By Brian Reinhardt
USA Wrestling

CLEVELAND – Penn State and Oklahoma State came into the 2026 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships with high expectations, and both the Nittany Lions and Cowboys are leaving Cleveland with the hardware to prove they are the top two programs in college wrestling.

For the third straight year, Penn State set the team scoring record. In 2024, the Nittany Lions surpassed the long-standing mark of 170 points by Iowa in 1997 when they finished with 172.5 points. Last year, it was 177 points. It was even higher this year, as the Nittany Lions finished with 181.5 points.

The other team trophies went to Oklahoma State in second with 131 points, followed by Nebraska in third (100.5) and Iowa in fourth (92.5).

Penn State (four) and Oklahoma State (three) combined for seven of the 10 individual titles. Minnesota also had a national title for the Big Ten Conference. The ACC had two individual champions to round out the top wrestlers at each weight class.

The finals started with fireworks as a trio of freshmen took out higher seeds. At 141 pounds, Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State) took out two-time defending national champion Jesse Mendez, and at 149 pounds, Aden Valencia (Stanford) got the extra time takedown against top-seed Shayne Van Ness. Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) used a two-point near fall in the second to take out returning national champion Antrell Taylor.

Mitchell Mesenbrink defended his title at 165 pounds with a 20-4 tech fall. Levi Haines capped his collegiate career with his second NCAA title, and first at 174 pounds.

Minnesota’s Max McEnelly followed up his 2025 U20 World Championship with NCAA gold, as he downed top-seed Rocco Welsh 4-2 for the 184-pound title. A trio of wrestlers all won their first titles: Josh Barr (Penn State at 197 pounds), Isaac Trumble (NC State at heavyweight) and Luke Lilledahl (Penn State at 125 pounds).

The night was capped by the fourth freshman national title by Oklahoma State’s Jax Forrest at 133 pounds.

Vega and Forrest become the first undefeated true freshmen since 1947. This also marks the first time four freshmen have won a national championship in the same season

2026 NCAA Finals Results 

125 Pounds 

#1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) dec. #10 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton), 2-1

133 Pounds 

#1 Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) dec. #2 Ben Davino (Ohio State), 5-2

141 Pounds 

#2 Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State) dec. #1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State), 4-1 (SV1)

149 Pounds 

#10 Aden Valencia (Stanford) dec. #1 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State), 8-5 (SV1)

157 Pounds 

#5 Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) dec. #2 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska), 4-2

165 Pound 

#1 Mitchell Messenbrink (Penn State) tech. fall #3 Mikey Caliendo (Iowa), 20-4

174 Pounds 

#1 Levi Haines (Penn State) dec. #3 Christopher Minto (Nebraska), 2-1

184 Pounds 

#3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota) dec. #1 Rocco Welsh (Penn State), 4-3

197 Pounds 

#1 Josh Barr (Penn State) dec. #7 Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State), 6-3

285 Pounds 

#2 Isaac Trumble (NC State) dec. #1 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State), 5-0

Final Team Standings 

1. Penn State, 181.5 (4 champions, 8 All-Americans)

2. Oklahoma State, 131 (3 champions, 8 All-Americans)

3. Nebraska, 100.5 (7 All-Americans)

4. Iowa, 92.5 (7 All-Americans)

5. Ohio State, 84.5 (5 All-Americans)

6. Stanford, 67.5 (1 champion, 4 All-Americans)

7. Michigan, 66 (5 All-Americans)

8. Iowa State, 52 (3 All-Americans)

9. Minnesota, 48.5 (1 champion, 3 All-Americans)

10. NC State, 44.5 (1 champion, 2 All-Americans)

USA Wrestling Well Represented in 2026 Finals 

14 of the 20 NCAA finalists have been a member of at least one U.S. World Team among the four age groups (Cadet, Juniors, U23 or Senior).

125 Pounds 

Luke Lilledahl – 2025 U23 World Champion (4 teams overall)

Marc-Anthony McGowan – 2019 Cadet World Champion

133 Pounds 

Jax Forrest – 2025 Senior World Team (3 teams overall)

Ben Davino – 2023 Cadet World Team

141 Pounds 

Jesse Mendez – 2023 U20 World Team (3 teams overall)

149 Pounds 

Aden Valencia – 2021 Cadet World Team (Greco-Roman)

165 Pounds 

Mitchell Mesenbrink – 2025 U23 World Champion (4 teams overall)

Patrick Kennedy – 2024 U23 World Team

174 Pounds 

Levi Haines – 2025 Senior World Silver Medalist (4 teams overall)

184 Pounds 

Rocco Welsh – 2025 U23 World Team

Max McEnelly – 2025 U20 World Champion

197 pounds 

Josh Barr – 2025 U23 World Team (3 teams overall)

Cody Merrill – 2022 Cadet Bronze Medalist (Greco-Roman)

285 pounds 

Isaac Trumble – 2023 U23 World Champion

Penn State Claims Team Race Before Finals Start 

After the earlier session’s medal round, Penn State already claimed the 2026 NCAA Championship. It was the fifth straight for the Nittany Lions and 13 of the last 15 dating back to 2011. The team trophy was the 14th overall for the program and the 13th for head coach Cael Sanderson.

Penn State was able to clinch the team trophy so early thanks to its work in the early rounds. The Nittany Lions entered the NCAAs with an all-time best of seven top seeds. A new NCAA record was set with eight advancing to the semifinals, and they tied the record with six winning and wrestling in the finals.

They Wanted to Be a Cowboy 

The second year of the David Taylor era will be one to remember in Stillwater. Even before the finals took place, Oklahoma State secured a second-place finish in the team race with its highest point total through five sessions since 2005.

The Cowboys tied Penn State with an event-high eight All-Americans and were second behind the Nittany Lions with four finalists. The four finalists were the most for Oklahoma State since 2014 and all four are freshmen. It marks the first time in program history that OSU has sent more than two freshmen to the NCAA finals and the only previous years a pair of freshmen went were 1946 and 1947.

Not only did they send freshmen to the finals, three of the four claimed a national championship in their first season of college wrestling – Forrest (133), Vega (141) and Robideau (157).

Pair of Schools Record Highest Individual Placements 

Both Columbia and Little Rock came out of Cleveland with their highest individual finisher.

A two-time All-American entering the NCAAs in each of his first two seasons, Little Rock’s Stephen Little cemented his name as the program’s best. Starting as the third seed at 197 pounds, Little matched his seed with a third-place finish, the highest for a Little Rock wrestler since starting their program in 2020. Earlier in the tournament, Little became the first semifinalist for the school.

Senior Cesar Alvan of Columbia finished his career in style bringing home a third-place finish at 165 pounds. The #12 seed advanced to the semifinals, thanks in large part to an OT fall over #5 seed LaDarion Lockett of Oklahoma State. After falling in the semifinals to Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink, Alvan won back-to-back matches on Saturday for Columbia’s best individual finish.

Columbia also set a new all-time high for both team finish and team points as the Lions recorded their first top-20 finish of all-time (17th place) and had 25 team points.

You Can Call it a Comeback 

Saw this stat via Willie Saylor. There were five wrestlers that lost their first round match this year but wrestled back to earn All-American honors.

Air Force’s Carter Nogle led the way with the highest placement amongst this group, coming back for fifth place. Starting as the #18 seed at 141 pounds, the sophomore fell 7-4 in his opening bout. He went on to win five in a row to earn All-American honors, including a 10-5 decision over #6 Vince Cornella of Cornell in the Blood Round.

Two at 197 pounds were able to overcome a first-round loss as well, and they met in the 7th-place match. The two were also a pair of former 174-pound wrestlers. Iowa’s Gabe Arnold placed seventh while Maryland’s Brandon John took eighth. Arnold’s story was very well known all weekend, as he was competing in his third different weight class and entered as the 27th seed. John had to beat a pair of returning All-Americans in #2 Rocky Elam of Iowa State and #10 Mac Stout of Pitt just to stay alive to make it to the Blood Round.

Others to accomplish the feat were Nebraska’s Jacob Van Dee at 133 pounds (seventh) and Wyoming heavyweight Christian Carroll (eighth).

Not Easy Being a #2 Seed 

While nine of the 10 #1 seeds advanced to the finals, only four #2 seeds were able to accomplish the feat. In fact, four second seeds were not even able to earn All-American honors.

Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech (125 pounds), Jaxon Joy of Cornell (149 pounds) and Simon Ruiz of Cornell (174 pounds) all fell in the Blood Round. Obviously affected by a knee injury, Rocky Elam of Iowa State entered as a four-time All-American but went just 1-2 at 197 pounds.

Random Stats 

• Among the 80 All-Americans this year, 31 total schools were represented.

• The 80 All-Americans came from eight different high school graduation years. From 2018 (Nebraska’s Brock Hardy) to eight from the 2025 class.

• 70 schools sent at least one wrestler to the 2026 NCAAs and 65 schools scored at least 0.5 team point.

• Only three final matchups were amongst conference foes, and all three featured Big Ten wrestlers: 165, 174 and 184 pounds.

• 6 of the 10 finals matches took place earlier this year – 125, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184.

Reference links     

• Session six live updates

• Brackets

• Photo gallery

• Interview playlist