There were times last season Luke Lilledahl could feel the expectations heaped upon him. This year, the sophomore is determined to live up to them.

Although his third-place finish at the NCAA Championships as a true freshman last year was a strong debut, Penn State’s 125-pound sophomore believes he can do better.

“This year I feel like it’s more just going out there and dominating these guys and putting myself at the top of the weight class,” Lilledahl said.

He’ll have his first shot at a highly-ranked opponent — one who beat him a year ago and one Lilledahl figures will be among the top contenders for an NCAA title — when Penn State visits Iowa on Friday.

Lilledahl is expected to face Dean Peterson at 125. Peterson beat Lilledahl 4-1 in a dual last year when he was at Rutgers.

“Obviously, Peterson is a great wrestler and that’s a fun match for Luke,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “One of the guys you’ve gotta beat if you want to be a national champion. it’s more about learning from the past and continuing to try and get better as we move forward.”

For Lilledahl, that’s meant finding ways to maintain the offensive pace that long ago helped him earn his nickname “Lightning Luke.”

“A lot of these guys, they kind of like to keep it close and keep the score tight and maybe score at the end,” Lilledahl said. “Myself, I just want to dominate guys every time, and if I’m not, then just go back in the room and figure things out.”

So far, Lilledahl’s work in the room has paid off. He’s working through opponents’ tie-ups with efficiency and not allowing their backpedalling to frustrate him where it may have during his freshman campaign.

So far, only Shayne Van Ness and Mitchell Mesenbrink have more first-period takedowns in dual meets than Lilledahl’s 12. Meanwhile, the lightweight’s scoring is slightly up. At this point last year, Lilledahl had five bonus-point wins — all technical falls — and was beating opponents by an average of four points in matches that went the distance.

In seven duals this year, Lilledahl has six bonus-point wins and has upped his scoring advantage in full-length bouts to six points.

His loss to Peterson last season nearly went the other way. Lilledahl was tied with the then-Rutgers star and on the offensive with less than a minute to go. But Peterson was able to step away from Lilledahl’s late single-leg attempts and score on his own single with 45 seconds left to post a 4-1 win.

“I feel like the more you dwell on the past, the more things don’t change, almost,” Lilledahl said. “I just look at it as another chance to show how much I’ve improved since the last time I wrestled him, just in certain positions that he’s good in, that I’m good in and obviously wrestling him there in that arena is going to be pretty awesome too.”

Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys

Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena isn’t an easy place to wrestle, but for the Nittany Lions who’ve been there before, it sure is exciting.

“I think enemy territory is pretty fun,” Cole Mirasola said. “No one really wants you to win except for our guys and our staff. So I think that’s funner maybe than a home match.”

It’ll give Mirasola, who’ll likely make his Carver-Hawkeye debut at heavyweight against All-American Ben Kueter, another reason to get mean.

It’s been a focus for the easy-going redshirt freshman who’s drawn compliments from some of his teammates for his excessive toughness inside the team’s training facility.

“Obviously, it’s no secret that he’s a little bit smaller than the guys he’s wrestling, but I think he’s kind of got that chip on his shoulder,” 197-pounder Josh Barr said. “He’s big and strong. I try and stay away from him, honestly. I don’t want to wrestle that guy. He’ll probably throw me into the wall.”

Mirasola took the analysis as a compliment. After all, it’s been a focus for him as he’s routinely found ways to beat bigger opponents en route to his 8-2 record.

“I feel like in the past, I haven’t been really super mean when I wrestle, just kind of like tactical and slick,” Mirasola said. “But talking to Coach Cael, it doesn’t always have to be clean, you can win dirty — not being dirty obviously — but like winning off of a go-behind or holding guys down and stuff.”

Back In The Hunt

This was supposed to be a quiet, develop-behind-the-scenes kind of year for Braeden Davis.

Now, the Big Ten champ and All-American will continue the season as the team’s preferred 141-pounder after Sanderson announced that Aaron Nagao is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

“He’s had some setbacks with that shoulder and that’s a tough one to come back from,” Sanderson said. “He’s kind of got to restart that process again.”

For Davis, that means re-focusing in time for a likely match with Iowa’s Nasir Bailey. The two battled back and forth in a defensive showcase last season at 133 when Bailey was at Little Rock. Davis won 1-0.

With Nagao coming off shoulder surgery, the usually stone-faced Davis was told to be ready in case his teammate needed more time or had a setback.

He wrestled in the Bobby Kauffman Open earlier this month, posting three majors and two first-period falls.

“Redshirt year, we want the guys to have the time to get better and to play with things as opposed to just trying to get ready to compete sooner rather than later,” Sanderson said.