Cael Sanderson’s method for constructing dominant teams year after year changes every so often, depending on various factors.

Sanderson’s primary objective has never changed.

It’s why the Nittany Lions keep winning, and likely will until someone can find a way to send handfuls of healthy, happy and focused wrestlers to the NCAA Championships to counter them.

“You want your kids to enjoy the sport and enjoy competing more when they leave here than when they get here,” Sanderson said. “That’s something that we talk about and pride ourselves in.”

Minutes after Sanderson said as much, Shayne Van Ness and Luke Lilledahl stepped into the Rec Hall media room looking as fresh as they did months ago at the beginning of the season.

Despite a full slate of duals and runs through last week’s Big Ten tournament, Van Ness and Lilledahl both beamed, ready for what comes next.

“I think for us, peaking is just about enthusiasm,” Sanderson said. “It’s being excited to be where you’re at in that moment.”

For the team, it’s a chance do what no Sanderson-coached squad has done in Happy Valley.

The Nittany Lions could win their fifth straight NCAA team title after three separate runs of four-peats over Sanderson’s first 15 seasons. They very well could exceed their own tournament record of 177 points set a year ago. Every wrestler in the lineup has a chance to become an All-American just as the 10 Nittany Lions who competed last season did.

“Those are things you look back later at maybe,” Sanderson said. “But when you’re looking ahead, you’re keeping things really simple. You’re focusing on exactly what you can control and the way you’re thinking and what you can do with your hands and your feet.”

They’ll start on Thursday with seven #1 seeds.

“It’s obviously really cool to be part of a team that’s full of a bunch of savages,” Lilledahl said. “But at the same time, none of us really care about the seeds. We’re just going to go out there and wrestle hard and do our job and we want to have 10 NCAA champs.”

Missing Rematch

Lilledahl will try to be the first Nittany Lion to win a title at 125 pounds since Nico Megaludis did so to cap the 2015-16 season.

“Lightning Luke” as his teammates call him, has been nearly flawless in his sophomore season. His lone loss was to teammate Nate Desmond, who finished the season at 149 pounds, but there is something missing from Lilledahl’s resume as he heads into Cleveland as the #1 seed.

He hasn’t had a chance to avenge his NCAA tournament defeat from last season.

Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymour beat Lilledahl in a Friday morning tiebreaker a year ago. Lilledahl wrestled his way back for third while Seymour lost his next match and fell again in the fifth-place bout.

Seymour, who’s the #4 seed, did not wrestle in the Lehigh-Penn State dual in early December.

“Yeah, I think I definitely wanted that rematch at the dual and didn’t get it, so I’d be more than happy, more than excited to wrestle him,” Lilledahl said. “But at the same time, I’m more than excited to wrestle every guy in that bracket.”

Finishing Tough

Van Ness has yet to win an NCAA title, but he’s wrestled some of Penn State’s most inspiring matches down the stretch.

All-in-all, the redshirt junior has wrestled 12 times in two NCAA tournaments, wrestling back for third after tough losses in both of his last two tries.

In 2023, Van Ness — then the #12 seed — fell to Yianni Diakomihalis in the semis before beating the #3 and #4 seeds in back-to-back wrestleback bouts.

As the #3 seed last year, Van Ness fell in the semis to eventual NCAA champ Ridge Lovett. He turned in a quick pin and followed it with a major to win the consolation bracket.

“When I take things too serious, I tend to overthink and I’m just not myself out there,” Van Ness said. “So as long as I’m having fun, everything’s going to take care of itself.”

He’s the top seed for the first time at 149.

Freshmen Depth

Nittany Lion freshmen Marcus Blaze and PJ Duke will make their first NCAA tournament appearances in weight classes where a handful of fellow newcomers appear ready to challenge for championships.

Blaze enters as the #3 seed after losing a tough Big Ten championship match to Ohio State’s redshirt freshman Ben Davino on riding time in a tiebreaker, less than a month after reversing Davino in a tiebreaker for a dual win.

Sanderson said he believes Blaze has focused on finishing his shots to end tighter matches in regulation.

“I don’t think anybody really wants to be there,” Sanderson said. “But that’s just something that when you have two great wrestlers and they’re both hard to score on, sometimes you find yourself in those positions.”

Duke, meanwhile, has also been a buzzsaw in his first collegiate season. He’s tied with 165-pounder Mitchell Mesenbrink for the team lead with eight falls while only Van Ness (58) and Lilledahl (51) have more dual-meet takedowns.

He was named the Big Ten’s tournament’s most outstanding wrestler after winning the 157-pound title. In doing so, he avenged his only loss of the season to Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor 12-4 in the finals.

Duke is the #1 seed at his weight.

“He’s pretty good at what he does,” Lilledahl said. “And that’s just go out there, get to his ties and score as many points as he can.”