Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541990
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 6 4 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M the No. 6 heavyweight in the country by MatScout. Sidun, meanwhile, is in the Penn State class of 2027 along with New York wrestlers Will Soto and Gavin Man- gano, plus fellow Keystone State stand- out James Whitbread of State College. Soto is on Nike's honorable mention All-America list at 106 pounds, as are Mangano and Herring at 138. Where Are PSU Wrestlers In The Rankings? Penn State romped to three comfort- able dual-meet victories to open its sea- son, defeating Oklahoma, Drexel and Lehigh by a combined score of 124-9. Individually, Penn State won 27 of 30 bouts. Here is where the Nittany Li- ons' wrestlers stood in InterMat's Dec. 9 rankings: 125: Luke Lilledahl, No. 2 133: Marcus Blaze, No. 11 141: Aaron Nagao, No. 8 149: Shayne Van Ness, No. 1 157: PJ Duke, No. 15 165: Mitchell Mesenbrink, No. 1 174: Levi Haines, No. 1 184: Rocco Welsh, No. 4 197: Josh Barr, No. 1 285: Cole Mirasola, No. 10 ■ 2025-26 WRESTLING SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time Nov. 14 OKLAHOMA* W, 45-0 Nov. 23 Black Knight Invitational** Indiv. only Dec. 5 at Drexel W, 43-3 Dec. 7 LEHIGH W, 36-6 Dec. 13 at Wyoming 8 p.m. Dec. 20 North Dakota State^ 5 p.m. Dec. 20 Stanford^ 7 p.m. Jan. 10 RUTGERS 4 p.m. Jan. 16 at Iowa 7 p.m. Jan. 18 at Northwestern TBA Jan. 23 INDIANA 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at Maryland Noon Jan. 30 NEBRASKA* 8 p.m. Feb. 6 at Michigan 6 p.m. Feb. 13 OHIO STATE* 7 p.m. Feb. 20 PRINCETON 7 p.m. Mar. 7-8 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS* Mar. 19-21 NCAA Championships^^ * at the Bryce Jordan Center ** at West Point, N.Y. ^ Collegiate Duals at Nashville, Tenn. ^^at Rocket Arena, Cleveland THREE BEST WRESTLERS PJ Duke | Fr. | 157 Duke is off to a roaring start in his first year as the Nittany Lions' starter at 157 pounds. After sitting out the Oklahoma dual to get back into folkstyle shape after dominating the freestyle scene for much of the summer, the New York native won three of four matches at the Army Black Knight Invitational by fall before beating redshirt freshman teammate Joe Sealey by decision, 2-1, to take the title. That locked him into the team's top spot in this weight class. And all he did with it was win his dual meet debut at Penn State by fall over Drexel's Luke Nichter before beating Lehigh's Logan Rozynski by injury default while already leading 14-3 in the third period. Levi Haines | Sr. | 174 The multi-time All-American has started his final season in style. After beating Oklahoma's No. 33 Carter Schubert by fall in 4:15 to start the year, Haines won a Black Knight Invite title by beating freshman teammate William Henckel in the finals, 4-0. He won the three matches before that by technical fall. Then, after beating Drexel's ranked Josiah Queen by major decision, 12-1, Haines turned around two days later and pinned Lehigh's Bekhruz Sadriddinov in a tidy 2:15. Connor Mirasola | R-Fr. | 197 Mirasola will eventually give his starting spot back to All-American Josh Barr, who continues to recover from a rib injury he suffered at the U23 World Championships in late October. But the young Nittany Lion is certainly tak- ing advantage of this moment. After beating Oklahoma's Deanthony Parker by major deci- sion, 11-1, to start the year, Mirasola won a Black Knight Invite title by racking up 2 falls and a technical fall triumph. He then ended his bout in the Drexel dual early by beating Justin Griffith by technical fall, 23-5, in 5:28 before topping Lehigh's Remy Brancato by decision, 8-3. KEY MOMENT Let's put a pair of Army Black Knight Invite fi- nals in focus. Penn State entered the year with starting spot battles at 157 and 285 pounds. Both were resolved in West Point, N.Y. The aforementioned 2-1 win for Duke over Sealey at 157 pounds in the finals made the former, a true freshman, the starter in that weight class. And at heavyweight, redshirt freshman Cole Mirasola took out redshirt senior Lucas Co- chran by decision, 3-1, to cement his status as the Lions' first-teamer at 285 pounds. BEST HIGHLIGHT Marcus Blaze dazzled in his dual-meet debut for Penn State on Nov. 14 against Oklahoma. Wrestling at the Bryce Jordan Center for the first time, the freshman standout from Ohio beat up the Sooners' 133-pound starter, Tyson Charmoli, from start to finish en route to an 18-3 technical fall triumph in 5:13. BOLD PREDICTION This isn't a long limb to go out on: Duke will be in the top five of all of the major media rankings by the time December ends. He con- tinues to crush all opponents that come his way and will only see his profile grow nation- ally at this level because of it. — Greg Pickel Senior All-American Levi Haines, currently the nation's No. 1 wrestler at 174 pounds, has run roughshod over the competition in the early part of the season. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS Penn State Wrestling Superlatives Nov. 14-Dec. 7