Takedown Report

No. 2 Ohio State, No. 17 Rutgers earn statement top-10 wins in weekend wrestling action

After last weekend was filled with upsets, the men’s college wrestling world settled, with favorites mostly holding serve, the major exception being the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who earned their first win over No. 6 Minnesota in the program’s history in the Big Ten.
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Here’s a recap of the action from this weekend ahead of the nation’s top two teams in the Big Ten and the country — No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Ohio State — meeting on Friday:

Penn State, Ohio State stay undefeated ahead of spotlight dual 

Both No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Ohio State met challenges ahead of their dual in Happy Valley.
The Nittany Lions were the 38-3 winners over No. 10 Michigan, winning the first nine matches of the night. No. 1 Luke Lilledahl kicked off the momentum with a 21-5 win over No. 23 Diego Sotelo in the 125-pound opening bout, while No. 4 Marcus Blaze won his 133-pound match by a 17-2 margin over Michigan’s Gauge Botero.
In the closest match of the night, Nate Desmond’s sudden-victory takedown gave him an 8-5 win over No. 26 Dylan Ragusin at 141 pounds. No. 1 Shayne Van Ness was a 9-1 major winner over No. 13 Lachlan McNeil, and No. 4 PJ Duke took a high-scoring 12-10 decision over No. 13 Cameron Catrabone, giving the Nittany Lions a 20-0 halftime lead.
Out of the break, back-to-back tech falls from No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink and No. 1 Levi Haines gave Penn State 30 team total points after just seven matches. No. 1 Rocco Welsh then won the 184-pound bout over No. 7 Brock Mantanona 8-1, and No. 1 Josh Barr added one more tech fall, 19-4, over No. 20 Hayden Walters. The lone Michigan winner was No. 5 Taye Ghadiali at heavyweight, who beat Penn State’s No. 12 Cole Mirasola, 4-1.
The Buckeyes, meanwhile, hosted No. 8 Iowa in Columbus on Senior Night and took down the Hawks definitively, 24-9. Ohio State took seven of ten matches, headlined by two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez’ 21-3 tech fall over Kale Peterson. The win gave Ohio State its first undefeated season in the Covelli Center in program history. The dual started at 157 pounds, and Iowa won the first three matches by decision, including a 2-1 decision win by No. 3 Patrick Kennedy over No. 5 Carson Khachla in just one of two matches featuring two All-Americans. 
From there, the Buckeyes didn’t lose a match. No. 7 Dylan Fishback won the 184-pound match with a sudden-victory takedown over Gabe Arnold to give Ohio State its first team points of the night. No. 10 Luke Geog earned a 13-4 major-decision win over Brody Sampson at 197 pounds, and No. 3 Nick Feldman won the heavyweight match over No. 8 Ken Keuter, 3-2.

NATIONAL DUALS: How Ohio State beat Iowa back to December before last weekend’s second win

When the dual transitioned to finish at the lower weights, Ohio State’s dominance continued. No. 2 Nic Bouzakis beat No. 6 Dean Peterson 9-5 at 125, and No. 2 Ben Davino beat No. 9 Draye Ayala 4-2 at 133, and Mendez finished off the dual by securing his final home victory to continue Ohio State’s best start in program history. 
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, No. 5 Nebraska was dominant on Senior Day against Northwestern with a 47-0 win, while Rutgers made a statement, taking down the No. 6 Gophers. … more at … https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-02-09/no-2-ohio-state-no-17-rutgers-earn-statement-top-10-wins-weekend-wrestling-action

February 12, 2026 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | college-football, ncaa, sports