EVANSTON, Ill. — Even with a few bumps in the road, the Penn State wrestling team looks like it should have a smooth path to a second consecutive Big Ten tournament championship.

After the first day of the 2025 Big Ten Wrestling Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena, the Nittany Lions stand in first place with 145 team points, 26.5 ahead of second-place Nebraska (118.5).

For the second year in a row, Penn State has qualified its full 10-man contingent to the NCAA Championships, to be held March 20-22 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Six Nittany Lions — Luke Lilledahl (125), Tyler Kasak (157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), Carter Starocci (184) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) — will wrestle for championships.

Beau Bartlett (141), Shayne Van Ness (149) and Josh Barr (197) lost in the semifinals and can still finish as high as third and no lower than sixth.

Braeden Davis (133) lost in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with two consolation wins and is still in contention for a third-place finish.

“I think overall, good day. I mean, it’s just a really competitive tournament. First round, you know, you’re wrestling good guys,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “We can always wrestle better, but this is all preparation for the nationals. We just got to get through here. Guys are doing a good job, but it’s all preparation.”

In Session I, which included first-round, quarterfinal and first-round consolation bouts, Penn State roared into the lead, going 11-1 and scoring bonus points in 10 of the 12 bouts the Nittany Lions wrestled. Penn State suffered a couple more losses in Session II but still compiled a sparkling 19-4 combined record on the day.

Lilledahl cruised into the semifinals with a pair of dominating wins. He opened with a fall in 4:09 over Caelan Riley of Illinois before majoring Iowa’s Joey Cruz 11-1 in the quarterfinals. He convincingly earned a berth in the finals with a thoroughly dominant 12-4 major decision over No. 1 seed Matt Ramos of Purdue. He took Ramos down to his back in the first for a 7-0 lead, added a takedown in the third and a point for riding time for the win. Lilledahal, the fourth seed, will meet Nebraska No. 2 seed Caleb Smith in the finals. Lilledahl nipped Smith 4-2 in the dual meet on Jan. 17.

“Luke wrestled great. Yeah, he’s getting better every match. His confidence … he’s flying, so he’s good,” Sanderson said.

Kasak barreled in for a takedown early in the first period against Northwestern’s Trevor Chumbley and then methodically added on to the lead for a 7-3 decision in the quarterfinals. Kasak made quick work of Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor in his semifinal bout. As he finished off his second takedown, he slipped in a bar arm and walked it around Taylor’s head, turning him to his back and planting him there for the fall in 1:17. He will face perhaps the most surprising finalist, No. 8 seed Brandon Cannon of Ohio State.

Sanderson said Kasak’s win was particularly important, coming as it did on the heels of two straight Penn State semifinal losses.

“Big match when we just had two tough losses, and you want to go out there and just go score points like he did,” he said. “It was great to see Tyler beast mode it,” he said.

Mesenbrink advanced to the semifinals without quite literally working up a sweat. His quarterfinal opponent, Ohio State’s Paddy Gallagher, injury defaulted to him in one second. In the semifinals, Michigan’s Beau Mantanona took Mesenbrink down, the first time it happened this year, and the crowd erupted.

Mesenbrink would eventually work his way free and show the Wolverine the error in his ways. He scored a takedown of his own to lead 4-3 after one. In the second, Mesenbrink escaped and then scored three decisive takedowns to open a 14-5 lead after two. In the third, Mesenbrink seemingly broke Mantanona, coaxing two stalling points and tacking on three more takedowns for a 25-8 technical fall in 6:29. He’ll face a familiar opponent, Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo, in the finals. Mesenbrink is 4-0 lifetime against Caliendo, none closer than six points.

Levi Haines got off to a relatively slow start in his quarterfinal bout against Purdue’s Brody Baumann. In the second, though, he ratcheted up the intensity, eventually turning Baumann and pinning him in 5:58. Against Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy in the semifinals, Haines scored the first takedown, converting on a single in the first, and slowly built his lead from there. He added a takedown in each of the next two periods and, along with an escape, notched a 10-3 decision. Haines will meet Nebraska’s Lenny Pinto, who scored a takedown at the buzzer to pull out his semifinal win. Haines dominated Pinto 9-2 in the dual meet.

Starocci got one final measure of revenge against Donnell Washington of Indiana in the quarterfinals. Washington handed the four-time NCAA champion his only loss in a contested match, 10-9 in 2021. This time around, Starocci punished him in an 18-1 drubbing in 4:54. Starocci made it five finalists for the Nittany Lions as he rolled past Maryland’s Jaxon Smith 12-2. After a scoreless first, Starocci escaped and converted a takedown for a 4-0 lead after two. In the third, he picked up a stall point, two more takedowns and a point for riding time and the major decision. He’ll meet undefeated Minnesota sophomore Max McEnelly in a 1 vs. 2 finals matchup.

Kerkvliet wasted little time in dispatching Iowa’s Ben Kueter in the quarterfinals. He scored a couple of strong takedowns before turning the Hawkeye and pinning him in 1:53. In the semifinals against Michigan’s Josh Heindselman, he kept up a relentless attack, never allowing the Wolverine any breathing room. Kerkvliet scored takedowns in the first and second, added an escape, penalty point for stalling and a riding time point for 4:27 in advantage for the 9-1 major decision. Kerkvliet, the defending NCAA champion, meets Minnesota two-time champ Gable Steveson in the finals.

Bartlett had little trouble in his quarterfinal bout with Purdue’s Greyson Clark, scoring an early takedown and then cruising to a 13-3 major decision. In the semifinals, however, Minnesota’s Vance Vombaur scored a first-period takedown and Bartlett could never from the deficit. They swapped escapes in the second and third, but Bartlett couldn’t find an opening for a winning takedown and Vombaur won 5-3. Bartlett will face Rutgers’ Joseph Olivieri in the consolation semifinals.

Van Ness advanced to the semifinals with a 12-2 major decision over Maryland’s Kal Miller. In that semfiinal about against Illinois’ Kannon Webster, Van Ness escaped in the second and led 1-0 heading into the third. Webster escaped in the third and match went into the waning seconds tied 1-1. With four seconds to go, Webster converted a single-leg takedown to take the win, 4-2, as Van Ness officially was awarded a penalty point in the third. Van Ness will face Rutgers’ Andrew Clark in the consolation semifinals.

Barr looked especially sharp in rolling to a 17-2 technical fall in 4:05 over his quarterfinal opponent, Camden McDanel of Nebraska. In a rematch with Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas in the semifinals, it was once again a tight, tense match. After swapping escapes, the pair went to sudden victory tied 1-1. Barr shot on Cardenas, but the Wolverine countered by dropping in on Barr’s leg. In trying to defend the shot, Barr tried to somersault and grab his leg. Cardenas countered and scored the winning takedown for a 4-1 decision. Barr is paired with Minnesota’s Isaiah Salazar in a consolation semifinal.

Davis went 1-1 in the first session. He dominated Michigan State’s Andrew Hampton 11-2 in the opening round before being taken down with 4 seconds to go by Rutgers’ Dylan Shawver and losing 3-1 in the quarterfinals. In the second round of consolations, Davis displayed a level of intensity, aggression and urgency he rarely displayed all season. He hit a fireman’s carry on Purdue’s Dustin Norris and took the Boilermaker to his back for a 7-0 lead and then piled on the points to roll up 17-2 technical fall in 2:03. Davis earned a berth into the consolation semifinals with a 10-5 win over Indiana’s Angelo Rini with a third-round consolation win. Davis meets Maryland’s Braxton Brown in the consolation semifinals. The Nittany Lion can finish as high as third no lower than sixth.

Session III gets under way at 1 p.m. with consolation semifinals and seventh-place bouts. The first-, third- and fifth-place bouts will be contested in Session IV, which is slated to start at 5:30 p.m.