Sentinel photo by JENNIFER WEAVER TATE Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl battles during the NCAA Championships in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A record number of semifinalists and an overwhelming accumulation of team points had Penn State pointed toward a fifth consecutive championship at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Friday night in Rocket Arena.

At press time, Penn State had 112.5 team points, 50 ahead of second-place Oklahoma State. The Nittany Lions had been assured of eight All-Americans and at least one finalist.

Luke Lilledahl (125) punched his ticket to tonight’s final, while Marcus Blaze lost a controversy marred tiebreaker semifinal and is still alive for a third-place finish. Shayne Van Ness (149), P.J. Duke (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), Rocco Welsh (184) and Josh Barr (197) were all awaiting semifinal bouts.

All eight Nittany Lions will return home as All-Americans, at least.

Earlier Friday, during Session 3, Braeden Davis (141) and Cole Mirasola (285) both lost third-round wrestleback bouts and were eliminated.

At the end of Friday’s two sessions, Penn State had built a 13.5 lead in the team race. By the end of Session III, the lead had ballooned to 39.5.

A year after sending seven wrestlers to the semifinals, the Nittany Lions went one better this year with eight, a team and NCAA record. Iowa also had eight semifinalists in 1991. Penn State was hoping to improve on last year’s 3-4 performance in those semifinal bouts.

A full 20 teams contributed to the 40 semifinalists. Penn State, of course, led the way with eight. Oklahoma State and Nebraska had five each. Michigan and Iowa had three each.

Lilledahl got his offense going early in his semifinal win over Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley. He scored two takedowns, catching the Cowboy on his back for two nearfall points on the second to open an 8-2 lead after one. Spratley escaped to start the second and that was all the scoring. Lilledahl made the tactical decision to emphasize defense over risk and there was no further scoring in his 8-3 decision.

Lilledahl will meet Princeton No. 10 seed Marc-Anthony McGowan in tonight’s final.

Lilledahl had to gut out a tiebreaker win over Iowa’s Dean Peterson to earn his semifinal berth. Regulation and the sudden victory period ended with the score tied at 1-1. In the tiebreakers, Lilledahl escaped in 11 seconds in the first. In the second, the Nittany Lion rode Peterson for the entire period to earn the 2-1 win.

Blaze and Ohio State’s Ben Davino went to the tiebreakers for the third time this year, having split decisions in the first two. After regulation ended with the score tied 1-1, Davino appeared to have a takedown with 14 seconds left in the sudden victory period but an official’s review declared no takedown. Blaze rode Davino for 21 seconds in the first tiebreaker. Davino would not let Blaze escape in the second and those precious seconds were the difference in the win for the Buckeye

Blaze made it a trifecta of wins over Iowa’s Drake Ayala as he posted a 5-2 decision. A takedown on the edge that Blaze doggedly pursued proved to be the difference.

Van Ness, the No. 1 seed, was to meet Nebraska No. 20 seed Chance Lamer in the semifinals.

Van Ness had to survive a wild battle with Oklahoma State’s Casey Swiderski to gain his semifinal berth. Regulation ended 2-2 and it looked like the match might go to the tiebreakers, but in the waning seconds, Van Ness emerged from a frenetic scramble with a double and the winning takedown in a 5-2 decision.

Duke, the No. 1 seed, was scheduled to face Oklahoma State No. 5 seed Landon Robideau in the semifinal,

Duke mauled Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon again to punch his ticket to the semifinals. He scored three takedowns in each of the first two periods and then ended it with another in the third for a 21-5 technical fall in 5:23.

Top-seeded Mesenbrink awaited a semifinal showdown with Columbia No. 12 seed Cesar Alvan.

Mesenbrink, for the first time in a long time, was presented a real challenge by North Carolina’s Bryce Hepner. The Tar Heel was injured in a scramble that went out of bounds and a stretcher was summoned. But, after going through concussion protocol, he was able to continue. With the match 0-0, Mesenbrink turned Hepner for four points and rode him the entire second period. In the third, Mesenbrink escaped and added a point for riding time for a 6-0 decision,

Haines, the top seed, was set to take on Iowa No. 5 seed Patrick Kennedy in the semifinals.

Haines continued to bulldoze everything in his path in the quarterfinals. Against Michigan’s Beau Mantanona, Haines used give takedowns, a two-point turn and a riding time point to amass an 18-3 technical fall in 7:00.

Welsh, also a top seed, was to face Michigan No. 5 seed Brock Mantanona in his semifinal.

Welsh took control of a scoreless match in the second with an escape and two takedowns to open a 7-1 lead on Nebraska’s Silas Allred. The Husker chose bottom to start the third and when Welsh returned him to the mat Allred sustained an apparent ankle injury and had to default in 6:08.

Top-seeded Barr’s semifinal opponent was to be Wyoming’s No. 5 seed Joey Novak.

Barr blitzed his way into the semifinals with a 19-3 annihilation of Stanford’s Angelo Posada. He took a 7-0 lead after one with a takedown and four-point tilt and then ended the match with four singles in the second, the last coming at at the 4:50 mark.

Davis survived a rollicking battle with West Virginia’s Jordan Titus in. his second-round wrestleback match. The bout was tied 5-5 after one but Davis escaped and scored a takedown to open a 9-5 lead. He tacked on a riding time point for a 10-6 decision. He was bounced from the tournament in the next round by Penn’s C.J. Composto, whose reversal and takedown in the second period made the difference.

Mirasola stayed alive with a 18-3 technical fall over Appalachian State’s Stephan Monchery in 6:03. Mirasola did it with six takedowns. In the next round, though, Wyoming’s Christian Carroll scored a takedown late in the third period and held off Mirasola 9-6 to knock the Nittany Lion out of the tournament.