By Allen Smith PSWC Membership and Website Committees
Spectacular, astonishing, breathtaking, staggering, you choose the superlative — for the first time in history
the NCAA Wrestling Championships crowned a winner with a team score north of 180 points; 181.5 to be
exact. While not all Penn State wrestlers accomplished their individual dream, this TEAM of amazing young
men together reached the apex of the college wrestling world, and did it in record-breaking fashion.
Following you will read a few of the facts about the team’s results in Cleveland. ENJOY!
PREFACE & PAST ARTICLES
What started in early March, 2024 as a single article (“Chasing 170”) detailing the 2024 version of the Penn
State wrestling team and its chances of breaking the Iowa Hawkeye NCAA scoring record of 170 points, set
in 1997, has now turned into a six-article series chronicling Penn State’s scoring adventures over the past
three seasons. It has been an amazing ride indeed, as all Penn State wrestling fans surely know. For three
years now (2024, 2025, 2026) an article was written before the NCAA Wrestling Championships breaking
down each of those three Penn State teams chances of not just breaking the Iowa-held record, but for the
past two years the Penn State-held record. Then after the 2024 and 2025 Championships, a follow-up article
was written describing in detail the PLACEMENT, ADVANCEMENT and BONUS Points scored by the Nittany
Lions as the team continued its record-breaking run. This article is now the sixth in the series, as it will
explain Penn State’s 2026 scoring record of 181.5 points. For your reference, the previous article, “Chasing
177, Is A New Scoring Record Possible, Again?!” was published in early March of this year, and is available
on the PSWC website, as are all previous articles.
THE SCORING RECORDS
Taking a look back, and reviewing the past three NCAA Wrestling Championships, Penn State has had an
unprecedented run. Three team scoring records in three years after no other team came much closer than
spitting distance to the 1997 team scoring record of 170 points at the NCAA Wrestling Championships for 26
years was unimaginable only a few years ago! Penn State scored 172.5 team points in 2024 to reset the
scoring mark in Kansas City, Missouri, and then the 2025 Penn State team broke its own record by scoring
177 points in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, setting the stage for the 2026 Penn State team. The trifecta was
complete, as the record fell again this year, 2026, as the Lions scored 181.5 points in Cleveland, Ohio.
2026 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS, A RECAP
The 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships was NOT unlike every other championship I have followed since
the mid-1970’s in many ways. The uniqueness of Penn State’s scoring record aside; I found the 2026
tournament comparisons to past tournaments noteworthy. A quick look, not even a deep dive really, and
one can see the challenges faced when writing predictive team scoring articles before a tournament is
wrestled.
Here are a few facts. 1) Of the 320 bouts wrestled in the 2026 Championship Bracket alone, there were 73
“upsets” or bouts where a lower-seeded wrestler won, a whopping 23% of the bouts. 2) Only five of the 10
number one seeds, or 50%, won an individual championship, which compares to the 53% historical number
since 1979 or 46 years’ worth of data. 3) 30 of the 80 All-Americans, or 37%, were seeded outside the top-8,
with a #27 seed, a #22 seed, and a #20 seed among those earning All-American honors. 4) Four (4) of the 10
number two seeds didn’t even place in the top eight and did not earn All-American status. Digging deeper
would surely uncover many other facts, but you get the picture.
I was told decades ago, “anything can happen at the wrestling championships and it always does”. It was a
simple but apt description of an event loved by so many, with part of the attraction being the unknown;
which wrestlers will rise to the occasion and exceed expectations, which wrestlers would not. Coach Cael
mentioned years ago that “luck” is part of the equation for winning national titles, while putting preparation
and those things the wrestlers and coaches can control as more important. Simply put, there were plenty of
“surprise” results at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships, and overall proved once again to be a
fabulous event.
181.5 POINTS, A BREAKDOWN
To repeat what was noted earlier in this article, a new scoring record was set this year at the 2026 NCAA
Wrestling Championships, 181.5 team points, breaking the 2025 record of 177 by 4.5 points. The last
sentence should be bolded, in color, with flashing lights around it and celebratory music blaring! It is nearly
impossible to put into words what has happened; first in Kansas City in 2024, then in Philadelphia in 2025,
then in Cleveland in 2026 – though I will try. By 2024, the NCAA Wrestling Championship scoring record had
stood for 27 years, with second-best being Iowa’s 158 points in 1986, 12 points below Iowa’s record 170 in
- Frankly, that is not very close. Then in 2024 something amazing happened; a team surpassed 170
points for the first time in history, Penn State doing so with 172.5 points. In 2025, the Lions broke the record
again, with 177 points. Now we are celebrating a new record, 181.5 points scored in 2026 by our beloved
Nittany Lions. Never close to seeing a new record for 27 years, then three records in three years is
stratosphere-level record-breaking stuff.
As for the big picture, the Lions ended with eight All-Americans in Cleveland, with Luke Lilledahl, Mitchell
Mesenbrink, Levi Haines and Josh Barr winning individual championships, Shayne Van Ness and Rocco Welsh
finishing second, P.J. Duke finishing third, and Marcus Blaze finishing fourth. For those finishes, the Lions
tallied 107 PLACEMENT Points, to go with 34 ADVANCEMENT Points. On top of that, Penn State earned 40.5
BONUS Points. Adding the three legs of scoring classifications together, and the total is 181.5 points. But
that isn’t the detailed explanation of how the record was broken that was intended when this article was
started, which follows in the next handful of paragraphs.
To preface the next few paragraphs, a healthy understanding of tournament scoring would help the reader. I
took the time to explain the scoring, in great detail, in earlier articles, now hoping it isn’t as necessary.
A discussion about this year’s record begins with BONUS Point scoring. No single factor is more compelling
to the new record than the 2026 Penn State wrestling team’s ability to dominate. 40.5 BONUS Points didn’t
just break the former record for BONUS Points scored, it shattered it. Let me explain. Historically-speaking,
Penn State set the BONUS Point mark last season, with 34.5 Points, beating the 2024 championship team’s
34 BONUS Points. Even deeper into Penn State history and the previous six championship teams scored the
following BONUS Points, working backwards chronologically; 16 points (2023), 16.5 points (2022), 28 points
(2019), 23.5 points (2018), 32.5 points (2017), and 23 points (2016). Those teams included the likes of
Vincenzo Joseph, Mark Hall, Jason Nolf, Bo Nickal, Zain Retherford, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks and
others! Yet this year’s Penn State team set a new standard with the blistering mark of 40.5 BONUS Points,
well above any previous team! Of note, I was off a little when predicting BONUS Points before this year’s
championship, but I will happily own that inaccurate prediction.
The details of those 40.5 Bonus Points are other-worldly. To understand just how big a number that is, we
don’t have to look further than the past two Penn State teams. By comparison, the 2024 team’s 34 BONUS
Points were scored with 24 bonus point wins in 52 bouts wrestled, or a 46% rate. In 2025, the 34.5 BONUS
Points included 24 wins by bonus in 59 bouts wrestled, or a 41% rate. This year’s total consisted of 26
BONUS Point wins in only 50 total bouts wrestled. For the first time in the modern era, a team won more
than half of its bouts at the NCAA Wrestling Championships – 26 of 50, or 52% – by BONUS Points!! I don’t
have words. Four wins by FALL or Forfeit, a whopping 17 wins by Technical Fall, and another five wins by
Major Decision rounded out the BONUS Point barrage. With 20-20 hindsight, it is fair to say that the new
record was significantly contributed to by a band of 10 wrestlers with a common belief in moving forward,
attacking, and scoring points – lots of them. This team was fun to watch!
While BONUS Point scoring was key, and the biggest story related to Penn State’s 2026 scoring record, it is
certainly not the only story. PLACEMENT Points will always be a team’s highest point contributor, by a lot in
fact as that is the way tournament scoring is structured, so it will always be in the mix as very important. In
the article written prior to the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championship, the theoretical PLACEMENT Points for
the Lions was presented at 122 points. The math behind that number was simple and straightforward, using
the assumption that every wrestler finished at their seed. The 122 Points are described in detail in the article
written prior to the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The traps of that assumption were clearly
provided in that article, and in the end, proved accurate, as the Lions actually scored 107 PLACEMENT Points
in Cleveland, or 15 fewer than the theoretical 122 PLACEMENT Points. Seven number one seeds and
expecting perfection was a fateful mix, but six finalists and ultimately eight All-Americans were pretty darn
good results. And in all honesty it took a questionable call at 157 pounds to erase up to six points (the
difference between 1 st and 3 rd Place) of the 15-point gap, so the theoretical 122 points was not that far off.
ADVANCEMENT Points can always be counted on as the points that fluctuate the least of the three
classifications, and the theoretical point total of 35 was nearly identical to the actual 34 points scored in
Cleveland. While each and every point, even half-point can be important, the subject of ADVANCEMENT
Points isn’t much of a factor for this article.
Wrapping up this discussion, the 2026 Penn State wrestling team used BONUS Point scoring to propel it to
the new scoring record, along with a solid base of PLACEMENT Points, together along with ADVANCEMENT
Points adding up to a new record. Using real numbers from my previous article, the bottom lines were; 1)
actual PLACEMENT Points 15 lower than predicted (107 actual, 122 predicted), 2) actual BONUS Points 13.5
higher than predicted (40.5 actual, 27 predicted), and 3) a buffer of seven points of any classification that
could be “lost” and still set the record (potential of up to 184 team points was noted in the past article). The
net-net of all of that is a new record. Aside from all the math is an intangible I learned many, many years
ago, and have watched play out in sport too often to mention here. Team chemistry, in this case not just
wrestling for oneself, but also for one’s team-mates is a motivating force and a dynamic critical to this
sometime-individual and sometime-team sport. The coaches and wrestlers commented often during the
season just how close this team is, and that intangible was certainly a factor when setting the new record in
2026 in my view.
FINAL COMMENTS AND 2026-2027
There is no better measure to determine a college wrestling team’s place in history than team points at the
NCAA Wrestling Championships. The wrestling championships are the pinnacle of this sport, and scoring
more points than all other teams each year earns that team the title “National Champion”.
For the Nittany Lions to set scoring records in three successive years after decades of no team coming close,
is something no one expected prior to 2024. Now that it is here, it is my opinion that the highest scoring
team ever, the 2026 Penn State wrestling team, is also the best TEAM ever.
This final paragraph takes a look at the future, specifically 2026-2027. Levi Haines is the only departing
starter from this year’s gaggle of 10 wrestlers that represented Penn State in Cleveland. The cupboard is full
of talent, and the coaching staff and wrestlers have choices for the 2026-2027 season. Starting spots are
earned, but an eye beyond one year will always be part of the process and conversations. While Luke
Lilledahl appears firmly entrenched at 125, he does have a redshirt year available, as does Marcus Blaze
(133), Braeden Davis (141), and P.J. Duke (157). Tyler Kasak (157 in 2024-2025) is coming off redshirt,
Masanosuke Ono (133, 2024 Senior Level Freestyle World Champion), and redshirt freshmen Nate Desmond
(125/133/141) and William Henckel (174), among others will be in the mix next season. Frankly, all wrestlers
in the Penn State room will have a say in who will start, and all will play a part in the team’s success, but only
10 can wrestle at the national championships. With this much talent, it is highly likely a seventh article in this
series shall be written in early March, 2027 when I will present the 2027 team’s chances for an even higher
scoring record! Until then, hope you enjoyed this article. WE ARE!!
