TAKEAWAYS: Cael Sanderson gets win No. 250 as Penn State wrestling blanks Wyoming

No. 1 Penn State wrestling cruised to a 54-0 victory over No. 26 Wyoming Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center to improve to 3-0 on the season. On a historic afternoon for Cael Sanderson, the Nittany Lions delivered their most dominant performance of the year so far. The Blue and White flexed its depth up and down the lineup and showed Penn State will be a force to be reckoned with come March.

What are we taking away from the Nittany Lions’ third win of the season?

Bonus points galore

Penn State wrestling scored bonus points in all 10 matches, leading to the largest team score of the young 2024-25 campaign.

No. 12 Luke Lilledahl got the scoring started at 125 pounds with a 20-5 tech fall win over Jack Braman at the 4:25 mark of the match. That was quickly followed up by No. 11 Braeden Davis, who secured a tech fall of his own with an 18-3 victory at the 5:27 mark.

A pair of pins by No. 3 Beau Bartlett (0:43) at 141 pounds and Shayne Van Ness (4:27) at 149 added 12 more points to the Nittany Lions team score. The final bout before intermission was the only one of the day to go the distance, but still resulted in bonus points as No. 4 Tyler Kasak defeated No. 19 Jared Hill by a 15-3 major decision to give Penn State wrestling a 26-0 lead.

After the break, No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink made quick work of Wyoming’s Cooper Voorhees, securing a 15-0 shutout tech fall win. Perhaps emblematic of the dual overall was the reaction after the bout by Voorhees, who just walked off the mat shaking his head in disbelief.

No. 2 Levi Haines added a quick first-period pin at 174 to extend Penn State’s lead. With seemingly each Nittany Lion wrestler trying to outperform the previous, top-ranked Carter Starocci then picked up the fall in just 1:38 to give Penn State a 43-0 lead. No. 7 Josh Barr made it three consecutive first-period pins by taking down Brant Whitaker at the 1:48 mark. Greg Kerkvliet capped off the dominant afternoon with a 20-3 tech fall victory at the 3:28 mark.

Penn State never let up defensively

© Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

Penn State wrestling only gave up one takedown the entire dual. The majority of points allowed by Nittany Lion wrestlers came on escapes, most of which were deliberate so that they could get back to offense.

Wyoming was a clearly overmatched opponent in this dual, and it didn’t help that they were missing a few of their top wrestlers. Even still, Penn State avoided any lapses defensively and continued to press throughout the entire match.

Cael Sanderson earns 250th career win

Sunday’s victory was yet another milestone for Cael Sanderson, who picked up his 250th coaching dual win. The win was No. 206 as the coach of the Penn State wrestling program; the other 44 came while at his alma mater, Iowa State.

“It just means that I am old; that’s all that means,” Sanderson said in typical fashion following the dual. “That’s news to me. We don’t really worry about that stuff. We’re just focusing on our performance and our effort and just trying to get better.”

But as Sanderson and the Nittany Lions continue to break records every season, it’s not shocking that this one may not even crack his radar.

Penn State wrestling will compete in the Journeymen Collegiate Duals next Sunday in Nashville. The Nittany Lions will face Binghamton, Little Rock, and Missouri. The first dual will begin at 3:00 p.m. All duals for the event can be streamed on ROFKIN.

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