Big thrills as Penn State captures another NCAA championship

Coaches from North Carolina State celebrate after Vince Robinson won the national championship at 125 pounds on Saturday night. From left, Tommy Gantt, Zack Esposito, Kevin Jack and head coach Pat Popolizio (Photo courtesy Sam Janicki / SJanickiPhoto.com)

When the best wrestlers in the country compete against each other, the action can be slow sometimes as the athletes jockey for position. But the NCAA Division I wrestling championship finals always seem to provide a memory or two.

Penn State’s Carter Starocci got a takedown with 47 seconds left in the match to beat two-time defending champion Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa and become the first wrestler in NCAA history to win five Division I championships Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

With three finalists and two individual champions, Penn State won their 12th NCAA championship in the last 14 tournaments with a tournament-record 177 points, breaking the record (172½) they set a year ago.

With two champions and three finalists, Nebraska was second with Oklahoma State and rookie head coach David Taylor finishing third with 102½ points. With at least one wrestler in the final for the 35th consecutive year, Iowa was fourth with 81 points.

Perhaps the biggest moment came when former Air Force wrestler Wyatt Hendricksen (285), now at Oklahoma State, stunned Olympic champion Gable Steveson of Minnesota with a takedown with a takedown with 18 seconds left in the match for an improbable 5-4 victory and his first NCAA championship.

Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Henricksen celebrates after beating Minnesota’s Gable Steveson and winning the national championship Saturday night in Philadelphia. (Photo courtesy Sam Janicki / SJanickiPhoto.com)

North Carolina State freshman Vincent Robinson (125) and Illinois’ Lucas Byrd (133) won titles in double OT while Ohio State’s Jessie Mendez (141) erased an early five-point deficit to win his second national championship. At 174, Oklahoma State’s Dean Hamiti denied Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole a third NCAA championship with a 4-1 win in overtime.

“It’s been a great year. Just a lot of fun people to work with,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “Obviously the team, our staff, just from top to bottom. I mean, we’re just constantly kind of thinking ahead and just everything’s preparation for the next thing. So we don’t really kind of stop and reflect a whole lot. Obviously, we’re learning as we go and we’ll continue to do that. That’s the name of the game.”

Starocci, a graduate student, took advantage of the extra season of eligibility thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. His championship match was tied 1-1 early in the third period after a Keckeisen escape.

After seconds of scrambling, Starocci (104-4 career) finished off the takedown with 50 seconds left in the match and with a 4-1 lead that stood up.

“He’s such a competitor. I think you think, hey, he’s won four, he’s going to automatically win five,” Sanderson said. “So that was a heck of a feat. That’s really special. It takes a lot of mental toughness and focus. Super happy with him.”

Starocci said, “It means a lot to me, but as for me, I never want to down play the moment, but I mean it’s always cool but one thing that Coach Cael really instills in us this is all just preparation for the next thing, you know what I mean?

“In God’s eyes, I don’t think he looks at anyone different if you’re national champ or not. I feel he kind of goes off your character and who you are as a person. All this is just preparation for that,” Starocci said.

Penn State’s Carter Starocci (top) won his fifth NCAA Division I title on Saturday in Philadelphia. (Photo courtesy Sam Janicki / SJanickiPhoto.com)

Hendricksen was facing Steveson, who chose to use his final year of eligibility from the COVID-19 pandemic, and had won 70 consecutive collegiate matches.

Steveson’s most recent collegiate match before the season began was his victory in the 2022 NCAA championship. Steveson, who won an Olympic gold medal in Toyko in 2021, was looking for his third NCAA title.

Steveson had an early 3-0 lead after a first period takedown. But Hendricksen (27-0) cut the lead to 3-2 thanks to a pair of escapes. Steveson had a 4-2 lead in the third period after an escape of his own and was less than a minute away from another NCAA championship.

But Hendricksen, a two-time All-American at the Air Force Academy, kept fighting and got a single leg of Steveson. Hedricksen kept driving, driving and driving and it turned into a double leg takedown and then a takedown with 21 seconds left to a most thunderous roar from the crowd.

Hendricksen held on tight to prevent a match-tying escape and earned a 5-4 victory and one of the most memorable moments of the 2025 wrestling season.

“I was looking at the clock and I’m squeezing him,” Hendrickson said about riding out the final 18 seconds. “I made up my mind. If he did stand up, I didn’t want to lock my hands. I don’t want to get a locked hands call, but I was squeezing.

“If he stands up, I’m just going to lock and pick him up and just hold him in the air for the last couple seconds, because I’m, like, ‘I have made it this far,’ and I knew I was going to win this match. I don’t care if I had to rip my arms off squeezing him. I was, like, ‘I’m holding this man down and winning this match,'” Hendricksen said.

When it was over, the crowd roared and the OSU coaches came out of their corner to celebrate with Hendricksen on the mat.

“I think it’s going to be a couple more days before the emotions settle down,” Hendricksen said. “In that last shot I was in on that leg and there was a little extra push behind me to get that takedown. I don’t think that was by chance.

“At the beginning of the week, Brandon Mason, our doctor, we went to Life Church and he was, like, hey, guys great sermon. I was listening to the sermon. He was talking about David and Goliath. And David had a vision of victory before he stepped on the mat. I kind of carried that with me all week. Even though he went after Goliath and everyone was, like, this can’t be done, he had a mind of a champion, he had a vision of victory.

“Going out there, I was courageous,” Hendricksen said. “And my strength is — it worked out. I wrestled that match. I was patient. I went in with the right mindset. And off the bat I was, like, this isn’t going to be an easy match.

“Right off the beginning it was scrambles on the out. I didn’t want to concede any points. That was the mindset I had to have was to act like I wanted to be a champion and wrestle like I wanted to be a champion,” Hendricksen said. “He took me down once. But I took him down when it mattered.”

The staff at North Carolina State celebrated their first national champion since 2018 when freshman Vincent Robinson (125) prevailed in overtime over Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley, thanks to an escape with 27 seconds left.

That sparked a celebration in the corner of the mat among the Wolfpack faithful including assistant coach Kevin Jack, the Danbury High graduate.

Cheshire official Nick Gross was selected to officiate during the tournament this year for the eighth time and was the lead official for the finals match at 125 pounds between Robinson and Spratley.

As the match went to overtime, ESPN’s television microphones picked up Gross urging he two wrestlers to “let’s go get a taketown here” before the start of extra two-minute period.

Cheshire’s Nick Gross worked his eighth NCAA Division I championship this weekend. Gross officiates the 125 pound final between North Carolina State’s Vincent Robinson and Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley (Photo courtesy Sam Janicki / SJanickiPhoto.com)

Penn State finished with 10 All-Americans, just the second team in NCAA history to achieve that in a single tournament. Minnesota did it in 2001.

Penn State sophomore Mitchell Mesenbrink, the top seed at 165, beat No. 3 Mikey Caliendo of Iowa, 8-2 for his first national championship. A takedown midway through the second period gave Mesenbrink (27-0) a 4-2 lead. After an escape, he got another takedown in the third period to cement the victory.

2025 NCAA Division I championships
At Philadelphia
Team results (top 10) – 1. Penn State 177, 2. Nebraska 117, 3. Oklahoma State 102½, 4. Iowa 81, 5. Minnesota and Ohio State 51½, 7. Cornell 50, 8. North Carolina State 46½, 9. Northern Iowa 45½, 10. Illinois 44½
Individual results
125
Final: Vincent Robinson (NC State) dec. Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) 2-1, 2 OT
3. Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) pin Matt Ramos (Purdue) 6:18
5. Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) dec. Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) 11-4
7. Caleb Smith (Nebraska) dec. Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado) 18-5
133
Final: Lucas Byrd (Illinois) dec. Drake Ayala (Iowa) 3-2, 2 OT
3. Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) dec. Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) 7-3
5. Braeden Davis (Penn State) pin Connor McGonagle (Virginia Tech) 2:33
7. Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska) dec. Tyler Knox (Stanford) 7-2
141
Final: Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) dec. Brock Hardy (Nebraska) 12-9
3. Beau Bartlett (Penn State) dec. CJ Composto (Pennsylvania) 11-2
5. Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) dec. Josh Koderhandt (Navy) 7-2
7. Jacob Frost (Iowa State) dec. Vance VomBaur (Minnesota) 17-3
149
Final: Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec. Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) 1-0
3. Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) dec. Dylan D`Emilio (Ohio State) 15-4
5. Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) dec. Ethan Stiles (Oregon State) 8-4
7. Sammy Alvarez (Rider) dec. Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) 9-6 OT
157
Final: Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) dec. Joey Blaze (Purdue) 4-2
3. Tyler Kasak (Penn State) dec. Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) 8-0
5. Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) dec. Vinny Zerban (Northern Colorado) 11-0
7. Matty Bianchi (Little Rock) dec. Caleb Fish (Oklahoma State) 4-2
165
Final: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) dec. Mike Caliendo (Iowa) 8-2
3. Peyton Hall (West Virginia) dec. Christopher Minto (Nebraska) 13-5
5. Terrell Barraclough (Utah Valley) dec. Hunter Garvin (Stanford) 1-0
7. Cam Steed (Missouri) pin Cameron Amine (Oklahoma State) 2:08
174
Final: Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State) dec. Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) 4-1 OT
3. Levi Haines (Penn State) dec. Patrick Kennedy (Iowa) 11-3
5. Simon Ruiz (Cornell) dec. Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) 2-1
7. Matthew Singleton (NC State) dec. Danny Wask (Navy) 3-1
184
Final: Carter Starocci (Penn State) dec. Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) 4-3
3. Max McEnelly (Minnesota) dec. Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) 6-5
5. Chris Foca (Cornell) dec. Jaxon Smith (Maryland) 7-4
7. Silas Allred (Nebraska) dec. Donnell Washington (Indiana) 4-2
197
Final: Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) dec. Josh Barr (Penn State) 5-2
3. AJ Ferrari (CSU Bakersfield) dec. Jacob Cardenas (Michigan) 2-0
5. Joseph Novak (Wyoming) dec. Stephen Little (Little Rock) 8-0
7. Mac Stout (Pittsburgh) dec. Camden McDanel (Nebraska) 12-3
285
Final: Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State) dec. Gable Steveson (Minnesota) 5-4
3. Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) dec. Isaac Trumble (NC State) 5-3)
5. Owen Trephan (Lehigh) dec. Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) medical forfeit
7. Joshua Heindselman (Michigan) dec. Ben Kueter (Iowa) 2-1
Outstanding wrestler: Carter Starocci, Penn State (184)
2025 NCAA Division I championships brackets and results (Track Wrestling.com)

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