The Penn State wrestling machine doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon, and a lot of that is due to the talent coming into the room in the years ahead.
State and national championship season is a good time for that talent to showcase itself, and several PSU commits did that over the weekend.
**Note: PSU signee Zach Ryder decided to forgo his senior season to join an elite club program near Penn State. He would have had a chance to win his fifth New York State title.
STATE CHAMPIONS
THE MIRASOLA TWINS (SIGNED WITH PENN STATE WRESTLING, 2024)
The Mirasola family is a proud one this weekend. Twins Cole and Connor Mirasola each added to their Wisconsin State Championship collection. Cole, wrestling as a heavyweight, beat Brock Arndt— who’s signed to play football at Ohio University— 7-3 to end his career with his third state championship. Connor’s win wasn’t nearly as dramatic. He won his fourth state title by injury forfeit.
P.J. DUKE (COMMITTED TO PENN STATE WRESTLING, 2025)
Duke is the top wrestler in the 2025 class who committed to Penn State in October. The Minisink Valley star came into the New York State Tournament as a two time champion and left a three-time champion, tech-falling Matt Rodriguez in the final match at 160 pounds. Nittany Sports Now spoke with Duke the night he announced his commitment.
He said being in the Penn State room and seeing guys like Jason Nolf, Kyle Snyder and Kyle Dake, made an impression on him.
Snyder wrestled at Ohio State, and Dake at Cornell, but both are members of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, and those two, along with Nolf, went out of their way to approach Duke.
“They’re all so humble,” Duke said, “and they all came up to me and approached me. It was super cool just to see that. I thought in my head, ‘How good can I get with these guys as my partners and these guys coaching me’”?
NATIONAL PREP CHAMPIONS
NATE DESMOND (COMMITTED, 2025)
Desmond, an in-state product from wrestling power Wyoming Seminary, beat No. 1 seed and Iowa commit Leo DeLuca 5-3 to win the prep national title at 120 pounds. Desmond committed to Penn State in late December.
“Since I was a little kid, I set goals,” Desmond wrote to Instagram. “Some were unable to envision and understand, but I believe with dedication and enjoyment for the journey, anything is possible.”
Desmond’s biggest immediate wrestling goal are to win his third Pennsylvania State Championship. He has a chance to do that at the PIAA tournament scheduled for March 7-9 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
LUKE LILLEDAHL (SIGNED WITH PENN STATE WRESTLING, 2024)
Another Wyoming Seminary star, Lilledahl won a 7-3 decision in the national prep finals over Charlie DeSena.
Lilledahl, one of the top pound-for-pound wrestlers in the 2024 class, committed to Penn State in April.
Lilledahl is a Missouri native who has competed at the Wyoming Seminary the past two seasons, posting a 46-3 record before his senior season. He won the Super 32 meet last fall, the Walsh Jesuit Ironman meet by defeating Jax Forrest, and finished the season by winning the 2023 National Prep title.
Lilledahl continued to build his strong international resume over the summer, taking silver at the U20 World Championships in Jordan. He’ll look to take gold at the PIAA’s in less than two weeks.
JOE SEALEY (SIGNED, 2024)
Another Wyoming Seminary star won the national prep championship at 165 in convincing fashion, majoring Virginia signee Emmitt Sherlock. Sealey, who’s originally from High Point, North Carolina and committed to Penn State in late October 2022, has won two national prep titles and two PIAA championships and will go for a third next week. His overall record at this point is 62-2, with 41 of those wins being by either pin (19) or tech fall (22).
WILLIAM HENKEL (COMMITTED, 2025)
The star from New Jersey’s Blair Academy took care of business, beating Wyoming Seminary’s Dominic Federici 7-2. Henkel committed to Penn State in late December not long after Desmond did. FloWrestling has him as the No. 12 overall recruit from the Class of 2025.
