Penn State wrestling results from U20 Worlds: Lions have a World champ, multiple medalists
Penn State wrestling sent five connections to the U20 World Championships in Spain this weekend. The contingent, which was split into Group 1 (Friday/Saturday competition) and Group 2 (Saturday/Sunday) is coming home with plenty of hardware. One Nittany Lion won a World title. Two took silver. And, Team USA won the team title in Pontevedra.
Incoming Penn State freshman Luke Lilladahl was the first medalist for the U.S., and he’s bringing home gold. After finishing second in the 57-kilogram (125 pounds) a year ago at the same event, he won it this year by winning three matches on Friday to earn the opportunity to face a familiar foe in the final: Individual Neutral Athlete Lev Pavlov. INA, as the team is referred to, is made up of wrestlers from Russia and Belarus. Pavlov wrestled for INA at Worlds in 2023 and the potential 125-pound starter for the Nittany Lions in 2024-2025 beat him handily, 9-2, in the opening round. This time, in the finals, the outcome was similar. Lilledahl scored two passivity points due to a lack of action by Pavlov and only gave up one himself to win the first place bout 2-1.
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“Lilledahl’s path to gold in Spain was as tough as they come. He faced and defeated three continental medalists, including reigning U20 Asian champion Ankush Ankush of India, in addition to Pavlov, who is the reigning U20 European champion, along the way,” Richard Immel writes for USA Wrestling. “Lilledahl has now made an age-group World final four-straight years for Team USA. He impressively owns gold and silver medals from both the U17 and U20 age levels.”
At 70 kilograms (154 pounds), Penn State Class of 2025 commit PJ Duke won bronze. It was an impressive trip to the New York native. After beating his first three opponents by a combined score of 32-1 on Friday, he was a hard-luck 5-5 loser to U20 bronze medalist Magomed Baitukaev of INA on criteria despite being the aggressor throughout the semifinal match. He then took the mat for his third place bout on Saturday. There, he beat Aikyn Bolatuly of Kazakhstan 18-7 in 4:30 to bring home a World medal.
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Penn State incoming freshman Zack Ryder won silver at 79 kilograms (174.1 pounds). After beating his first three opponents by a combined score of 32-0, the new Nittany Lion beat Said Saidulov, the 2024 U20 European Champ of INA, by decision, 6-3, to make the finals. There, he dropped a 5-0 decision to U23 Asian bronze medalist Alp Begenjov of Turkmenistan.
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At 86 kilograms (189. 5 pounds), Penn State redshirt freshman Joshua Barr cruised to the gold medal match. He never wrestled beyond the first period, winning his first three bouts by a combined score of 30-0. In the finals, he lost to returning INA U20 champ Ibragim Kadiev 8-2 to earn a silver medal.
Finally, at 92 kilograms (202 pounds), incoming Penn State freshman Connor Mirasola hit the podium but did not win a medal. On Saturday, the Wisconsin native won his first three matches by a combined score of 33-8. However, in the semifinals, he fell to Sali Saliev of Bulgaria, 5-4. In the bronze medal match, he lost 6-2 against Anar Jafarli of Azerbaijan and finished fourth.
