2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships team score standings, fun Penn State stats from day one, full results

CLEVELAND — Penn State wrestling’s quest to set a team points record for the third consecutive year is on track following day one of the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Nittany Lions have 40.5 points after day one, giving them a max possible potential of 281.5, according to the Penn State Wrestling Club. They will not hit that mark, of course, as it assumes the Lions will pin out the tournament. But, the PSWC math says that if the seeds merely hold from here, head coach Cael Sanderson’s team will finish with 184.5 points. That would beat their mark of 177 from last year’s national tournament.

The team standings top 10 after day one are as follows:

1 — Penn State, 40.5 points

2 — Nebraska, 27

3 — Oklahoma State, 26

4 — Iowa, 25

5 — Ohio State, 22.5

6 — Iowa State, 21.5

7 — Arizona State, 17

T8 — Michigan and Cornell, 14

10 – Stanford, 13

“This is a nationals, so you got to go do what you do, and go score points and find a way to win the match,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “Doesn’t really matter. I mean, all that matters is you just got to score points.”

Penn State did that in the majority of its 20 matches on Thursday. The Lions secured bonus points in 15 of their 18 wins. Only two wrestlers, 141-pound junior Braeden Davis and 285-pound redshirt freshman Cole Mirasola, are out of the championship bracket. Both are in the consolation second round tomorrow, while Luke Lilledahl (125 pounds), Marcus Blaze (133), Shayne Van Ness (149), PJ Duke (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), Rocco Welsh (184), and Josh Barr (197) are in the quarterfinals. Session three starts at Noon ET on Friday.

More: Penn State wrestling has an ‘overall good day’ to start the NCAA Championships: Full Day 1 breakdown, quotes, more

In full, Penn State had four wins by fall (including two by freshman PJ Duke at 157 pounds), seven technical fall victories (including two by 133-pound freshman Marcus Blaze), four major decision triumphs, and three decision victories.

Duke scored the most team points of any wrestler in the tournament on Thursday with six. Levi Haines’ first-round pin of No. 33 Grant O’Dell of Bellarmine in 1:33 was the fastest of the day behind only Jack Forbes’ 23-second pin for Utah Valley at heavyweight.

Day 1 Penn State results and Day 2 matchups

See it in full below:

125 pounds: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl, Penn State

R1:  Won by major decision over No. 32 Mack Mauger of Missouri, 11-2
R2: Won by decision over No. 17 Jett Strickenberger of West Virginia, 4-2
QF: vs. No. 8 Dean Peterson of Iowa

133 pounds: No. 3 Marcus Blaze, PSU

R1: Won by technical fall over No. 30 Gabe Whisenhunt of Oregon State, 17-2 (5:30)
R2: Won by technical fall over No. 19 Gage Walker of Missouri, 17-2 (6:10)
QF: No 6 Draya Ayala of Iowa

141 pounds: No. 14 Braeden Davis, Penn State

R1: Won by decision over No. 19 Haiden Drury of Utah Valley, 2-0
R2: Lost by decision to No. 3 Brock Hardy of Nebraska, 9-2
Consolation round 2: vs. No. 29 Jordan Titus of West Virginia.

149 pounds: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU

R1: Won by technical fall over No. 33 Austin McBurney of Brown, 19-4 (5:34)
R2: Won by fall over No. 16 Jacob Frost of Iowa State, 2:23
QF: No. 8 Casey Sweiderski of Oklahoma State

157 pounds: No. 1 PJ Duke, Penn State

R1: Won by fall over No. 33 Yannis Charles of Morgan State, 1:56
R2: Won by fall over No. 17 Luke Mechler of Wisconsin, 1:38
QF: vs. No. 8 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State

165 pounds: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU

R1: Won by technical fall over  No. 32 Cody Walsh of Drexel, 21-5 (4:45)
R2: Won by major decision over No. 16 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State, 12-0
QF: vs. No. 9 Bryce Hepner of North Carolina

174 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, Penn State

R1: Won by fall over No. 33 Grant O’Dell of Bellarmine, 1:33
R2: Won by technical fall over No. 16 Nick Fine of Columbia, 21-5 (5:26)
QF: vs. vs. No. 9 Beau Mantanona, Michigan

184 pounds: No. 1 Rocco Welsh, PSU

R1: Won by technical fall over No. 33 Grant O’Dell of Bellarmine, 19-4 (6:29)
R2: Won by major decision over No. 16 Rylan Rogers of Lehigh, 13-4
QF: vs. No. 8 Silas Allred of Nebraska

197 pounds: No. 1 Josh Barr, Penn State 

R1: Won by technical fall over No. 32 Blake Schaffer of Kent State, 20-4 (5:43)
R2: Won by major decision over No. 17 Dillon Bechtold of Bucknell, 11-3
QF: vs. No. 9 Angelo Posada, Stanford 

285 pounds: No. 9 Cole Mirasola, PSU

R1: Won by decision over No. 24 Connor Barket of Duke, 13-7
R2: Lost to. No. 8 Ben Kueter of Iowa, 4-0
Consolation round two: vs. No. 23 Stephan Monchery, Appalachian State