Penn State wrestling star Luke Lilledahl is a Bif Ten champion for the second year in a row, and this time, he’s hoping for a better ending.
Last year, Lilledahl won Big Tens as a true freshman, and entered the national championships as the No. 1 seed at 125.
Lilledahl made it to the semifinals, but fell to Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymour in a third tiebreaker in the quarterfinals before bouncing back to take third.
At this year’s Big Ten Championships, Lilledahl repeated, beating Minnesota’s Jore Volk in sudden victory.
Of course, Lilledahl was happy to win again, and winning in front of the hometown fans at the Bryce Jordan Center was a bonus.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“It feels really good,” Lilledahl told the Big Ten Network afterward. “To be in front of all my fans, it feels amazing. This is awesome. The BJC always brings a good crowd, and the only thing left is to go win NCAAs, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Lilledahl was asked where he would put his Big Ten “championship belt” in what’s already become an impressive trophy collection that features three word championships (U17, U20 and U23).
“It doesn’t really matter, honestly,” Lilledahl said. “I won this last year, and then I didn’t achieve my goal in the end, winning NCAAs. So I don’t really pay much attention to the plaques and stuff.”
Lilledahl will surely go into the national championships as the No. 1 seed.
He hasn’t lost a match yet this season, starting 20-0, and has bonus point wins in almost 65% of his matches.
