![\"Penn](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28444032-1024x683.jpg\")
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Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling head coach Cael Sanderson will have six wrestlers competing in the championship round Saturday night. Matthew O’Haren \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n
March 21, 2026 12:01 am EDT<\/p>\n
Penn State neared its fifth consecutive NCAA wrestling championship, and coach Cael Sanderson inched closer to one of the sport\u2019s most hallowed records after Friday\u2019s semifinal action inside Rocket Arena in Cleveland.<\/p>\n
The Nittany Lions amassed 153 points, well ahead of likely runner-up Oklahoma State (111.5 points) entering Saturday morning\u2019s consolation round of the NCAA tournament. Nebraska (90), Iowa (81) and Ohio State (77.5) round out the top five. Penn State also could break its own record for points in a tournament, which it set last year with 177.<\/p>\n
Penn State tied an NCAA record by qualifying six wrestlers for Saturday\u2019s championship round and all remain undefeated. Three Penn State wrestlers won by technical fall: Shayne Van Ness (25-0) at 149 pounds, Mitchell Mesenbrink (26-0) at 165, and Levi Haines (25-0) at 174. Also advancing were Luke Lilledahl (24-0) at 125, Rocco Welsh (24-0) at 184 and Josh Barr (23-0) at 197. Penn State\u2019s eight semifinalists tied a record set twice by Iowa, most recently in 1991. Barr has gained extra team points in every match this season, including a major decision on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Sanderson, who is in his 17th season at Penn State, could clinch his 13th national title as soon as the consolation round. He\u2019s two NCAA titles shy of tying Iowa legend Dan Gable, who won 15 championships over 21 seasons. Earlier this season, the Nittany Lions set a national record for consecutive dual meet victories and now have 85. It\u2019s a streak that began in 2020.<\/p>\n
A few notes:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ohio State\u2019s Jesse Mendez (141) will attempt to become the third Buckeye to win three national titles, joining Logan Stieber and Kyle Snyder.<\/p>\n
\u2022 At 133 pounds, Oklahoma State\u2019s Jax Forrest and Ohio State\u2019s Ben Davino will battle in the first championship matchup featuring freshmen since 2010. All four Cowboys in the finals are freshmen.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Iowa\u2019s Michael Caliendo beat Purdue\u2019s Joey Blaze 8-5 in a sudden victory at 165 pounds to secure a finalist for the Hawkeyes for the 36th consecutive season.<\/p>\n
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Mar 21, 2026<\/p>\n
Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n
Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n
Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling head coach Cael Sanderson will have six wrestlers competing in the championship round…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[339,7,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-824475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-sports","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116265207895771694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}