There is no shortage of drama when it comes to the NCAA Championships. College wrestling is a sport where individual and team competition are both valued in every program. The combination of personal skill and commitment contributes to the overall success of a college wrestling team.

Nowhere in the world is this more evident than at Penn State, where the dynasty of head coach Cael Sanderson’s creation is built upon individual excellence from the athletes who come through his program.

In a storied history such as Penn State’s where team titles are expected with relative ease, it can be hard to remember the individual journeys of the wrestlers when it comes to writing the final chapter of every season at the NCAA Championships.

Each and every wrestler has carved their own path to greatness, overcoming tangible and invisible obstacles to qualify for the last dance and cement their name in a long list of some of the greatest college wrestlers in the world.

For some, such as Luke Lilledahl, it’s their first time competing at the national tournament. Lilledahl, a highly recruited freshman out of Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Seminary Preparatory School, is no stranger to the bright lights of big-time wrestling tournaments. In addition to being crowned as the 125-pound Big Ten champion, the young star has already won the 2024 U20 World Championship, 2024 and 2023 U20 Pan Am Championships, 2022 U17 World Championship, 2022 U17 World Championship, and multiple state titles in high school.

As for the NCAA Championships, Lilledahl doesn’t see much of a difference between the college tournament and world tournaments he’s grown accustomed to.

“I think it’s just five guys that are in front of me that I got to go wrestle and beat everyone and prove that I’m the best,” Lilledahl said Monday. “Worlds and stuff definitely has helped me because I don’t really feel any pressure going into [high-level tournaments] like some other guys might just because I’ve already been at these high-level stages before. It’s nothing new to me.”

It’s this mindset of being calm, cool, and collected that has served the freshman well thus far in his college career despite the pressures of being a first-year starter after being a top-notch recruit.

“I always have these goals, right? I want to win everything and have fun while doing it. I lost a couple of times early in the season, and I think that just helped me with Big Tens and now,” Lilledahl said. “I’ve accomplished most of the things I wanted to in my freshman season, and there’s really only one more thing to do.”

As for “Lightning Luke’s” storyline, it can be said that if he were to pull out an individual national championship, it would cement him as one of the most promising 125-pounders in Penn State’s storied history and as what could be a run to becoming a future four-time title contender.

For most other wrestlers, it’s not their first time competing in this tournament. Tyler Kasak, who is competing in his second NCAA Championships, didn’t have the outcome he was quite expecting last year.

After taking over the 149-pound weight class for an injured Shayne Van Ness, the true freshman excelled, placing third in his first Big Ten Championships and receiving the No. 7 seed for the NCAA Championships. To everyone’s surprise, Kasak fell to No. 26 Jaden Abas of Stanford in the first round, dropping the Nittany Lion into the consolation bracket immediately.

At that point, most predicted the freshman wouldn’t handle the loss well and eventually lose in the consolation bracket, failing to place in the top seven. However, Kasak did the unthinkable and won seven straight matches to take third place and gain an improbable All-American honor.

“I feel like I learned a lot about myself, just put my mind to it, you can really do whatever you want. I just figured out you can kind of just break down some walls if you really want to be about it,” Kasak said Monday. “[I] also learned who’s with you and who’s not. Those are some dark times. I walk in there thinking I win my first national championship and then get stopped in the first match. It was pretty heartbreaking.”

Kasak went on to say because of his support system, the experience helped him grow as a person and wrestler. The sophomore continued his recollection of last year’s tournament, downplaying the difficulty of wrestling eight matches in a three-day span.

“Everything I’ve done to get up to this point is pretty tough, but can’t really put a specific moment. I think it was all pretty hard, and it was fun. It was the challenge that I was presented with, but I don’t think it was that hard,” Kasak said.

A year later, Kasak has molded himself into a new and improved version of his freshman self. The Nittany Lion’s only loss came by injury default against Ethen Miller of Maryland in the regular season. Since that loss, Kasak has dominated his way to a Big Ten championship and the top seed in this year’s NCAA tournament.

Going from filling in for an injured teammate, overcoming the adversity that was the national championship, and then returning in a new weight class as a dominant, full-time starter has made for a truly amazing start to Kasak’s young career.

While Lilledahl and Kasak both have promising starts to their journey in State College, Carter Starocci stands alone in the Penn State wrestling room. It’s no secret that Starocci has been a force in the realm of college wrestling for the past four years, racking up four national championships and a career record of 99-4.

As one of the best to ever come out of Penn State’s program, Starocci is on the brink of doing something that may never be achievable again: a fifth national title.

“For me, it’s never about winning a national title or anything like that. I just really enjoy competition and I’m very competitive,” Starocci said Monday. “For me, just one thing I want to make sure is before I [leave Penn State] is that I kill all these guys.”

After his decision to return for a fifth season, Starocci made the jump from 174 pounds to the 184-pound weight class. At the start of the season, the Nittany Lion explained that the jump was so he could focus more on technique than weight management.

This season, Starocci has looked bigger, faster, and stronger than ever before, dominating most to every opponent he has faced thus far. After he surrendered a rare takedown to Minnesota’s Max McEnelly in the Big Ten title bout, Starocci maintained his composure and won in sudden victory to claim his third conference championship.

Coming into his last dance, Starocci has the top seed and is sure to be the betting favorite to win another title. The Nittany Lion’s mindset sets him apart from any other wrestler in the field, as he expresses calm and collected confidence despite the amount of pressure that lies on his shoulders.

“I have all of these guys scouted from 157 to heavyweight so I can tell you what all these guys like to do. For me, I kind of stay ready for everybody,” Starocci said. “I kind of always stay ready so I don’t have to get ready.”

Starocci’s wrestling career has an amazing beginning, dating back to his freshman year of high school. The young wrestler took eighth place in the state tournament after going four to five years without a loss. He then took some time to himself and eventually emerged with the mindset that he’d never lose again. Since that humble beginning, the four-time NCAA champion is here to stamp his legacy in the record books for a fifth title, making the Nittany Lion untouchable for what could be forever.