Penn State wrestling clinched its fourth consecutive national team title on Saturday morning at the 2025 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia.
The Nittany Lions secured the program’s 13th national championship nearly eight hours before the finals when Shayne Van Ness pinned Ethan Stiles of Oregon State in the first period of the 149 pound consolation semifinals. Luke Lilledahl’s sudden victory decision against Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech to start the day in the 125 pound consolation semifinals put Penn State on the doorstep.
It marks Penn State’s 12th title in 14 years, all under coach Cael Sanderson. With this year’s win, Sanderson now stands alone in second place for most NCAA championships by a coach, ahead of the 11 by Oklahoma State’s Ed Gallagher and trailing only the 15 by Iowa’s Dan Gable.
As of Saturday morning, with consolation action ongoing, the Nittany Lions had 155 team points, outpacing second place Nebraska’s 105. Last year’s Penn State team set the NCAA Championships points record with 172.5.
Penn State made history on Friday night by becoming just the second team to have 10 All-Americans in one year, joining the 2001 Minnesota team.
The Nittany Lions have three wrestlers in Saturday night’s championship finals, headlined by Carter Starocci seeking an unprecedented fifth title when he takes on Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. Mitchell Mesenbrink and Josh Barr will be looking to win their first individual championships.
Seven other Penn State wrestlers were in the consolation semifinals on Saturday. In addition to Van Ness and Lilledahl, Beau Bartlett, Tyler Kasak and Levi Haines advanced to third-place bouts. Braeden Davis will wrestle for fifth place.
Greg Kerkvliet, who appeared hobbled by injury in his semifinal loss on Friday night, took a medical default for the consolation bracket, ending his Nittany Lion career as a five-time All-American and 2024 national champion at heavyweight.
The medal round on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center airs on ESPNU. The championship finals begin at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
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