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Who does each Penn State wrestler face in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 NCAA Championships?

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•about 16 hours•

GregPickel

NCAA Wrestling: DI Wrestling
Josh Barr of Penn State wrestles Tucker Hogan during NCAA Wrestling championships at Wells Fargo Center. (Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images)

PHILADELPHIA — Penn State wrestling has 10 quarterfinalists at an NCAA Wrestling Championships for the first time in school history. The No. 1 Nittany Lions have an 11.5-point lead over Oklahoma State in the team race following a 20-0 performance on day one. Day two starts at Noon ET at the Wells Fargo Center. ESPNU is televising the action.

“Yeah, good day,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson told reporters. “Obviously, a lot of tough matches and just being ready to go. It’s the national tournament, right? I mean, you got to just stay focused and ready. But I think our guys wrestled well, wrestled some good kids. Day two is always a fun day. So that’s the one you look forward to.

“If you want to win the national tournament, you got to score points. So, you know, it’s good to see our guys getting out there and scoring points. We just got to do what we do and go score some points tomorrow.”

Who does each Penn State wrestler face in the quarterfinals?

Here’s the list:

125 pounds: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl, PSU vs. No. 8 Sheldon Seymour, Lehigh

133 pounds: No. 8 Braeden Davis, Penn State vs. No. 1 Lucas Byrd, Illinois

141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, PSU vs. No. 10 CJ Composto, Penn

149 pounds: No. 3 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State vs. No. 6 Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina

157 pounds: No. 1 Tyler Kasak, PSU vs. No. 8 Joey Blaze, Purdue

165 pounds: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State vs. No. 8 Cameron Amine, Oklahoma State

174 pounds: No. 2 Levi Haines, PSU vs. No. 7 Danny Wask, Navy

184 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. No. 8 Jaxon Smith, Maryland

197 pounds: No. 4 Josh Barr, PSU vs. No. 5 Michael Beard, Lehigh

285 pounds: No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. No. 6 Josh Heindselman, Michigan

Quarterfinal notes

–Lilledahl beat Seymour 4-1 earlier this year.

–Davis has already lost to Byrd once this year. He is easily the biggest underdog for Penn State in the quarterfinal round.

–Composto upset No. 7 Tagen Jamison of Oklahoma State to earn his matchup with Bartlett.

–Van Ness and McNeill will be meeting for the first time.

–Kasak is wrestling Joey Blaze. He is the brother of Penn State Class of 2025 signee Marcus Blaze.

–Mesenbrink vs. Amine will mark the first match between a Cael Sanderson wrestler and a David Taylor wrestler from Oklahoma State.

–Haines and Wask will be meeting for the first time.

–Starocci beat Smith by technical fall during the dual meet season and by major decision at Big Tens.

–Barr will face former Nittany Lion Michael Beard. He, of course, has been at Lehigh since transferring out.

–Kerkvliet has beat Heindselman twice this year, once by decision and once by major decision.

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