Penn State takes day one lead at Big Ten Wrestling Championships

EVANSTON, Ill. – Penn State put some distance between itself and the rest of the field on day one of the 2025 Big Ten Championships on Saturday at Northwestern’s Welsh Ryan Arena.

The top-ranked Nittany Lions piled up 145 team points, put a tournament-best six wrestlers into Sunday’s championship round, and finished with all 10 wrestlers in the top six at their respective weights. In all, Penn State wrestlers produced a 19-4 overall record with 15 bonus-point wins: four pins, four technical falls, and seven major decisions.

Penn State surged ahead of second-place Nebraska, which registered 118.5 points behind four finalists. Iowa is in third with 98 points, and Minnesota is in fourth with 88.5 points. Both the Hawkeyes and the Gophers each have three finalists. Illinois, with two finalists, sits fifth with 81.5 points.

Sunday’s early session, featuring consolation semifinals, seventh-place matches, and ninth-place consolation matches, begins at 12 p.m. CT. The final session, featuring first-, third-, and fifth-place matches, begins at 4:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.

Here’s a weight-by-weight rundown of the highlights from Saturday:

125 pounds: Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl outscored his three opponents 33-7 and recorded a pin and two major decisions to reach the finals. Lilledahl, the 4-seed, took out Purdue’s top-seeded Matt Ramos, 12-4, in the semifinals thanks to two takedowns. He’ll see Nebraska’s Caleb Smith in Sunday’s final after Smith scored a reversal to beat Rutgers’ Dean Peterson, 3-1, in sudden victory.

133 pounds: The top two seeds held here. Iowa’s top-seeded Drake Ayala won a wild 13-9 quarterfinal over Indiana’s Angelo Rini, then methodically took down Rutgers’ Dylan Shawver, 8-2, in the semifinals. He’ll face Illinois’s Lucas Byrd in the final after Byrd produced back-to-back workmanlike performances in a 9-2 quarterfinal win over Wisconsin’s Zan Fugitt and a 5-1 semifinal win over Maryland’s Braxton Brown.

141 pounds: A couple of stunning results here, as both returning NCAA finalists fell in the semifinals. Minnesota’s Vance Vombaur scored a takedown in the first period and added points for an escape and riding time to beat Penn State’s top-seeded Beau Bartlett, 5-3. In the other semifinal, Nebraska’s Brock Hardy utilized a riding time point to take out Ohio State’s returning national champion Jesse Mendez, 9-8. It’ll be Vombaur-Hardy for the Big Ten title while Bartlett and Mendez battle back for third.

149 pounds: Illinois’s redshirt freshman Kannon Webster, the 5-seed, took out a couple of All-Americans to reach the finals. Webster scored a second-period takedown to beat Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio, 5-1, in the quarterfinals, then scored another late in the third to upend Penn State’s Shayne Van Ness, 4-2, in the semifinals. He’ll face another All-American in Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett, who scored 46 points in three matches, punctuated by a 14-2 major over Iowa’s Kyle Parco, to reach the finals.

157 pounds: Brandon Cannon shot out of a cannon to reach the finals. The Ohio State redshirt freshman took down Michigan’s Chase Saldate, Maryland’s top-seeded Ethen Miller, and Minnesota’s Tommy Askey, all by a combined score of 34-5. He’ll face Penn State’s Tyler Kasak, who recorded a 78-second pin over Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor in the semifinals to advance.

165 pounds: It’ll be a matchup of the top two seeds here, Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink and Iowa’s Mike Caliendo. They both dominated their way to Sunday’s finals. Mesenbrink won by injury default in the quarters, then by a 25-8 technical fall over Michigan’s Beau Mantanona in the semifinals. Caliendo recorded two technical falls by a combined score of 44-11 to reach the championship match.

174 pounds: Nebraska’s Lenny Pinto prevailed in a wild 9-8 semifinal over Illinois’ Dan Braunagel thanks to a last-second, third-period takedown. The match itself featured four total takedowns, plus a reversal by Braunagel in the second period. Pinto advances to face Penn State’s Levi Haines, who scored three takedowns in a methodical 10-3 win over Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy in the other semifinal.

184 pounds: Penn State’s Carter Starocci, in pursuit of an unprecedented fifth NCAA title this month, produced two workmanlike performances to reach the finals: an 18-1 technical fall over Indiana’s Donnell Washington in the quarters, then a 12-2 semifinal win over Maryland’s Jaxson Smith. He’ll face Minnesota’s Max McEnelly on Sunday after McEnelly rolled through Illinois’ Edmond Ruth, 11-3, in the second semifinal to improve to 20-0 this season. 

197 pounds: Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas got some revenge against Penn State’s Josh Barr, scoring a takedown midway through sudden victory for a 4-1 semifinal win. Cardenas allowed just two points in three matches. He’ll face Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan in Sunday’s final after Buchanan allowed zero points in his two victories: 8-0 over Ohio State’s Seth Schumate, then 4-0 over Illinois’ Zac Braunagel.

285 pounds: The top two heavyweights rolled through their opponents to set up a highly-anticipated final. Minnesota’s Gable Steveson registered a 21-5 technical fall over Maryland’s Seth Nevills then a 15-4 major over Ohio State’s Nick Feldman while Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet recorded a first-period fall over Iowa’s Ben Kueter then a 9-1 major over Michigan’s Josh Heindselman.