Penn State has earned a lot of criticism after their back-to-back losses on Friday night. A team under Cael Sanderson, performing not their best, is something the fan fraternity of wrestling couldn’t really digest. Having three wrestlers at the NCAA championship match, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Carter Starocci and Josh Barr, the team reigned heavy. Entering with charm they now earned the 2025 national championship, with just 14 minutes into the Session V.

In a year where they’re sending just three to the finals, Penn State still locked up the title before Championship Night—absolute dominance, as you may call it.

Definitely a performance to be sculpted in the history. Given that, what we should celebrate even more, is Cael Sanderson’s amazing supervision here. All 13 wins, the team has bagged so far, out of which, 12 gets marked under Cael Sanderson’s direction. This typifies a dynasty of 15 years that Cael has built. And soon after they clinched the massive momentum, Evan Smith, Penn State Football Reporter, took to X and wrote, “Just clinched the 2025 NCAA Wrestling team National Championship Shayne Van Ness’ pin put them over the top at 11:14am The program’s 13th official National Championship and the 12th of the Cael Sanderson dynasty  For the first time in program history, the championship team fields 10 All-Americans.” The Nittany Lions spearheaded with 135.5 points, just 4.5 points ahead to clinch the title.

However, while we continue celebrating this worthy consecutive clinch, Penn State had its fair share of tough losses before they could stand here.

A recap of Penn State’s showcase

Penn State pushed a fireball on the very first day with a grand 20-0 and further elevating seven starters into the semifinals for Day 2. However, the semifinal round didn’t go as planned by the team, with the Lions finishing 3-4—a not very happy state for some, especially given their impressive 56-8 semifinal record at nationals heading into this year’s tournament.

But they quickly bounced back on Saturday, delivering an 11-2 performance in the medal round. One loss came from heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet, who medically forfeited due to a left knee injury, while Braeden Davis dropped his consolation semifinal before rebounding with a pin to secure fifth place. Beyond that, the Lions thrived.

Luke Lilledahl (125 pounds) finished third, followed by Braeden Davis (133 pounds) finishing fifth, and then Beau Bartlett (141 pounds) and Shayne Van Ness (149 pounds), Tyler Kasak (157 pounds), Levi Haines (165 pounds) finishing at third. Leaving only the three Mitchell Mesenbrink, Carter Starocci and Josh Barr who finished First OR second. However, with all the tough losses, it’s to say the team bounced back with massive dominance. And now we are keeping our eyes wide open for the final round. But what calls for celebration, is that they have already bagged its fourth NCAA Championship before the final round sets off!

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