marcus Blaze made Daugherty feel the pressure of his pace and … pressure—to the tune of forcing 4 stall calls.
Blaze took 1-0 lead on stall calls in the first. In the second he earned a takedown and another stall point, and did so again in the third. A solid, 3-position victory for the stud true freshman.
141 Nate Desmond DEC Michael Olson, 4-1; PSU 10-0
Desmond has stepped in nicely so far this year, in spot duty for the injured past AA Aaron Nagao. Nagao traveled with the team to this event in Nashville, so there is hope he will be recovered by the time the next PSU Wrestling event occurs, on January 10, 2026 in Rec Hall against Rutger.
Desmond’s wild true freshman season has seen him defeat #2 Luke Lilledahl in the finals of the Black Knight Open, at 125 pounds. Then he bumped up two weight classes a few weeks later to sub in for Nagao, in three dual meets. The BKO only counts as one of his 5 allowable dates to retain his Redshirt, so he still has one left if the coaches need to use him again.
In this bout, he traded escapes with Olson in the first and second periods, and earned the deciding takedown in the third.
149 #1 Shayne Van Ness TF Max Petersen, 19-2 in 5:16; PSU 15-0
Van Ness jumped all over the overmatched Petersen early in this one, earning two takedowns and two sets of 4 nearfall points, all in the first.
SVN got his third takedown in the second, chose neutral to start the third and earned the final, bout-ending takedown in it.
157 #8 PJ Duke MD #21 Gavin Drexler, 16-5; PSU 19-0
PJ Duke remains qualified with Marcus Blaze as Wrestlers Who Could Tie Cael Sanderson’s 4-year record of never losing in their collegiate career.
With the way this program mercilessly assails wrestling’s record books, we just have to put that out there.
Duke continued his undefeated ways by scoring 3 first-period takedowns, 1 second-period takedown and 1 third-period takedown as he secured his 7th bonus-point win in his young 8-0 career.
165 #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink TF Boeden Greenley, 18-1 in 3:45; PSU 24-0
So far, early this season, Mesenbrink seems to be trying to keep us guessing: will he Tech or will he Pin?
In the first, he earned 2 TDs, 4NF and 2NF.
In the second, he earned a Reversal and 4 more NF to end the bout.
174 #1 Levi Haines PINS Tyler Secoy in 1:38; PSU 30-0
Levi took this guy down and pinned him.
The end.
184 #4 Rocco Welsh TF Andrew McMonagle, 19-4 in 6:17; PSU 35-0
Rocco started out this season 5-0 with 5 Bonus wins and no fewer than 13 points scored. Then he had 1-takedown Decision wins against both Drexel & Wyoming. What would he show in Dual One in Nashville?
Moar Points, yay!
- P1: 2 takedowns
- P2: 1 takedown
- P3: 3 takedowns and a bout-ending Technical Fall
Some fun commentary from you, the BSDWrestle Community:
197 Josh Barr TF Devin Wasley, 19-3 in 3:20; PSU 40-0
Yay! I like how when this coaching staff brings someone back after time off, they do indeed look ‘ready.’
Barr’s Readiness Receipts:
- P1: 4 takedown, 4 near fall points. 16-3
- P2: chose neutral, earned the bout-ending takedown
285 #13 Cole Mirasola PINS Drew Blackburn-Frost in 0:33; PSU 46, North Dakota State 0
Cole kicked off his kick-ass performance in Nashville with 33-second pin!
In last week’s Collegiate Duals PSU Preview, our resident forecaster Cari Greene predicted a 46-0 win for the Nittany Lions. The final score was 46-0, PSU.
That’s … an accurate prediction!
#1 Penn State 42, #19 Stanford 0
Stanford wrestled North Dakota State in the 2p bout on Day 1 of the Journeymen Collegiate Duals, and won 25-15. The Cardinal brought back 174-pound Lorenzo Norman from injury, but were still without 165-pound 2x All-American Hunter Garvin.
Our friends at Quad Pod Wrestle caught up with Stanford Head Coach Chris Ayers about the injuries:
125 #2 Luke Lilledahl DEC #12 Nico Provo, 4-2; PSU 3-0
Luke earned the deciding takedown in the first period, and Provo quickly escaped. The two traded escapes in the second and third periods, and Lilledahl gets out of Nashville with two Decision victories and his (official) undefeated record intact.
133 #10 Marcus Blaze PINS #6 Tyler Knox in 6:44; PSU 9-0
In the first, Marcus earned the first takedown and—inexplicably—the first stall call. When he incurred blood time about 15 seconds later, Coaches Cael & Casey had plenty of words and questions for the refs.
Not to worry. Blaze pushed the pace at the end of the first and earned a stall call on Knox as well.
In the second, Blaze chose down, escaped and earned his second takedown.
In the third, Knox chose top!
This is nice confidence in one’s top-scoring arsenal, but it was lost on the elite young stud Blaze, who easily hipped over in a scramble position for a reversal and a 9-1 lead. After a Provo escape and another Blaze takedown, Blaze locked up a cradle that Provo tried to fight off with a prolonged singlet grab. Blaze got the ref’s attention, Ref called the penalty point, Provo released the singlet, then Blaze rolled him over to finish decking the halls.
141 Nate Desmond MD Lain Yapoujian, 9-0; PSU 13-0
Like Blaze against NDSU’s Daugherty, Desmond forced 4 stall calls on Yapoujian, nearly disqualifying him (5 calls = DQ).
The first ended with only the 1 stall call against Stanford. In the second, Yapoujian chose down and could not escape. Jeff Byers said on the audio broadcast during the NDSU dual that Desmond weighed in at 137.5, so this was an impressive full-period rideout by a presumably smaller guy.
In the 3rd, Desmond earned a takedown, continued to ride, earned more stalling calls and points and a riding time point for the final 9-0 margin.
It’s going to be very interesting to watch this young wrestler’s future, both this season if needed and definitely in future lineups.
149 #1 Shayne Van Ness DEC#14 Aden Valencia, 10-4; PSU 16-0
Like many of Coach Chris Ayres’ fighting Cardinal wrestlers, Valencia brought a ton of fight to this bout with Van Ness. And it paid off in the end, as Shayne was unable to either finish the final ride or get the final takedown that would allow him to continue his Bonus Point streak.
There was no scoring in the first, despite some nice SVN attacks. Valencia defense was up to the task.
In the second, SVN earned two takedowns and Valencia earned 3 escapes, for a 6-3 Van Ness lead.
In the third, SVN escaped and earned another takedown, but also allowed an escape for the final score.
157 #8 PJ Duke DEC #5 Daniel Cardenas, 5-2; PSU 19-0
My oh my, was this ever a brawly affair! So much good action.
Cardenas made the R12 in his true freshman 2023 tourney. In 2024 he placed 4th, and last year he redshirted during the 2025 tourney.
In the first, there were a couple times the lads found themselves locked in upper-body over-under positions that evoked classic oldschool brawls between Vincenzo Joseph and Iowa’s Alex The Bull Marinelli. But, friends, no scores were earned, and only one stall call was applied, on Cardenas.
In the second, Duke chose down and Cardenas rode him to over a minute in riding time. Duke did escape and did earn a second stall call on Cardenas.
In the third, Cardenas escaped, Duke scored a takedown and Cardenas escaped for the final score.
165 #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink PINS EJ Parco in 4:22; PSU 25-0
Mitchell’s bonus-point speedrun:
- P1: 3 takedowns, 4 near fall
- P2: 1 takedown, 1 bow, 1 arrow, 1 ARCHERY SZN decking of the Nashville halls
174 #1 Levi Haines MD Lorenzo Norman, 14-4; PSU 29-0
Levi followed up his under-2-minute pin in Dual One with a full-period, 11-point Major Decision.
In the first, Levi earned 2 takedowns. In the second, Norman was inexplicably awarded a takedown that the Penn State coaches challenged and lost. This bad call spoiled what would have been a fresh Penn State Takedown Shutout! Levi earned another of his own before the second period ended, with the score 11-4.
In the third, Levi rode and rode and looked close to turning Norman for the near fall points, but never did. Instead, he earned a few more stall calls (3 in total for the bout) for the final score.
184 #4 Rocco Welsh DEC Abraham Wojcikiewicz, 5-1; PSU 32-0
Rocco got the deciding takedown early in the first, and an escape and two stall calls in the latter two periods.
197 Josh Barr TF #19 Angelo Posada, 19-3 in 4:13; PSU 37-0
Josh Barr’s bonus-point speedrun:
- P1: 2 takedowns, 4 near fall, 10-1
- P1: 3 takedowns to end the bout
285 #13 Cole Mirasola TF Luke Duthie, 21-6 in 3:00; PSU 42, Stanford 0
Mirasola went on a takedown spree! He scored all 7 of them in the first period and ended the dual in style!
Cari predicted Penn State would win 32-3, but did include this quip about Mirasola:
This has a very strong possibility of ending very quickly; it depends on Cole, not so much on the Cardinal wrestler. If Cole wrestles like we know he can, this could be done in the first.
Which inspired BSDWrestle’s LocalYocal to bless her with a new nickname!
Executive Summaries
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Against the Bison of NDSU, Penn State racked up 8 Bonus wins: 2 Majors, 2 Pins and 4 Tech Falls. They scored 121 bout points, to NDSU’s 25, and won the takedown battle 29-1. Additionally, Nittany Lion wrestlers forced 6 stall calls from Daugherty (4), Drexler (1) & Greenley (1).
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The box score for the Cardinal does showcase the fighty wrestling we saw from them on the mat, as they held the Nittany Lions to only 6 Bonus Point wins. Provo, Valencia, Cardenas and Wojcikiewicz held Penn State powerhouses Lilledahl, Van Ness, Duke & Welsh to mere Decision victories. Other than Valencia, who gave up 3 takedowns to Van Ness, the others held their PSU counterparts to a single takedown each.
But thanks to multiple-TD matches from Mirasola (7), Barr (5) and Mesenbrink (4), the total TD ratio was identical to the dual against NDSU: 29-1.
Additionally, Stanford’s fightiness in the face of traditional Penn State attackedness ofttimes manifested in the form of stalling. Nittany Lion wrestlers forced Stanford wrestlers into 11 stall calls from this referee: Desmond (4), Duke, (2), Haines (3) and Welsh (2).
The Streakery
Oklahoma State wrestling historian and 2018 National Wrestling Media Association Journalist of the Year Alex Steen posted in 2019 about Oklahoma State’s 76-win streak:
Started the streak on Mar 5th, 1937 with a win over Central Oklahoma (after a loss to Southwestern Oklahoma on Feb 26th). The streak ended on Jan 19th, 1951 with a loss to Oklahoma.
That means a few things. One, OKST took 14 years to amass their 76 wins. And two, they held that record for over 74 years, before Penn State broke it on Saturday night.
I started charting PSU dual meet results in the 2022 season. In the 2023 season, using Bubba’s play-by-play updates in Cari’s previews, I added in charting PSU takedown data. So I don’t have TD data for the 2020, 2021 & 2022 seasons, but I do have team scores and numbers of bout wins for all PSU wins during the 7 seasons this 77-win streak crossed:
These Streak averages of 8.1 bout wins per dual, and 34.6 team points per dual may look a little mind-blowing, until you consider the possibility that Penn State might actually still be improving year over year.
So what’s next? Wrestling Historian Jason Bryant has a fun page on his Mat Talk Online Almanac website, of different win streaks in wrestling’s different divisions. Here are some records Penn State can now chase:
- D2 Dual Meet Win Streak: 77. St. Cloud State ran this record from 2017 to 2022 and ended it with a 19-14 loss to Central Oklahoma.
- D1 Dual Meet Unbeaten Streak: 84. This streak began after a 19-15 loss to Oklahoma State on January 5, 2008, and continued as both a Winning AND Unbeaten streak until a 15-15 tie with OkSt on January 16, 2011 ended the Winning Streak at 69. From there, it continued as an Unbeaten Streak, until Oklahoma State again ended it, with a 17-16 victory on January 8, 2012, via the then-newly-introduced tiebreaker criteria rules.
- NJCAA Dual Meet Win Streak: 92. SUNY-Delhi ran this record from 1979 to 1983 and ended it with a 27-18 loss to Morrisville State.
- NAIA Dual Meet Win Streak: 117. Grand View ran this record from 2013 to 2022 and ended it with a 40-0 loss to Iowa State.
Penn State has 9 more dual meets this year and could finish the season at 86. How long will it be until another team can hope to earn the 4 (very unlikely to win a dual meet with only 4 wins against 6 losses) or 5 or more wins needed to knock off this juggernaut?
The Takery
To build this post, I cloned a Postview from the November, 2022, 44-3 demolishing of Lock Haven. In its Takery section, I wrote about the 2023 tourney team:
This lineup is sick.
Heading into a new season, the 4 returning National Champions and 2x AA Greg Kerkvliet are about as good as any team could hope for out of 5 of its 10 weight classes. Add in two elite recruits, who have been incubating in the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex for 15 months or so (Van Ness & Facundo), drop 2x qualifier Beau Bartlett down to 141 and you’ve got 8 incredible wrestlers primed to stand on the podium in March. Round out the lineup with a 4x Utah state champ at 157 and a 2x PA state champ at 125, and the prospects for qualifying all 10 weight classes for Nationals seem viable.
Kinda quaint that back then, at the beginning of the 2023 tourney season we were still aspiring to qualify 10 wrestlers for Nationals, isn’t it?
A mere 3 years after that, in the 2025 tourney, Penn State celebrated its first time ever placing 10 wrestlers onto the All-American podium, en route to breaking the NCAA Tournament team scoring record for the second year in a row.
What’s next for this program? Let us know in the comments!
