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Penn State

Penn State will host the 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships next March

Greg Pickelby: Greg Pickel08/06/25GregPickel
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The Penn State wrestling mat at the Bryce Jordan Center. (Pickel/BWI)

The 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships are coming to Penn State. The long-expected news was made official by the conference on Wednesday. The two-day tournament will be held March 7-8 at the Bryce Jordan Center. An announcement from the school said that exact times, along with ticket information, would come out at a later date.

Penn State last hosted the Big Ten wrestling championships in 2021. Iowa won the event that year. The Lions also hosted the event in 1998 and 2009. Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team aims to win its fourth straight conference crown in 2025-2026 as it also looks to secure its fifth straight NCAA title. It won its fourth consecutive national team title last year in Philadelphia while also becoming just the second team in college wrestling history to finish with 10 All-Americans.

“It’s been a great year,” Sanderson said at the time. “Just a lot of fun people to work with. Obviously the team, our staff, just from top to bottom. I mean, we’re just constantly kind of thinking ahead and just everything’s preparation for the next thing. So we don’t really kind of stop and reflect a whole lot. Obviously we’re learning as we go and we’ll continue to do that. That’s the name of the game. But, yeah, this was a really fun year with some new faces, like a Luke Lilledahl and a freshman, Barr. And then you’ve got a guy like Carter, who wins his fifth national title. All the way up and down the lineup everyone gave a great effort. And it was a lot of fun.

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“Obviously our coaching staff, Coach Cody and Coach Casey, and Nick Lee was a great addition this year. With Cody and Casey, I just try to stay out of their way and let them do their thing. They’re the best coaches in the world. It’s been a lot of fun to work with them.”

Penn State returns seven of its 10 starters from last year’s team in 2025-2026. However, how many of them will be back in the starting lineup is something the coaching staff will have to figure out between now and the team’s first dual meet. When that will be, of course, is not yet clear, as the team’s full schedule is not yet out. We know that the Lions will travel to Drexel for a non-conference match on Dec. 5.