It Wasn’t Close: Penn State Wrestling 3-Peats With Typical Dominance

Penn State wrestling was expected to dominate this weekend in Evanston, Illinois, and it delivered.

Cael Sanderson’s wrestling empire won its third straight team title by a whopping 44.5 points over second place Nebraska.

This is familiar territory for Sanderson, who now has nine Big Ten titles, tying him with Michigan legend Cliff Keen for second all time.

Cael still has a while to go to catch Iowa iron Dan Gable, who leads the pack by a wide margin with 21 Big Ten titles. But Sanderson is getting closer every year and that’s because, well, Penn State is just that much better than everyone else.

Five individual PSU wrestlers won Big Ten titles, with the team going 5-for-6 on championship Sunday.

To paraphrase the great Adam Sandler, not too shabby.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN

Here’s a rundown of how Penn State wrestling performed in its six championship matches.

125: Luke Lilledahl over Caleb Smith (Nebraska) 4-3

Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.

157: Tyler Kasak over Brandon Cannon (Ohio State) 12-2 MD

165: Mitchell Mesenbrink over Mikey Caliendo (Iowa) 

174: Levi Haines over Lenny Pinto (Nebraska) 12-1 MD.

184: Carter Starocci over Max McEnelly (Minnesota) 8-5 SV

Heavyweight: Gable Steveson (Minnesota) over Greg Kerkvliet 10-3

The two results that stick out the most are the ones for Starocci and Mesenbrink, who are each ranked No. 1 in their respective weight classes.

Fans are used to seeing them dominate, and this time, they had to claw. But at the end of the night, they got the job done.

FINAL STANDINGS

Here are the final standings for this year’s Big Ten Championships.

1. Penn State – 181.5 (Champion)
2. Nebraska – 137.0
3. Iowa – 112.0
4. Minnesota – 108.5
5. Illinois – 105.5
6. Ohio State – 95.5
7. Michigan – 71.0
8. Maryland – 54.0
9. Rutgers – 46.0
10. Purdue – 44.5
11. Indiana – 33.0
12. Northwestern – 21.5
13. Wisconsin – 19.0
14. Michigan State – 11.5