Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling dominates Northwestern
EVANSTON, Ill. — The Penn State wrestling team shut out Northwestern, 51-0, on Sunday.
Penn State won all 10 bouts and picked up bonus points in each.
Penn State (9-0, 3-0 Big Ten) completed a weekend Big Ten road sweep having won 19 of 20 bouts.
The dual began at 174 with PSU senior Levi Haines, ranked No. 1 at 174, earning a 19-4 tech fall over No. 32 Eddie Enright.
Sophomore Rocco Welsh, ranked No. 4 at 184, also picked up six takedowns in his bout. Welsh rolled J.D. Perez, grabbing a 22-7 tech fall at 5:27.
Sophomore Josh Barr, ranked No. 1 at 197, notched his second pin of the weekend. Barr took Wildcat Alex Smith down early in the first period and quickly turned him to his back for a first period fall at 1:50.
Redshirt freshman Cole Mirasola, ranked No. 13 at 285, tallied five takedowns in the first period to roll to a 19-4 tech fall over Gabe Christenson at the 2:47 mark. Sophomore Luke Lilledahl, ranked No. 2 at 125, used six takedowns and 2:30 in riding time to pick up a 20-5 win over No. 26 Dedrick Navarro at 7:00.
True freshman Marcus Blaze, ranked No. 4 at 133, opened up the second half with four takedowns in a strong 15-4 major decision over No. 24 Sean Spidle. Junior Braeden Davis, ranked No. 7 at 141, used a takedown and four back points to spur him on to a 9-0 major over No. 32 Billy Dekraker to give the Lions a 34-0 lead.
Junior Shayne Van Ness, ranked No. 1 at 149, used four takedowns, a four-point turn and 4:25 in riding time to grab an 18-3 tech over August Hibler at 7:00.
True freshman PJ Duke, ranked No. 3 at 157, picked up five takedowns before pinning Gunnar Myers at the 2:42 mark. Junior Mitchell Mesenbrink, ranked No. 1 at 165, received a victory by forfeit in the dual’s final schedule bout.
Penn State collected a 38-1 takedown advantage.
Northwestern fell to 3-3, 1-2 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions have two Big Ten duals next weekend, hosting Indiana on Friday at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall and then visiting Maryland on Sunday, Jan. 25, at noon.
174–Haines PSU tech fall Enright, 19-4 (TF; 6:48). 184–Welsh PSU tech fall Perez, 22-7 (TF; 5:27). 197–Barr PSU pinned Smith, WBF (1:50). 285–Mirasola PSU tech fall Christenson, 19-4 (TF; 2:47). 125–Lilledahl PSU tech fall Navarro, 20-5 (TF; 7:00).
133–Blaze PSU maj. dec. Spidle, 15-4. 141–Davis PSU maj. dec. Dekraker, 9-0. 149–Van Ness PSU tech fall Hibler, 18-3 (TF; 7:00). 157–Duke PSU pinned Myers, WBF (2:42). 165–Mesenbrink PSU won by forfeit.
Records: Penn State (9-0, 3-0 B1G); Northwestern (3-3, 1-2 B1G). Attendance: 1,335.




