The Penn State wrestling team is set to travel to Laramie, Wyoming, for its first-ever dual meet against the University of Wyoming. The match will take place on Saturday, December 13, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Penn State enters the contest with a 3-0 record after recent victories over Drexel and Lehigh. The Nittany Lions defeated Drexel 43-3 and secured a 36-6 win against Lehigh, winning a combined 17 out of 20 bouts in those two matches.
Ten Penn State wrestlers are currently ranked by InterMat. Notable rankings include Luke Lilledahl at No. 2 (125 lbs), Marcus Blaze at No. 10 (133 lbs), Shayne Van Ness at No. 1 (149 lbs), Mitchell Mesenbrink at No. 1 (165 lbs), Levi Haines at No. 1 (174 lbs), and Rocco Welsh at No. 4 (184 lbs).
A reminder was issued regarding NCAA rules: “Art. 4. Non-Allowable ISRF Matches. Matches between teammates, against opponents who are not listed on an institutional roster, a club-level wrestler, a prospective student-athlete or an armed services student-athlete shall not be counted.” This means that when two wrestlers from the same team compete in a tournament setting, the result does not count as an official win or loss.
Wyoming holds a dual meet record of 2-2 this season and most recently competed in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite last weekend. Their last dual victory came against Cal Baptist on November 22 with a score of 28-12. Wyoming has seven ranked wrestlers including Joey Novak at No. 4 (197 lbs) and Christian Carroll at No.10 (285 lbs). Last year’s only meeting between Penn State and Wyoming ended with Penn State winning decisively, 54-0.
Following their trip to Wyoming, Penn State will participate in the Collegiate Duals in Nashville on December 20 where they will face North Dakota State and Stanford.
Earlier this season, junior Mitchell Mesenbrink earned a major decision over Max Brignola during Penn State’s win over Lehigh while senior Levi Haines posted a dominant performance against Jasaiah Queen in the team’s victory over Drexel.
At the Black Knight Invitational hosted by Army West Point on November 23, Penn State sent twenty wrestlers; nineteen placed and nine won individual titles across different weight classes.
The team opened its season with a shutout win over Oklahoma in the Bryce Jordan Center and also saw success at other invitational events such as Millersville University’s Floyd ‘Shorty’ Hitchcock Invitational.
On the international stage, seven Nittany Lion wrestlers competed in the U23 World Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia; four won gold medals while another took bronze.
Levi Haines and Mitchell Mesenbrink were named to the Big Ten Preseason Wrestler to Watch list—each school could have up to two representatives selected for this recognition.
Since 2011, Penn State wrestling has established itself as one of college wrestling’s top programs with twelve NCAA team championships under head coach Cael Sanderson—third most all-time—and forty individual national titles since that year.