Penn State wrestlers Luke Lilledahl and Marcus Blaze make Final X; 5 Lions continue push for U20 titles today

Penn State wrestlers Luke Lilledahl and Marcus Blaze will join former teammate Levi Haines at Final X in June. Both Nittany Lions won their US Open title match on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Lilledahl, the reigning 125-pound NCAA champ, took out 2024 Olympic silver medalist and reigning senior Team USA member Spencer Lee 5-4 in the 57-kilogram final. The Penn State standout trailed 4-0 to start the match and 4-3 late in it before hitting a late headlock for a takedown and a 5-4 triumph. He will face the winner of his World Team Trial weight class at Final X. Whoever wins there will be in a best-of-three series and make this year’s senior Team USA.

Penn State sophomore-to-be Blaze will similarly learn his Final X opponent following next month’s team trials. He earned his Final X spot by taking out familiar foe Ben Davino of Ohio State 4-1 in the 61-kilogram final.

“Marcus Blaze (NLWC/TMWC) evened his ongoing series with college rival Ben Davino in a 4-1 decision,” USA Wrestling writes.

“The Nittany Lion (Blaze) and Buckeye (Davino) had wrestled 30 minutes worth of folkstyle matches during the NCAA season without a single takedown being scored. So, when Blaze finally converted with 0:29 seconds to go, he not only cemented his first U.S. Open title, but he also broke the ice on the defense-heavy rivalry between the two college freshmen.”

Haines, meanwhile, will face Chance Marsteller in the 79-kilogram Final X match. He won the US Open title in that weight class over Evan Wick, 7-3.

Last but not least, NLWC member Kyle Dake is headed back to Final X after beating Parker Keckeisen in the 86-kilogram final 8-2.

More Penn State US senior men’s freestyle notes

As we wrote on Friday night, it looked unlikely that Josh Barr and Tyler Kasak would wrestle for medals on Saturday. And, neither did. Both medically forfeited their consolation bracket matches and finished sixth.

Beyond those two, former Nittany Lions Beau Bartlett and David Evans finished third and fourth, respectively, at 65 kilograms. Penn State wrestler Joe Sealey was third at 74 kilograms. William Henckel finished fifth at 79kg. Rocco Welsh medically forfeited to sixth at 86kg. And Connor Mirasola finished fifth at 97kg.

You can see full results for the rest of the NLWC contingent here.

Nittany Lions go for U20 titles on Sunday

Five Penn State connections will vie for a US Open U20 title on Sunday. The quintet Nittany Lions who are still in the championship bracket are Class of 2027 commits Grey Burnett at 57 kilograms and Clinton Shepherd at 65 kilograms, in addition to current Nittany Lion Asher Cunningham (79kg), incoming multi-time New Jersey state champ Jayden James (74kg) and new Nittany Lion Sam Herring (65kg).

The quarterfinal round begins at 1 p.m. ET with the finals later today.