Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lion wrestling program are competing against themselves on a legacy stage as much as against the rest of the country, and they continue to raise the bar. Penn State won its fourth straight NCAA championship in Philadelphia in March, clinching the title by early Saturday afternoon—well before the finals—and resetting its own year-old program record for team points with 177.0. The Nittany Lions have won 12 of the last 15 NCAA team titles.

Carter Starocci '24 H&HD, the tournament’s top seed at 184 pounds, became the first five-time individual champion in NCAA Division I history with a 4-3 win over Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen in the final; he was eligible for a fifth season due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been in this moment so many times year after year. You kind of have that experience and understand what to do,” Starocci told reporters after his match. “I mean, I know it’s ‘five-time champ,’ but it’s really just another match. Like they say, there’s the U.S. Open and all types of other stuff. It’s always about the next one.”

Mitchell Mesenbrink, the top seed at 165 pounds, picked up his first national title, defeating Mikey Caliendo of Iowa. Starocci finished his season with a record of 26-0 and his Penn State career with a record of 104-4. Mesenbrink, a sophomore, completed a perfect 27-0 record this season. Overall, the Nittany Lions went 49-10 in the tournament. Penn State now has 61 individual champions, 40 of them since Sanderson took over the program in 2009.

Redshirt freshman Josh Barr claimed second place at 197 pounds and joined Nittany Lion starters Starocci, Mesenbrink, Luke Lilledahl, Braeden Davis, Beau Bartlett, Shayne Van Ness, Tyler Kasak, Levi Haines, and Greg Kerkvliet as All-Americans. Penn State is the second team to have 10 All-Americans in a season, joining Minnesota’s 2001 team, and now has 101 All-Americans in 16 seasons under Sanderson, who has built one of the most dominant collegiate programs in any sport.    

“My job’s to put together the best staff we can at Penn State and recruit the student-athletes that fit the character and the focus and the mold that we’re looking for, and just be the absolute best we can be,” Sanderson told reporters after the tournament. “If we do that, we’re going to continue to be successful. But that’s what I’m focused on. Anything else, it’s just not something we think about.”