Penn State Wrestling, Cael Sanderson Penn State Wrestling head coach Cael Sanderson.

Penn State Wrestling vs. Rutgers | FULL RESULTS

Originally posted on Nittany Central | By Chris Snyder | Last updated Jan 10, 2026 7:42 PM ET

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Penn State Wrestling dismantled the No. 14 ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights 46-0 in front of the home crowd to lead off the B1G slate.

I mean what else can we possibly say about the Nittany Lions Wrestling Team?

Superior coaching talent – check
Insanely talented group of wrestlers – check
Drive and motivation to work hard – discount double-check

Er … yeah. You get the point, right?

As the Penn State faithful have seen over the many years of the Cael Sanderson era, there are just some incredible things that happen inside the walls of Rec Hall. And the home crowd was once again blessed with another amazing performance by the Penn State Wrestling team.

Now onto the action!

Penn State Wrestling vs. Rutgers| FULL RESULTS

Penn State Wrestling, Josh Barr Penn State Wrestling’s Josh Barr defeated Devin Wasley 19-3 in Penn State’s dual meet against North Dakota State in the 2025 Journeymen Collegiate Wrestling Duals (12/20/25).Credit – Lloyd McCully

This dual meet was pretty much business as usual from the start.

And as I illustrated in the dual meet preview article, Rutgers’ entire starting lineup was ranked according to InterMat. So the Penn State Wrestling faithful knew for sure that there would be some decent matchups.

However, what they didn’t know was that Rutgers was going to sit half of those ranked guys.

So yeah, that made for some completely one-sided matchups.

But there were some things that stood out to me in the dual meet.

First and foremost is that I was dead wrong about who would be the potential starter at 141 for the rest of the year.

After winning a title at last weekend’s Bobby Kauffman Open, it was Braeden Davis who took to the mat at 141 in this dual meet. And now when looking at all of the information, it makes perfect sense for him to be the guy.

Another thing I’d like to bring up is the massive improvement from Mitchell Mesenbrink’s top game. And while MM basically tech fall’ed everyone last year, do you know how many pins he had?

Shockingly, zero.

But with his fall today, Mesenbrink now has a total of six on the season. That’s a pin rate of 55%.

And the last thing I jotted down in my notepad was that it was good to see Rocco Welsh let it rip. In three of his last four matches, I thought Welsh looked a bit hesitant and maybe over-cautious?

However that was not the case today.

Rutgers 0 Penn State 46

Penn State Wrestling, Rocco Welsh Penn State Wrestling’s Rocco Welsh defeated Rylan Rogers 4-2 in Penn State’s dual meet against Lehigh on December 7, 2025.Credit – Lloyd McCully

125 – No. 2 Luke Lilledahl (PSU) dec. over No. 29 Ayden Smith (RU) 8-3, RU 0 PSU 3
133 – No. 5 Marcus Blaze (PSU) major dec. over No. 24 Dylan Shawver (RU) 12-2, RU 0 PSU 7
141 – Braeden Davis (PSU) major dec. over Tahir Parkins (RU) 18-7, RU 0 PSU 11
149 – No. 1 Shayne Van Ness (PSU) tech. fall over Devon Magro (RU) 4:54, RU 0 PSU 17
157 – No. 4 PJ Duke (PSU) tech. fall over Easton Doster (RU) 19-4, RU 0 PSU 22
165 – No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) fall over Ryan Ford (RU) 2:28, RU 0 PSU 28
174 – No. 1 Levi Haines (PSU) fall over Jordan Chapman (RU) 4:49, RU 0 PSU 34
184 – No.4 Rocco Welsh (PSU) major dec. over No. 15 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RU) 13-3, RU 0 PSU 38
197 – No. 1 Josh Barr (PSU) tech. fall over No. 18 Remy Cotton (RU) 18-3, RU 0 PSU 43
285 – No. 15 Cole Mirasola (PSU) dec. over No. 21 Hunter Catka (RU) 4-2, RU 0 PSU 46

Nittany Lion Notes, What’s Next for Penn State Wrestling?

Penn State Wrestling, Shayne Van Ness Penn State Wrestling’s Shayne Van Ness defeated Owen Reinsel 19-5 in Penn State’s dual meet against Lehigh on December 7, 2025.Credit – Lloyd McCully

Penn State Wrestling now extends their NCAA record dual meet winning streak to 78.

Cael Sanderson improves his Nittany Lion career record to 22-16-2.

Next up for Penn State Wrestling is their first away B1G dual meet of the season. And it’s a big one.

The Nittany Lions will toe the line against the No. 4 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City next Friday night. The dual meet is set to begin at 7:00pm EST and will air nationally on the B1G Network.