NCAA wrestling consecutive dual meet winning streak: How far is Penn State from passing Oklahoma State?
Penn State wrestling has already made Big Ten history. Now, after blasting American 50-3 to conclude its 2024-2025 regular season history (and the ninth undefeated year in the last 10), it sits in position to break an NCAA Division-I record next winter.
Head coach Cael Sanderson’s Nittany Lions won their 71st consecutive dual meet on Friday night. That’s already the most in conference history. With the postseason now on the horizon, the program cannot break the all-time collegiate consecutive wins mark at the Division-I level this year. But, they now sit just six wins away from breaking Oklahoma State’s 76 straight wins mark that was compiled between 1937-1951.
It should come as no surprise to longtime followers of Sanderson’s team that the history already made and the chance to make more of it is the furthest thing from his mind. That’s been confirmed numerous times over the years, Most recently it was when his team beat Iowa in January. That led to a question about all his program has accomplished since he took over.
“We don’t think about that stuff,” Sanderson said. “We think about our next match and getting better and just doing what we do. I mean, maybe at some point you do. But that’s not something; we don’t really worry about that stuff. This team’s not worried about anything that happened in previous years, right? They’re just doing what they do and just competing hard, and they wrestle pretty dang good. That’s a really good team we saw tonight. So, proud of them.”
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Penn State now preps for the postseason
The Lions must now put their pursuit of history on pause for a good reason. After a week off, they head to the Big Ten Championships at Northwestern March 8-9. There, they are expected to qualify all 10 weight classes for this year’s NCAA Championships. That will be held March 20-22 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
As for who Penn State will face in its first six matches next year when its historic chase resumes, that will not be known for some time. The schedule starts to come out in the fall. It is officially announced in either late September or early October.
“I kind of just take it day by day, so whatever I feel like I need that day, I’ll just go based on that. And, I also have some of the best coaches who know what we’re going to do on this day a year or two from now,” Penn State heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet told the Penn State Sports Network when asked about his prep for the postseason. “I have a lot of trust in those guys that they will get me where I need to be.
