Philadelphia hosted the 2025 NCAA meet and Penn State won its 12th men’s wrestling title in 14 years in record fashion

The Nittany Lions had the maximum possible 10 All-Americans with two individual champions. Penn State scored a record 177 points and beat runner-up Nebraska by 60 points. Oklahoma State finished third with 102.5 points while Iowa was fourth with 81 points.

Penn State is led by Cael Sanderson, a former 4-time state champion at Wasatch High School. His older brother Cody, also a former 4-time state champion, is an assistant coach in the Nittany Lion program which has established itself as a dynastic powerhouse.

One of Sanderson’s wrestlers, Carter Starocci (184 pounds), made history by becoming the first ever NCAA 5-time Division I All-American. This became possible when wrestlers were given an extra year of eligibility because of COVID-19. Starocci, who went up a weight for the 2024-25 season, defeated the returning national champion in the weight class in Parker Keckheisen, 4-3.

Utah Valley qualified just one wrestler but Terrell Barraclough (165) finished fifth giving the Wolverines a 35th place finish out of the 66 programs that qualified wrestlers.

Barraclough, seeded fourth, suffered a heartbreaking 8-7 loss in the quarterfinals against Nebraska’s Christopher Minto, the No. 12 seed. The Wolverine grappler led most of the way but gave up a late takedown to the Cornhusker.

Barraclough bounced back with a tough sudden victory overtime win over Nick Hamilton of Virginia to secure All-American status and then beat Oklahoma State’s Cameron Amine 9-7 to secure a spot in the top six.

Barraclough was then defeated by No. 2 seed Peyton Hall of West Virginia in the consolation semifinals, but then won his final match to place fifth when he topped Stanford’s Hunter Garvin, 1-0.

Beehive State wrestling fans also followed closely the efforts of Nebraska’s Brock Hardy who ended up with a silver medal finish falling to Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez 12-9 in a very entertaining final. The former 4-time state champ at Box Elder High School was a key figure in Nebraska’s second place run, the best ever in program history.

The championship finals ended with a huge crescendo when Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson (285) upset 2-time NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson of Minnesota 5-4 with a late takedown.

Hendrickson wrestled at Air Force but then was given special exemption to compete another year at Oklahoma State and in international competitions. The second lieutenant, who arrived for his match draped in the American Flag, had a wild celebration after his historic victory giving a salute to President Donald Trump who was in attendance.

Complete individual and team results can be found at www.trackwrestling.com

Women’s Wrestling Results: Sage Mortimer, who placed in the Utah boy’s state wrestling tourney for American Leadership Academy (ALA) before becoming a state champion in the first year girls wrestling was sanctioned in Utah, was in dominating form at the NCWWC championships winning the 110-pound title.

Mortimer, who won an Under-23 world title this past fall, helped Grand Valley State (Allendale, Michigan) to a fourth place team finish. Iowa repeated as team champions as 60 programs sent representatives to the tournament.

Mortimer was dominant, winning her first match by pin followed by three more technical falls before she defeated No. 3 seed Samara Chavez of King University, 11-7 to claim gold.