Penn State Wrestling: Four Nittany Lions Among the Nation’s Most Dominant Wrestlers

Penn State wrestling was the most dominant college team this season, finishing a fifth consecutive unbeaten season by outscoring opponents by a combined total of 599-62. No team won more than three bouts, or scored more than 13 total points, vs. the Nittany Lions during the 2024-25 campaign. Further, Penn State wrestlers went 133-17 in dual matches and 67-13 in Big Ten duals. The dominance was umatched.

So it’s no surprise that the Nittany Lions have four of the most dominant individual wrestlers in Division I this season, according the the NCAA. The organization has tracked the standings for Most Dominant Wrestler all season, and four Nittany Lions rank among the top 8. Penn State’s Carter Starocci (184 pounds) and Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) enter the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships tied for second in the standings behind Oklahoma State heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson. Penn State heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet is fifth, and Levi Haines (174) is eighth.

The NCAA calculates the Most Dominant Wrestler standings by adding team points that wrestlers earn through the season. Pins, injury defaults and disqualifications are worth six points, technical falls five, major decisions four and decisions three. Wrestlers are deducted the same number of points by losing in any of those categories. The NCAA will present the Most Dominant Wrestler after the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia.

Hendrickson, the unbeaten Big 12 champ, leads the Division I Most Dominant Wrestler standings with an average points total of 5.23 per bout. Starocci and Mesenbrink are tied for second at 4.95. Kerkvliet has 4.53, and Haines has 4.29.

Starocci and Mesenbrink seek to chase down Hendrickson at NCAAs and get into contention for the award. Both are championship favorites and top seeds at their weight classes, while Hendrickson is seeded second behind Minnesota’s Gable Steveson. Kerkvliet could assist Starocci and Mesenbrink’s cases with a potential win over Hendrickson in the heavyweight semifinals. Kerkvliet, the defending NCAA heavyweight champ, has lost just one bout this season, to Steveson in the Big Ten final.

Penn State landed four top seeds for the NCAA Wrestling Championships, where it seeks to win a fourth consecutive title. The Nittany Lions set tournament records last year for points (172.5) and margin of victory (a remarkable 100). Penn State qualified all 10 of its starters for nationals, doing so for the fourth time under head coach Cael Sanderson. The program is competing for its 12th NCAA Championships team title under Sanderson.

The 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships begin at noon ET on Thursday, March 20 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The tournament will conduct six sessions over three days, culminating with the championship finals at 7 p.m. ET Saturday night. ESPN has exclusive broadcast rights to the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Check out the tournament brackets here