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The Who
Alright cats and kittens, here’s your roster and 2025-2026 schedule for your defending NCAA National Champs. This roster is loaded with talented wrestlers and listing all the accolades of these guys would require a separate post for each of them so here’s the abridged version of who we’ll see on the mat this winter:
125 – Luke Lilledahl returns for his 2nd go around after a 3rd place finish in last year’s NCAAs and Luke is just about everyone’s favorite to win it all this year.
Freshman Nate Desmond from Williamsport will be locked in a glass case with a sign that reads “Break glass in case of Emergency.” As long as Luke is ready to go there will be no need to run Nate out in a dual this year. Hopefully he gets some run in some tournaments to get his feet wet against D1 competition.
133 – The smart money is on Freshman Marcus Blaze being our starter here. He’s ready, coming in as the Number 2 ranked recruit. Marcus won Gold at the U20 World Championships this summer.
World Champion Masanosuke Ono is working out his eligibility with the bureaucrats in Indianapolis and looks to be redshirting this year. This is all subject to change as the staff negotiates with the NCAA.
141 – Aaron Nagao. Expect Nagao to get the first shot at starting as he returns from injury and has used up his redshirt. Braeden Davis has the luxury of sitting a year without losing any eligibility. Cael said “there’s a good chance Davis redshirts too” in Tuesday’s presser.
Backup options at this weight include Cael Nasdeo, Kyison Garcia, Dalton Perry and Hayden Cunningham, son of Casey.
149 – Shayne Van Happy Ness has ascended to the number one guy in the nation at 149 lbs with the announcement that Caleb Henson, VT, is taking a redshirt year. Shayne has finished 3rd in each of his two NCAA appearances. Shayne was missing from the Freestyle circuit during the summer so I’m itching to see him back on the mat.
Connor Pierce serves as a capable understudy. He has Junior eligibility and would be a starter for most D1 programs. The thought here is that Connor is going to get his PSU degree and then hit the portal for one last shot at an AA run like Terrell Barraclough did last year and David Evans is pursuing this year. Whether it be Utah Valley or somewhere else. Redshirt Freshman Brock Weiss will be available as well.
157 – PJ Duke or Tyler Kasak, that is the question. As for Kasak, how do you sit a two time 3rd place finisher? Well, you have PJ Duke, the number one recruit in the class, who may only have this year to make 157 lbs. The logic being that Duke can then use a redshirt next year and take over 165 in 2028 after Mitchell graduates. Either way, we have the 2 favorites to be the 157 National Champion and we can only send out one of them. Again, Cael confirmed our expectations on this: expect to see PJ on Friday night.
Joe Sealey and Ty Watson serve as back up options.
165 – Mitchell Mesenbrink is the odds on favorite to win the Hodge Trophy this year and anything less than top of the podium will be a major upset. There’s not much more to say about Mitch, he’s the most skilled wrestler with the biggest gas tank out there and, maybe, Mikey Caliendo of Iowa can hold him to a regular decision.
Sam Beckett will be backing up Mitchell this season and may as well be waiting for Godot.
174 – Levi Haines, Leader of Men, may be Mitchell’s closest competition for the Hodge this year. If you’ve followed Levi this summer you’ll know he won Silver at the Senior World Championships, Gold at U23 Worlds and then got married. We get Levi one for one last season so sit back and enjoy it.
Backups at 174 will be a trio of redshirting freshmen. U20 World Silver Medalist Will Henckel; Asher Cunningham, son of Casey; and Sean Degl, son of former Hawkeye wrestler John Degl.
184 – Rocco Welsh. You may remember Rocco as runner up to Carter Starocci at 174 lbs in the 2024 season as a freshman at Ohio State. After a much-discussed redshirt year he came to his senses and came back to Pennsylvania to take another shot at the top of the podium. This may be one of the deepest weights this year with Max McEnelly, last year’s 3rd-place All-American; Iowa’s Angelo Ferrari; and last year’s PSU redshirt Zach Ryder, now at Oklahoma State, among the top contenders.
Freshman Mason Ellis should redshirt this year behind Rocco.
197 – Josh Barr tore up the Freestyle circuit this summer, he finished runner up to Hoagie Hidlay for the U.S. Senior team at 92kg and went on to compete at U23 Worlds. Unfortunately he suffered a rib injury in his quarterfinals match and wasn’t able to finish the tournament. Cael relayed that Josh will start slowly this season to allow recovery time. Fortunately, we have U20 World Bronze Medalist Connor Mirasola ready to go until Josh returns. Rumors were that Connor was testing the weight cut to challenge Rocco for the 184 spot but he’s probably back to eating again for the next couple of months. I’ll speculate that we’ll see Barr back in the lineup for the Journeyman Collegiate Duals the weekend before Christmas.
285 – Cole Mirasola comes off of last season’s redshirt and a U20 Bronze Medal over the summer.
Lucas Cochran is back for one more year and it sounds like he’s outgrown 197 lbs. He’s expected to serve as back up and training partner for Cole this season but I’ve got a feeling he’s going to put up a fight to try to take the spot. Redshirt Freshman Dawson Bundy is waiting in the wings.
Here’s a link to the published roster on gopsusports.com
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The Where and the When
We have a record chase to consider here as we look ahead at the schedule. Penn State sits on a 71 dual meet win streak that “is the longest in the NCAA’s Division I era (since 1973) and is the sixth longest in college wrestling history regardless of division. Oklahoma State holds the major college record of 76, set from 1937-1951.”
“The NCAA record is 77 in a row, set by Division II St. Cloud State from 2017-2022. NAIA Grand View has the all-time collegiate streak at 117 in a row, set from 2013-2022.”
Those numbers come from Jason Bryant, USA Wrestling, themat.com. What that means to you and me is that we can hit wins 76 and 77 for the D1 record at the Journeyman Collegiate Duals on December 20. That 117 is gonna take us a few more years.
One additional note, there was some talk about the Journeyman Collegiate Duals extending to a second day with cross over matches from the other brackets. That appears to have been scuttle and we’ll only have those 2 duals at this event.
2025-26 SCHEDULE – Courtesy of gopsusports.com
NOVEMBER
Fri. 14 #22 Oklahoma, BJC (B1GN) 6 p.m.
Sun. 23 at Army Black Knight Invitational (Flo) 10 a.m.
DECEMBER
Fri. 5 at Drexel (Flo) 7:30 p.m.
Sun. 7 Lehigh, Rec Hall (B1G+) 1 p.m.
Sat. 13 at Wyoming 8 p.m.
Sat. 20 Collegiate Duals, Nashville, Tenn.
vs. North Dakota State (Flo) 5 p.m.
vs. Stanford (Flo) 7 p.m.
JANUARY
Sat. 10 RUTGERS, Rec Hall (B1GN) 4 p.m.
Fri. 16 at Iowa (B1GN) 7 p.m.
Sun. 18 at Northwestern* (B1G+) TBA
Fri. 23 Indiana, Rec Hall (B1G+) 7 p.m.
Sun. 25 at Maryland (B1GN) 12 p.m.
Fri. 30 Nebraska, BJC (B1GN) 8 p.m.
FEBRUARY
Fri. 6 at Michigan (B1GN) 6 p.m.
Fri. 13 Ohio State, BJC (B1GN) 7 p.m.
Fri. 20 Princeton, Rec Hall (B1G+) 7 p.m.
MARCH
Sat – Sun, 7-8 2026 B1G Championships
Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pa.
Session 1 (B1GN/B1G+) 10 a.m.
Session 2 (B1GN/B1G+) 5 p.m.
Session 3/4 (B1GN/B1G+) 12 p.m./4:30 p.m.
Th.-Sa. 19-21 2026 NCAA Championships
Rocket Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
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