Penn State wrestling sent 20 wrestlers to West Point, New York, to compete in the Black Knight Invitational hosted by Army on Sunday.

Luke Lilledahl, Nate Desmond, Marcus Blaze, Aaron Nagao, Shayne Van Ness, Connor Pierce, PJ Duke, Joe Sealey, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines, William Henckel, Rocco Welsh, Asher Cunningham, Connor Mirasola, and Cole Mirasola all made it to the finals.

The Nittany Lions won the tournament with a team score of 197 points, beating out second-place Columbia with 118.5.

How It Happened

125 Pounds

Desmond placed first at 125 pounds, defeating Connor Smith of Columbia in a 15-0 technical fall, No. 16 Cooper Flynn of Chattanooga 7-0, and Charlie Farmer of Army 17-4 in the semi-finals. The Nittany Lion would take on teammate and No. 1-ranked Lilledahl in the finals, beating the All-American 5-3 in a shocking upset.

No. 1 Lilledahl rolled to the finals with two technical falls. The Nittany Lion beat Sawyer Ostroff of Long Island 17-2 and Sulayman Bah of Columbia 18-2. The Nittany Lion would go on to lose to Desmond in the finals.

133 Pounds

No. 14 Blaze took first place in the tournament, beating Jackson Baglio of Gardner-Webb by technical fall 17-1, Max Elton of Buffalo via pin in 46 seconds, Army’s Jake Crapps in an 18-5 major decision, and tech-falling No. 27-ranked Ethan Berginic of Army 21-6 in the finals.

Garcia had a decent tournament, placing sixth. He beat Troy Guerra of Buffalo in a 15-0 technical fall and Ethan Uhorchuk 4-2. The Nittany Lion would fall to No. 11 Takeo Davis of Gardner-Webb 11-3 in the quarter-finals. In the consolation bracket, Gracia defeated Chattanooga’s Ethan Lipsey by a 12-4 major decision, Bryce Luna of Chattanooga by an 11-2 major decision, but would fall short of fifth place, dropping his matchup with Columbia’s Evin Gursoy by a 6-0 decision.

141 Pounds

No. 10 Nagao tech falled his way to the finals, beating Till Helms of Gardner-Webb 19-4, Yuta Otero of Chattanooga 18-2, and Hunter Mason of Chattanooga 13-6. The Nittany Lion would drop his finals bout to No. 25 Braden Basile of Army by what looked like a medical forfeit. The Nittany Lion was leading 3-0 in the first period before the match was stopped. Nagao placed second and suffered his first loss of the season.

Nasdeo had a tough mountain to climb on Sunday, having to face two nationally-ranked opponents in the championship bracket. Nasdeo defeated No. 26 Lorenzo Frezza of Columbia 15-12 but lost to No. 25 Basile 11-3 in the semi-finals. The Nittany Lion would fall to fourth after losing to Mason 5-1.

149 Pounds

No. 1 Shayne Van Ness claimed first place after defeating Marco Frinzi of Columbia 7-0, Buffalo’s Justin Holly 6-1, Army’s Mason Barvitskie in a 16-1 technical fall, and teammate Pierce 14-7 in the finals.

Pierce placed second in the tournament after tech-falling Army’s Ryan Franco 19-4, defeating Buffalo’s Sam Ewing 8-3, and beating Richard Fedalen of Columbia in an 18-5 major decision, before losing to Van Ness in the finals.

Dalton Perry’s day was unfortunately cut short due to injury. The Nittany Lion tech falled Chattanooga’s Billy Meiszner 19-4 but suffered an injury against Richard Fedalen of Columbia. After medically forfeiting his quarter-final and consolation matchup, Perry would not place.

157 Pounds

In the long-awaited collegiate debut of Duke, the Nittany Lion rolled his way to first place, defeating Owen Hicks of Army by a 20-3 tech fall, CJ Liddie of Chattanooga in a 19-4 tech fall, and No. 30 Kaleb Burgess of Buffalo by pin before beating his teammate Sealey 2-1 in the finals.

Sealey continued to impress as he finished second in the event. The Nittany Lion beat Army’s Owen O’Connor by fall, Kellen Smith of Army by a 21-8 major decision, and Brayden Roberts of Long Island by a 22-6 tech fall before losing to Duke in the finals.

165 Pounds

No. 1 Mesenbrink was nothing short of dominant as he effortlessly cut through the field on his way to a first-place finish. The Nittany Lion defeated Nathan McCartney of Gardner-Webb by fall, Jack Valentin of Long Island by pin, Mason Reiniche of Chattanooga by tech fall 20-4, and No. 18 Gunner Filipowicz of Army by fall in the finals.

Sam Beckett lost his first matchup 14-3 to Columbia’s Cesar Alvan, immediately sending him to the consolation bracket. Beckett would fight back, beating Brady Unger of Buffalo in an 8-0 major decision, Kelin Laffey in a 4-1 decision, and Micah Hanau of Army 4-1 in the fifth-place matchup.

174 Pounds

No. 1 Haines tech falled his way to the top spot, defeating Army’s Andrew Christie 18-2, Isaiah Guerrero of Gardner-Webb 21-4, Army’s Cooper Haase 19-4, before beating teammate Henckel in the finals 4-0.

Henckel was just as dominant, as he placed second in the event. The Nittany Lion beat Buffalo’s Eric Tigue by tech fall 19-4, Andrew Wilson of Gardner-Webb by a 15-0 tech fall, and No. 29 Nick Fine of Columbia 7-3, before losing to Haines in the finals.

184 Pounds

No. 4 Welsh continued to find his footing, going 3-0 and taking the top spot in the event. He defeated Army’s Cole Karpinski by tech fall 20-4, Columbia’s Joseph Curtis by major decision 19-7, and teammate Cunningham 13-5 in the finals.

Cunningham did not disappoint in his collegiate debut, taking second place. The Nittany Lion defeated Army’s David Barrett by major decision 12-0 and No. 17 Aaron Ayzerov of Columbia 11-3 before losing to Welsh in the finals.

197 Pounds

Connor Mirasola went 3-0 in the event, taking first place. He beat Army’s Eli Pack by fall, Columbia’s Adam Haselius by pin, and No. 25 Wolfgang Frable of Army by tech fall 17-2 in the finals.

No. 1 Josh Barr did not compete as he’s still dealing with an injury suffered in the freestyle circuit prior to the season.

285 Pounds

No. 10 Cole Mirasola took first place in the tournament, defeating Gardner-Webb’s Rocky Files by fall, Army’s Tristen Hitchcock by pin, teammate Lucas Cochran 3-1, and No. 15 Brady Colbert of Army 10-6 in the finals.

Cochran placed third in the event, beating Army’s Sam Sorenson by a 19-1 tech fall, before losing to Mirasola in the semi-finals. He faced Columbia’s Vincent Mueller in the finals, beating his opponent out for third place in a 12-2 major decision.

What’s Next?

Penn State wrestling will be back in action on Friday, December 5, when the Nittany Lions take on Drexel in Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m. The dual can be streamed on FloWrestling.