The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team (14-0, 8-0) routed visiting Ohio State (17-1, 6-1) 36-5 in the Bryce Jordan Center on Feb. 13 in the Big Ten dual meet finale for head coach Cael Sanderson’s squad. The win clinched the 2026 Big Ten regular season championship for the Nittany Lions in front of 16,006 fans, a new NCAA and Penn State wrestling indoor attendance record.
This year’s regular season championship is the sixth straight for Penn State and the 12th overall (all since Sanderson’s arrival as head coach for the 2009-10 season). Penn State also capped off its 11thunbeaten/untied Big Ten regular season in school history. The new attendance record of 16,006 breaks the old mark of 15,998, also held by Penn State on three different occasions (the latest was last year vs. Iowa on Jan. 31, 2025). Penn State and the BJC are now the site of every top ten indoor attendance mark in NCAA history. The Nittany Lion line-up in Feb. 13’s dual meet featured six underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores).
The Nittany Lions dominated the dual, posting a 25-5 margin in takedowns and winning nine of ten bouts. Five of Penn State’s nine wins were for bonus as the Nittany Lions tallied nine bonus points off one pin (Duke), two tech falls (Van Ness, Haines), and two majors (Mesenbrink, Barr).
The Nittany Lions improve to 14-0 overall, 8-0 in the Big Ten. Penn State closes out the dual meet season next weekend with a non-conference battle against Princeton. The Nittany Lions host the Tigers on at 7 p.m. on Feb. 20 in Rec Hall at University Park campus.