Penn State Re-Establishes Team Scoring Record During 5th Straight Title; Freshmen Shine

Saturday night marked the end of the 2025-26 NCAA DI wrestling season. The championship finals closed the book on what was another excellent national tournament. The tournament had everything you’d hope for in an event of this magnitude. Stars dominating, some unforeseen upsets, and young stars emerging, among other things.

The evening started with some fireworks and unexpected results as Oklahoma State Sergio Vega completed his remarkable true freshman campaign undefeated. The 141-pounder finished the year without having surrendered a takedown. Vega’s opponent, two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez, had multiple opportunities to score but was typically stymied on each occasion by Vega. In the sudden victory overtime period, Mendez got to Vega’s legs again. This time, Mendez was met with a cradle. After a few seconds, Vega lost the hold, but broke Mendez down to his hips for the winning takedown.

The upset in the first match proved to be a sign of things to come just a match later at 149 lbs. Within the first minute of their clash, #10 Aden Valencia took down top-seeded Shayne Van Ness to take an early 3-1 lead. Van Ness bounced back to tie the bout amidst a handful of stoppages due to bloodtime. Undeterred, the redshirt freshman Valencia was able to get his offense in the sudden victory overtime and took the match (and title), 8-5.

Valencia became only the third Stanford wrestler to win a national title.

There was a high level of familiarity among the next four weight classes as they featured rematches of recent results.

True freshman Landon Robideau was able to reverse the result from the last time that he and 2025 national champion, Antrell Taylor met. The defining moment in the bout was Robideau getting a set of back points on Taylor early in the second period. Taylor was never able to get his offense going in a 4-2 loss.

The 165 lb matchup was the exact same as in 2025. Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink against Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo. This was the ninth career matchup between the two and it ended the same way as the previous eight did - with Mesenbrink getting his hand raised. Last year’s final saw Mesenbrink win by the score of 8-2. Mesenbrink was able to open up and secure a 20-4 tech fall.

This was the second national title for the junior, Mesenbrink.

Speaking of second titles, Levi Haines was able to get his in the 174 lb bout that followed. Haines defeated Nebraska’s Christopher Minto for the third time this season. All came via close margins. This one ended 2-1 and the deciding point was a stall call that benefitted Haines.

Haines finishes his career in a Nittany Lion singlet with four All-American honors, three finals appearances, and two titles.

At the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago, one of the more controversial sequences took place during tiebreakers in the 184 lb final between Rocco Welsh and Max McEnelly. McEnelly was close to a takedown (or appeared to have one, depending on who you ask), which would have swung the bout in his favor. During Saturday night’s rematch with Welsh, McEnelly struck early and didn’t need to rely on close calls in the extra periods. This time, he grabbed a first-period takedown and it stood for a 4-3 victory.

The 197 lb final was the only one that featured a meeting between the two top teams in the tournament, Penn State and Oklahoma State. A first-period takedown from the Nittany Lions Josh Barr helped temporarily put the damper on the impact from the Cowboy freshman. Barr’s opponent was redshirt freshman Cody Merrill. Merrill was able to slow Barr down a bit, but Barr still managed to extend his lead in the third period with a reversal. Barr ended up victorious, 6-3.

The regular decision win for Barr was his only non-bonus point win of the season.

The heavyweight contest featured a pair of unbeaten big men. Top-seeded Yonger Bastida, the Big 12 champion, and #2 Isaac Trumble, the best of the ACC. The second period featured the fireworks as the two engaged in a scramble not normally seen by the 285 lbers. Trumble was able to spin out of a Bastida leg attack and got the match's only takedown. Trumble was able to ride the Cyclone for the entire third period for a 5-0 victory.

After the heavyweights, we swung back around to 125 lbs for a matchup between top-seeded Luke Lilledahl and #10 Marc-Anthony McGowan. The pair met in the final weekend of the regular season and Lilledahl was declared the winner by disqualification after McGowan was stalled out of the match. This time, both wrestlers were very tentative and neither was able to do much offensively. The decisive point for Lilledahl, in his 2-1 victory, stemmed from a stalling call on McGowan.

The main event of the event was 133 lbs - a weight class dominated by high-impact freshmen in 2025-26. The top two seeds, Jax Forrest and Ben Davino, respectively, advanced to the finals. While most of Forrest’s matches in this tournament were a flurry of action, this one was a bit more measured. The match was tied at a point apiece early in the third period. At that point, Forrest was able to get the only takedown of the match and rode Davino for most of the period in a 5-2 win.

As you’ve probably heard a few times by now, Forrest is only three months removed from competing at the high school level. His win gave the Cowboys a staggering three titles by true freshmen.

As expected, Penn State dominated on the team front. The Nittany Lions broke an NCAA scoring record that they established a year ago (181.5/177) on the strength of four national champions. Cael Sanderson’s team had eight All-Americans in total and each of those eight All-Americans finished in the top four of their respective weight classes.

The team title is the 13th under Sanderson’s leadership and the fifth in a row.
 

Championship Finals

141 lbs: Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State) dec Jesse Mendez (Ohio State)  4-1SV

149 lbs: Aden Valencia (Stanford) dec Shayne Van Ness (Penn State)  8-5SV

157 lbs: Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) dec Antrell Taylor (Nebraska)  4-2

165 lbs: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) tech Mikey Caliendo (Iowa)  20-4

174 lbs: Levi Haines (Penn State) dec Christopher Minto (Nebraska)  2-1

184 lbs: Max McEnelly (Minnesota) dec Rocco Welsh (Penn State)  4-3

197 lbs - Josh Barr (Penn State) dec Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State)  6-3

285 lbs - Isaac Trumble (NC State) dec Yonger Bastida (Iowa State)  5-0

125 lbs - Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) dec Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton)  2-1

133 lbs - Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) dec Ben Davino (Ohio State)  5-2

Team Scores

1. Penn State  181.5

2. Oklahoma State 131

3. Nebraska 100.5

4. Iowa  92.5

5. Ohio State  84.5

6. Stanford  67.5

7. Michigan  66

8. Iowa State  52

9. Minnesota  48.5

10. NC State  44.5

11. Virginia Tech  41.5

12. Wyoming  38

13. Arizona State  36.5

14. Missouri  34

15. Illinois  28

16. Lehigh  26.5

17. Columbia  25

18. Cornell  21.5

19. Penn  21

20. Princeton  20