Two of the Penn State wrestling program’s rising stars are two wins away from U20 World Championships.
Josh Barr, who’s headed into his second season with Penn State, and Connor Mirasola, a true freshman, each went 2-0 with each win being via technical superiority.
PENN STATE WRESTLING: JOSH BARR
Barr won both of his matches via technical superiority 10-0. He started his morning with a 42-second domination of India’s Sachin Sachin. Not long after, he did the same to Ryogo Asano of Japan. He’ll now compete in the semis this afternoon at 86 KG
PSU WRESTLING: CONNOR MIRASOLA
At 92 kg, touted true freshman Connor Mirasola fell behind 4-0 to Turkmenistan’s Soltan Sanjar Begenjov in his Round of 16 match but ferociously roared back to tech fall him 14-4. Before that, he tech falled Grigori Tomaili of Moldova. Then, in the quarters, he had his biggest challenge against Ukraine’s Kuzmenko Taison but managed a 9-4 win to roar into the semis.
PENN STATE WRESTLING: TITLE MATCHES
Two Penn State wrestling freshmen are one win away from becoming U20 world champs.
At 57 kg, the No. 1 pound for pound wrestler in the Class of 2024, Luke Lilledahl, went 3-0 Friday.
At 74 kg, Zack Ryder went 4-0. Both of them will be competing for Gold later today.
Elsewhere in Penn State wrestling, PJ Duke, the top pound-for-pound wrestler in the 2025 Class is still alive for a Bronze Medal although he lost his semifinal match in particularly frustrating fashion.
Like Lilledahl and Ryder, Duke, competing at 70 KG, won his first bout 10-0 by technical superiority, beating Aden Sakybaev of Kyrgyzstan in 4:16. He beat Zelimkhan Mutsukhaev of Poland by the same score in just 47 seconds to advance to the quarters, where he slaughtered Ankh Altangerel of Mongolia 12-1 in a match that lasted 4:39. In the semis, he battled Indonesia’s Magomed Baitukaev but fell 5-5 on criteria, meaning Baitukaev had the highest-scoring individual points. Ryder will now wrestle a third-place bout at a time to be determined.
