CLEVELAND — The Penn State Nittany Lions officially clinched the 2026 team national title during the consolation medal rounds on Saturday morning but put a bow on the tournament with four individual champions and a record team score during the evening finals.
No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink and No. 1 Levi Haines both became two-time NCAA champions with their wins at 165 and 174 pounds, respectively. Mesenbrink, a junior, picked up his title in convincing fashion via a tech over No. 3 Mikey Caliendo of Iowa 20-4, and Haines, a senior, earned his victory by a narrower 2-1 margin against No. 3 Chris Minto of Nebraska.
Mesenbrink was also awarded the NCAA's Most Dominant Wrestler award at the conclusion of the tournament for averaging 5.04 team points per match. He also won the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler honor.
Sophomore No. 1 Josh Barr secured his first title as a Nittany Lion with a 6-3 win over No. 7 Cody Merrill of Oklahoma State at 197 pounds. The win wraps up an undefeated season for Barr where he bonused everyone except Merrill. He's now a two-time All-American after finishing second at the weight last year
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— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) March 21, 2026
? Your Penn State Nittany Lion Wrestling Team has clinched the 2026 NCAA Championship!
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-- That's our 5th straight! That's 13 of 15!
-- All under head coach Cael Sanderson!
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No. 1 Luke Lilledahl, also a sophomore Nittany Lion, notched his first title as well with a 2-1 victory over No. 10 Marc-Anthony McGowan of Princeton. A stall call was the difference in that match. Lilledahl finished third at this weight last year but now adds his name to the list of Penn State individual champions.
The Blue and White put four other athletes on the podium including NCAA finalists Shayne Van Ness at 149 pounds and Rocco Welsh at 184 pounds.
Stanford's No. 10 freshman Aden Valencia beat Van Ness 4-1 with a takedown in sudden victory to become the third NCAA champion in program history while Minnesota's No. 3 Max McEnelly upset Welsh 4-2 for his first national title after finishing third last year.
Penn State's other All-Americans included freshman PJ Duke, who finished third at 157 pounds, and freshman Marcus Blaze, who finished fourth at 133 pounds. Duke also earned the award for the most falls in the least amount of time in the tournament. The points he scored from bonus, combined with Penn State's overall team effort, helped the Nittany Lions break the NCAA scoring record for the third year in a row with 181.5 team points.
"I think this was an incredible year," Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson said in a press conference following the 125-pound title match. "Obviously, our heart and minds with kids who didn't reach their goals, and we're here thinking about 'hey what can we do better, we've got to do this better. We've got a lot on our minds now."
The Oklahoma State Cowboys earned a runner-up finish in the team race (131 points) under second-year head coach and Penn State alum David Taylor with national champions at 141 pounds in Sergio Vega, 157 pounds in Landon Robideau and 133 pounds with Jax Forrest.
Vega kicked off the final session with his upset win over two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez of Ohio State 4-1 via a takedown in sudden victory. Robideau followed with a win over reigning champion No. 2 Antrell Taylor of Nebraska with a score of 4-2. Forrest closed out the night with a 5-2 win over freshman No. 2 Ben Davino of Ohio State to stay undefeated in his true freshman year and give the Cowboys three rookie champs.
"We've got a real brotherhood at Oklahoma State, and it's something I've never felt before, even just going through high school, having really close friends. It's not the same," Robideau said in the press conference after his win. "Something's different in Stillwater. We just have the best people around us and I think it's kind of showing tonight -- how we're able to wrestle, go out and wrestle freely. We've got people supporting us the whole time and we're wrestling with smiles on our faces."
NC State will leave Cleveland with a national champion as well, as No. 2 Isaac Trumble, a senior, topped then-undefeated senior Yonger Bastida of Iowa State at 285 pounds, 5-0. This is the second year in a row that the Wolfpack have had a national champion, as 125-pounder Vincent Robinson (who finished fourth this year) won his weight class in 2025. Trumble ends his career as a two-time All-American after finishing fourth last year.
Bastida, meanwhile, earned the NCAA award for the most technical falls throughout the season with 17.
In the team race, the Nebraska Cornhuskers finished third (100.5 points) with seven All-Americans, led by finalists Taylor and Minto. The Iowa Hawkeyes took fourth with seven All-Americans and 92.5 points. Hawkeye senior runner-up Mikey Caliendo at 165 pounds continued Iowa's streak of having a national finalist in the tournament for 35 consecutive years.
The Ohio State Buckeyes finished fifth while the Stanford Cardinal took sixth. Stanford head coach Chris Ayres earned the award for best coach of the tournament thanks to Valencia's title and three additional All-American performances from Nico Provo at 125 pounds, Tyler Knox at 133 pounds and Angelo Posada at 197 pounds.
Complete results:
141 No. 2 Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State) over No. 1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State), 4-1 (SV)
149 No. 10 Aden Valencia (Stanford) over No. 1 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State), 4-1 (SV)
157 No. 5 Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) over No. 2 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska), 4-2
165 No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) over No. 3 Mikey Caliendo (Iowa), 20-4
174 No. 1 Levi Haines (Penn State) over No. 3 Chris Minto (Nebraska), 2-1
184 No. 3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota) beats No. 1 Rocco Welsh (Penn State), 4-2
197 No. 1 Josh Barr (Penn State) over No. 7 Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State), 6-3
285 No. 2 Isaac Trumble (NC State) outscores No. 1 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State), 5-0
125 No. 1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) over No. 10 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton), 2-1
133 No. 1 Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) over No. 2 Ben Davino (Ohio State), 5-2