Penn State Sets DI Dual Winning Streak at Collegiate Duals

On a Saturday night in Nashville, Tennessee, the top-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions posted two shutout wins to etch their program’s name in the collegiate wrestling record books. The second win of the day, a 42-0 blanking of #19 Stanford, was the 77th straight dual meet win for Cael Sanderson’s program. That 77 number is a DI record.  The previous mark was held by the Oklahoma State team from 1937 to 1951. Penn State’s last dual meet loss occurred against the University of Iowa on January 31, 2020.

Other good news for Nittany Lion fans on Saturday was the return of 2025 NCAA finalist Josh Barr at 197 lbs. Barr was injured at the U23 World Championships and had not competed collegiately in 2025-26 before Saturday. He showed no signs of rust with a pair of 19-3 tech falls. The second came over #19 Angelo Posada of Stanford.

Stanford also had a pair of All-Americans at 133 and 157 lbs, which presented the biggest test, to date, for true freshmen phenoms Marcus Blaze and PJ Duke. Each passed the test with flying colors. Blaze notched a third-period pin over #6 Tyler Knox and Duke got by #5 Daniel Cardenas in a 5-2 decision.

The Nittany Lions tied the dual meet record with a 46-0 win over North Dakota State earlier in the day. In that dual, Levi Haines and Cole Mirasola chipped in with falls. Shayne Van Ness, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Rocco Welsh, and Barr all won via tech.

Penn State’s season record moved to 6-0. The Nittany Lions will return to the mat on January 10th as they open up Big Ten competition by hosting #14 Rutgers.