When Penn State lost its last dual meet nearly six years ago to this day, it was a mere bump in the road as the Nittany Lions had already, long before then, seized control over the collegiate wrestling world.

Since that night in Iowa City, where Penn State fell 19-17 to the rival Hawkeyes, the Nittany Lions have established a seemingly insurmountable gap between themselves and whoever will be left to battle for a distant second-place when the NCAA Championships roll around.

Then, Penn State will be looking to do something it hasn’t done in the Cael Sanderson era — win a fifth-straight NCAA title.

Who’s going to stop them? Who can?

“We have a special thing going here,” Sanderson said, leaning up against a trophy case holding NCAA team titles and two Hodge trophies. “Kids know that. They see that. I think in this era, the NIL era and all the different motivations to go to different programs, our kids know that they’re coming here because they want to be the best wrestlers they can possibly be. So I think when we look back, we’ll see that this era has been good to us because we do our best to follow the rules and we’re going to get the kids that are coming here for the right reasons.”

Take a look at Penn State’s series with the Hawkeyes as proof.

Nittany Lion wrestlers have always used their rivals in Iowa — historically decorated, nationally respected and perennially tough — as measuring sticks of sorts. Lately, the grind-it-out Hawkeyes haven’t come close to keeping pace with the more offensively minded Nittany Lions.

The clashing of styles used to provide for a tense, back-and-forth showing. After Sanderson went 1-3 in his first four duals against Tom Brands, the two programs began to battle it out neck-and-neck. From 2015 to 2020, Iowa and Penn State split four duals with the Nittany Lions averaging a six-point team advantage and two bonus-point wins per dual.

Since then, Penn State has upped its dual-meet scoring advantage to 25 points per and has averaged four wins with bonus points in the last three duals. Friday’s 32-3 win was the largest margin of victory for Penn State in the series.

At times, there seemed to be more energy along the Penn State bench as the Nittany Lions pumped fists and celebrated hard after each one of their teammates had their hands raised.

“I think the chemistry is really incredible right now in the program,” Sanderson said. “Just a lot of good kids that are here for the right reasons. Kids that could’ve named their price and gone to other schools are here just because of what the program represents and stands for. Those are the kids that are gonna care about one another and care about the team and when you do that, obviously you’re going to get your best self and best own individual results.”

Mitchell Mesenbrink has expressed the same sentiment.

“I don’t think there’s any secret sauce or anything,” the 165-pounder said. “It’s just keep doing the same things and focusing on the bigger picture of things in terms of getting ready for the next match or preparing for things later in life, not just wrestling.”

The Rookie Effect

Shortly before Penn State took the mat at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, freshman PJ Duke turned to fellow freshman Marcus Blaze, in near disbelief at the atmosphere.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, this is crazy. We’re literally on Penn State’s team. We’re about to wrestle Iowa,” Duke said.

Both were up against much more experienced opponents in Drake Ayala and Jordan Williams, respectively. Ayala has been the national runner-up twice, once at 125 and last year at 133.

Blaze outlasted Ayala in the third period after notching the deciding takedown in the second period for a 4-2 win. Duke worked for a go-ahead takedown midway through the third to also win 4-2.

“I would say I was kind of chasing him a little bit,” Duke said. “I kind of just had to be patient and I knew an opening would eventually come. And once it did, I took advantage of it, took him down and that was pretty much the match.”

Familiar Foes

No, Mesenbrink isn’t tired of wrestling Iowa’s Michael Caliendo. In fact, Mesenbrink has come to enjoy the game within the game of preparing for a familiar opponent, and one as tough as the three-time NCAA place winner, so often.

For the Penn State junior, who’s tied for the team lead with 13 wins and six falls, he looks forward to seeing what Caliendo and Iowa’s coaches can throw his way.

The two have met seven times in college, including in last year’s NCAA championship match at 165. Mesenbrink has won all seven bouts in varying fashion. He forced Caliendo on the defensive and won the championship match 8-2.

When the two met in Iowa City on Friday, Mesenbrink again pushed the pace. He scored off an early scramble, picked up two more takedowns and forced Caliendo to back away again in an 11-2 major decision.

“It’s funny, we’ve never spoken, but we know a lot about each other,” Mesenbrink said. “Little tendencies and little things, so I think that’s fun. It’s easier to beat someone one time than it is to continually do it and be successful. It definitely makes you level up for sure.”