Pokes to Host No. 1 Penn State inside Arena-Auditorium

LARAMIE -- The University of Wyoming wrestling team opens its 2025-26 home slate in one of the most special ways possible this weekend. The Cowboys host No. 1, and four-time defending national champion, Penn State, at 6 p.m. inside the Arena-Auditorium.

he dual will be broadcast on Flo Wrestling.

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“Penn State has been awesome to work with throughout this whole process,” head coach Mark Branch said. “It means a lot for our program. It means a lot to our fans. It means a lot for the sport of wrestling. We are fired up about it.”

Saturday will mark just the second time in Wyoming’s 95-year wrestling history that it has hosted the No. 1 team in the country. The only other occurrence was during the 1987-88 season when No. 1 Iowa State traveled to Laramie.

The Nittany Lions boast a lineup filled with No. 1 ranked guys and a reigning national champion. Half of their starting lineup holds the top rank at their respective weight and Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) claimed a national championship last season.

Take it a tad deeper, and three other starters in Luke Lilledahl (125), Shayne Van Ness (149) and Levi Haines (174) all finished in the top three at NCAAs a season ago.

The Pokes counter with seven ranked guys of their own. No. 4 Joey Novak (197) leads the way followed by No. 8 Christian Carroll (HWT), No. 12 Eddie Neitenbach (184), No. 16 Luke Willochell (133), No. 19 Jared Hill (157), No. 27 Gabe Willochell (149) and No. 28 Riley Davis (174).

“It’s a wonderful opportunity at our fingertips to possibly pull off individual upsets, which would catapult us,” Branch said. “But in the bigger scheme of National Duals and Vegas, we want to see the best competition that we can see, especially this first semester to help us gauge what kind of gap there is, what kind of progress we need to make and what kind of things we need to clean up.”

Wyoming is fresh off a strong performance at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite. The Cowboys took seventh as a team and had four earn podium spots. Novak and Carroll both took runner-up, while Neitenbach and Luke Willochell placed fourth and sixth, respectively.

Saturday represents the second meeting between Wyoming and Penn State. Both squads met last year in University Park, Pennsylvania, and the Nittany Lions won, 54-0.
The Pokes were a little banged up then and were missing three starters. They hope with a mostly healthy squad that this time around can be different.

“We’ll be able to field our best team right now, and I think we have a chance to win some matches,” Branch said. “I just want to see that fight from everybody – all ten guys. But if we go out there and wrestle our best, we can pull off some wins and outperform what we did last year.”

Following the dual against Penn State, Wyoming wraps up the 2025 portion of its schedule at the Reno Tournament of Champions. That takes place Dec. 21 inside the Reno Events Center.

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