Penn State wrestling star Levi Haines entered this year’s Senior World Championships in Croatia ranked outside the top 25 and now is one win away from winning the whole thing.
Haines, competing at 79 KG, won all four of his bouts Sunday, the last one being a 4-1 win over Mongolia’s Suldkhuu Olonbayar.
Olonbayar had been ranked No. 3 in the world by United World Wrestling.
Before that, he pulled another upset by beating 2023 World Champ Akhmed Usmanov 3-2 on criteria.
Now, all that stands in the way of Haines becoming a World Champ is Greece’s Georgios Kougioumtsidis. Kougioumtsidis is an unlikely story in his own right, having entered the tournament ranked No. 23 in the world. These two know each other well, having wrestled in Hungry this past July. Kougioumtsidis won that bout 7-3.
Haines’ most recent folkstyle season didn’t end the way he wanted it to. After winning the national championship at 157 pounds in 2024, Haines moved up two weight classes for his junior year.
For the first time in his career, Haines didn’t make it to the championship bout, falling to eventual national champ Dean Hamiti of Oklahoma State in the semis.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Haines ended up taking third, and now, with Hamiti and Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole out of the way, he’ll be one of the favorites to win it all this coming season.
Haines was one of two current Penn State wrestling members competing in Croatia this weekend, with true freshman PJ Duke being the other.
Duke went 1-1 Saturday.
Kyle Snyder, who wrestled at Ohio State, competed under Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.
Competing at 97 KG, Snyder will wrestle Arash Yoshida in the semis late Monday morning.
Haines’ title bout will take place likely sometime between noon and 1 Monday.
