World Champion Ono Commits to Penn State

Two days after wrapping up their 12th NCAA team title under Cael Sanderson, Penn State got some good news on the recruiting front. 2024 World Champion Masanosuke Ono of Japan announced on FloWrestling’s “FRL” that he will wrestle for the Nittany Lions next year. There were some rumblings that this was in the works after Ono’s name appeared on the school’s directory as a registered student last week. 

In 2024, Ono won 61 kg titles at the U20 and Senior levels. In both events, he notched one-sided victories over American competitors. At U20’s, he downed Marcus Blaze (future Penn State teammate) 7-2 in the semifinals. At the World Championships for non-Olympic weights, Ono teched Vito Arujau 12-0, also in the semifinals. 

Ono recently competed in America, where he took on Spencer Lee in February’s “Night in America: Lee vs Ono” card in Coralville, Iowa. In that bout, he edged Lee 3-2 in a bout that took place at 59.5 kg. 

During his announcement interview, Ono did not state a weight class preference. His current 61 kg weight class comes out to about 134.4 lbs. At a few events in 2024, before the World Championships, Ono competed at 65 kg (143 lbs). If I had to guess, I would say probably 141 lbs, but perhaps 133 lbs. We’re not sure if Ono would be able to hold 133 lbs with the frequent weigh-ins that occur during the collegiate season. The Nittany Lions will also have a hole at 141 lbs, as three-time All-American Beau Bartlett is out of eligibility. 

Ono will have to get accustomed to folkstyle, but we have seen recent success with foreign wrestlers who’ve had to adjust to the American style (Anthony Echemendia, Yonger Bastida are a few recent examples). Oklahoma State brought over Japanese wrestler Rin Sakamoto for the 2024-25 campaign. His only competition was an 11-1 loss to NCAA finalist Drake Ayala in a match that was closer than the scoreboard would indicate.

There will likely be an adjustment period for Ono in actual folkstyle competitions, but there’s no reason to think he couldn’t be a huge star for the Nittany Lions.