National Duals Invitational decision is official for Penn State wrestling; will it attend?
Penn State wrestling had made its decision about attending the inaugural National Duals Invitational. The reigning national champion Nittany Lions will not be in Tulsa, Okla., on Nov. 15-16 to compete in the event, which features a $1 million purse. April 12 was the deadline to accept the automatic entry the team earned by being one of the top 12 programs at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Lions, of course, were one of them after winning their fourth straight national title. They have still not commented on their decision. However, event organizers finally announced this week that only 11 of the 12 teams with automatic invitations have accepted them. Penn State is the only one to decline. A lottery draw will is underway on Thursday to determine the remaining entrants.
Blue-White Illustrated reported earlier this month that head coach Cael Sanderson’s team was unlikely to go to the tournament. The longtime leader of the Lions did not express a ton of interest in the event when asked about it earlier this year.
“I saw that coming around again,” Sanderson said back in January. “I think that’s just kind of always been what people think the answer is, the National Duals. Don’t really feel any differently now than I [did] about it 10 years ago, right? I mean, I think you can create a big event without including every team in the country.
“It’s sad that we think we have to have the National Duals to create a big event. I mean, we have a lot of really exciting teams, a lot of programs. So does that have to be at the National Duals? That just seems to be the mentality that they’re coming back [to] and it resurfaces all the time. I think there’s obviously some merit to the idea, but it’s just kind of like a broken record.”
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Penn State can make history this season
It’s still too early to say when Penn State will start its title defense. The program has won 71 consecutive dual matches. With six wins to start the 2025-2026 season, it will break the current record of 76 straight triumphs. Oklahoma State holds that mark. The Cowboys, coincidentally, are the host school for the National Duals Invitational.
The Lions’ dual meet schedule will start sometime in November, based on recent history. The team typically wrestles a handful of non-conference matches in November and December. It then transitions into the Big Ten portion of the regular season before the conference postseason feeds into the national tournament. Penn State returns national champion Mitchell Mesenbrink and also a total of seven of its 10 All-Americans from 2024-2025.
