Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson led the Nittany Lions to their fourth straight team title at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships and 12th in the past 14 tournaments. Penn State had a superb weekend at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, winning two national championships, fielding 10 All-Americans (eight of whom finished in the top 3) and breaking its 2024 tournament scoring record.
Afterward, Sanderson discussed the event but pointed mostly toward the future. “Everything’s preparation for the next thing,” the Penn State coach said. Here’s what else Sanderson said during his post-tournament press conference.
Opening statement: Just really happy for our team, proud of them. They went out here and really competed hard this weekend against, obviously, great competition. All 10 guys gave a great effort. Super proud of them. Happy for them.
On the season: It’s been a great year, Just a lot of fun people to work with, obviously the team, our staff, just from top to bottom. I mean, we’re just constantly kind of thinking ahead and just everything’s preparation for the next thing. So we don’t really kind of stop and reflect a whole lot. Obviously we’re learning as we go and we’ll continue to do that. That’s the name of the game.
But yeah, this was a really fun year with some new faces, like a Luke Lilledahl and a freshman, [Josh] Barr. And then you’ve got a guy like Carter [Starocci], who wins his fifth national title. All the way up and down the lineup, everyone gave a great effort. And it was a lot of fun.
Obviously our coaching staff, Coach Cody [Sanderson] and Coach Casey [Cunningham], and Nick Lee was a great addition this year. With Cody and Casey, I just try to stay out of their way and let them do their thing. They’re the best coaches in the world. It’s been a lot of fun to work with them.
A night to remember. 🙌#PSUwr pic.twitter.com/ceJS0duwY8
— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) March 23, 2025
On Carter Starocci winning his fifth NCAA title: It’s kind of what he does. He’s such a competitor. I think you think, ‘Hey, he’s won four, he’s going to automatically win five.’ As soon as they knew there was that COVID year, he probably heard about that every day, where someone is, like, you can be
the first five-time NCAA champion. And he’s, let me win my second first and then my third, or wherever that came along. So that was a heck of a feat. That’s really special. It takes a lot of mental toughness and focus. Super happy with him.
On how much of himself he sees in Starocci: Well, he’s a competitor. I mean, there’s certain things where you hate to lose so much that you will do whatever it takes — diet, training, anything within the rules, of course. Most people don’t have that. He does. He’s a competitor. He puts the time in and he does what he thinks he needs to do to be ready mentally and physically. And then he goes out there and he competes hard every time. I mean, every time he competes he’s giving a great effort.
On handing the tournament’s highs and lows: It’s tough. I mean, your heart’s with each individual. We spent so much time with these guys. You want to see them happy and reaching their goals. And in a sport like this, any sport, you’re talking one second here, one second there was the difference. So, yeah, some tough losses but everybody kind of rebounded well.
Even coming into the tournament, Greg [Kerkvliet] hurt his knee last week in practice. We weren’t even sure if he was going to be able to wrestle. First match we weren’t sure if he was. He just got tough for the team, went out there and made the semifinals. Josh Barr, the same thing. We didn’t know how he was going to wrestle the first match. We were hoping that he could compete. Then he
makes it to the finals as a freshman with a gutsy performance. Obviously really impressive there. And just up and down the lineup.
Luke Lillidahl getting better every match. He’s a pleasure to have on the team. [Braeden] Davis had a great tournament. Beau Bartlett wrestled great, a couple seconds away from being in the finals. That’s life. That’s sports. [Shayne] Van Ness wrestled great. [Tyler] Kasak, just a scramble here, a couple seconds away from moving on. That’s how it goes. And Mitchell [Mesenbrink] winning the nationals. Obviously Levi Haines, a takedown away from getting in there, finishing third. Guys finishing third, there’s a lot of honor in that. That’s a really big deal, something that obviously we really value them kind of battling back as a team.
On what made this team special: I’ll have to reflect on that. It was just a lot of fun. It was a great team. Ten All-Americans is super hard to do. You have guys coming in here with injuries. And obviously
everybody’s talking about the expectations and this is the point record or whatever it is. We don’t talk about that stuff, but kids live on their phones, so they’re seeing it and hearing it all the time.
It’s hard. Being expected to do something and do it is probably the toughest thing in sports, right? But that also makes it a fun challenge. Just a great team. All of our teams, we feel they’re special.
And we’re excited for next year, too. We just keep getting better.
On Penn State wrestling being a dynasty: I just know what my job is. My job’s to put together the best staff we can at Penn State and recruit the student-athletes that fit the character and the focus and the mold that we’re looking for, and just be the absolute best we can be. If we do that, we’re going to continue to be successful. But that’s what I’m focused on. Anything else, it’s just not something we
think about.
