Photo: Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl (front) defeated Minnesota’s Jore Volk, 4-1 SV, in the Big Ten finals at 125 pounds. Photo by Bob Mayeri.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Penn State crowned seven champions and set a school record with 184 team points on its way to earning the Nittany Lions’ 10th Big Ten title in their own Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday evening.
Ohio State, after crowning two champions, finished second with 148.5 team points, while Nebraska earned third place with 116.5. Iowa and Michigan rounded out the top five with 87 and 86.5 team points, respectively.
Penn State and Ohio State became two of just four programs nationwide to earn automatic bids for all 10 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, joining Oklahoma State (Big 12) and Virginia Tech (ACC).
Eight of the 10 No. 1 seeds claimed individual titles, while No. 2 seeds Ben Davino (Ohio State) and PJ Duke (Penn State) won titles as 133 and 157 pounds, respectively.
Duke, a true freshman from Slate Hill, N.Y. who was WIN’s Junior Dan Hodge Trophy recipient in 2025, was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler after he earned a major decision over returning NCAA champion Antrell Taylor (Nebraska), 12-4.
Meanwhile, Ohio State swept all three season-long awards including Coach of the Year, Wrestler of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors, with Tom Ryan, Jesse Mendez and Ben Davino claiming each, respectively.
Penn State senior Levi Haines became PSU’s fourth four-time Big 12 champion after the 174-pounder outlasted Nebraska’s Christopher Minto, 2-1, in the title bout. Haines was awarded a point for an illegal figure-four to the head in the opening frame, which proved to be the difference in the match.
When the smoke settled, a total of 87 wrestlers from the Big Ten conference earned automatic bids to the 2026 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships, set for March 19-21 in Cleveland’s Rocket Arena.
Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson briefly reflected on his team’s performance after claiming another conference title, saying, “Overall, this is a very tough conference tournament with a lot of great wrestlers. We’re excited to move into the Nationals and are happy with this weekend.
“These guys are competitors; we won a lot of tough matches. They do what they do, and they do it consistently like they have all year long. We are grateful to have a great weekend like this.”
Final Team Scores
- Penn State – 184.0
- Ohio State – 148.5
- Nebraska – 116.5
- Iowa – 87.0
- Michigan – 86.5
- Illinois – 78.0
- Minnesota – 76.5
- Rutgers – 63.5
- Wisconsin – 55.0
- Indiana – 40.0
- Maryland – 35.5
- Purdue – 29.5
- Northwestern – 14.5
- Michigan State – 10.5
Coach of the Year: Tom Ryan (Ohio State)
Wrestler of the Year: Jesse Mendez (Ohio State)
Freshman of the Year: Ben Davino (Ohio State)
125 (9 automatic qualifiers):
1st-Place Match
Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) over Jore Volk (Minnesota) (SV-1 4-1)
3rd-Place Match
Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) over Jacob Moran (Indiana) (Dec 4-2)
5th-Place Match
Dean Peterson (Iowa) over Diego Sotelo (Michigan) (Dec 5-2)
7th-Place Match
Kael Lauridsen (Nebraska) over Ayden Smith (Rutgers) (Dec 6-3)
9th-Place Match
Spencer Moore (Illinois) over Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) (MD 16-5)
133 (8):
1st-Place Match
Ben Davino (Ohio State) over Marcus Blaze (Penn State) (TB-2 (RT) 2-2)
3rd-Place Match
Drake Ayala (Iowa) over Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) (Dec 4-2)
5th-Place Match
Lucas Byrd (Illinois) over Blake Boarman (Purdue) (Dec 5-2)
7th-Place Match
Sean Spidle (Northwestern) over Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) (MFFL)
141 (7):
1st-Place Match
Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) over Brock Hardy (Nebraska) (Dec 7-2)
3rd-Place Match
Nasir Bailey (Iowa) over Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) (Dec 7-4)
5th-Place Match
Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) over Dario Lemus (Maryland) (Dec 5-2)
7th-Place Match
Braeden Davis (Penn State) over Billy DeKraker (Northwestern) (Dec 8-1)
149 (9):
1st-Place Match
Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) over Ethan Stiles (Ohio State) (Fall 3:29)
3rd-Place Match
Lachlan McNeil (Michigan) over Carter Young (Maryland) (Dec 1-0)
5th-Place Match
Joseph Zargo (Wisconsin) over Michael Gioffre (Illinois) (Dec 9-3)
7th-Place Match
Andrew Clark (Rutgers) over Clayton Jones (Michigan State) (MFFL)
9th-Place Match
Ryder Block (Iowa) over Chance Lamer (Nebraska) (SV-1 8-7)
157 (8):
1st-Place Match
PJ Duke (Penn State) over Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) (MD 12-4)
3rd-Place Match
Kannon Webster (Illinois) over Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) (Dec 9-2)
5th-Place Match
Cameron Catrabone (Michigan) over Bryce Lowery (Indiana) (MFFL)
7th-Place Match
Luke Mechler (Wisconsin) over Charlie Millard (Minnesota) (MFFL)
165 (9):
1st-Place Match
Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) over Mikey Caliendo (Iowa) (MD 12-3)
3rd-Place Match
Joey Blaze (Purdue) over LJ Araujo (Nebraska) (Inj. 3:47)
5th-Place Match
Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) over Andrew Barbosa (Rutgers) (Dec 8-6)
7th-Place Match
Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) over Braeden Scoles (Illinois) (MFFL)
9th-Place Match
Cody Goebel (Wisconsin) over Tyler Lillard (Indiana) (Dec 5-2)
174 (10):
1st-Place Match
Levi Haines (Penn State) over Christopher Minto (Nebraska) (Dec 2-1)
3rd-Place Match
Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) over Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) (Dec 7-3)
5th-Place Match
Beau Mantanona (Michigan) over Lenny Pinto (Rutgers) (Dec 7-5)
7th-Place Match
Colin Kelly (Illinois) over Brody Baumann (Purdue) (Dec 11-5)
9th-Place Match
Luke Condon (Wisconsin) over Derek Gilcher (Indiana) (MFFL)
184 (8):
1st-Place Match
Rocco Welsh (Penn State) over Max McEnelly (Minnesota) (TB-1 2-1)
3rd-Place Match
Brock Mantanona (Michigan) over Chris Moore (Illinois) (SV-1 4-1)
5th-Place Match
Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers) over Silas Allred (Nebraska) (M. For.)
7th-Place Match
Dylan Fishback (Ohio State) over Angelo Ferrari (Iowa) (M. For.)
197 (10):
1st-Place Match
Josh Barr (Penn State) over Camden McDanel (Nebraska) (TF-1.5 6:46 (19-4))
3rd-Place Match
Luke Geog (Ohio State) over Gabe Sollars (Indiana) (Dec 7-5)
5th-Place Match
Wyatt Ingham (Wisconsin) over Remy Cotton (Rutgers) (Fall 4:11)
7th-Place Match
Branson John (Maryland) over Ben Vanadia (Purdue) (M. For.)
9th-Place Match
Gabe Arnold (Iowa) over Kael Wisler (Michigan State) (MFFL)
285 (9):
1st-Place Match
Taye Ghadiali (Michigan) over AJ Ferrari (Nebraska) (Dec 5-2)
3rd-Place Match
Nick Feldman (Ohio State) over Ben Kueter (Iowa) (Dec 6-2)
5th-Place Match
Cole Mirasola (Penn State) over Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) (MFFL)
7th-Place Match
Koy Hopke (Minnesota) over Luke Luffman (Illinois) (Dec 4-2)
9th-Place Match
Hunter Catka (Rutgers) over Josh Terrill (Michigan State) (Fall 3:33)