Penn State wrestling commit PJ Duke scored a huge victory Friday at the Senior World Team Trials, defeating 2025 NCAA champion Antrell Taylor in a quarterfinal freestyle bout at 70 kg. Duke’s win was the Penn State highlight of early action at the challenge tournament, which serves as a USA Wrestling qualifier for the Senior world team. Action continues Friday in Louisville, Kentucky, with the semifinals.
Duke, a four-time New York state wrestling champ and promising Penn State freshman, defeated Taylor 9-6 in the quarterfinals. Duke, the tournament’s second-seeded wrestler at 70 kg, hit a four-point move with under a minute left in the bout. Taylor was among Nebraska’s highlights at the 2025 NCAA Championships, winning the 157-pound title.Penn State’s Levi Haines, a 2024 NCAA champion, will face Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla in the 79 kg semifinals. Haines decisioned Kharchla 6-4 during the regular season. At 92 kg, Penn State’s Josh Barr gets a semifinal bout with Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott. Barr was the NCAA runner-up at 197 pounds, and Plott fell to Starocci in the 184-pound semifinals on his way to placing fourth.
Two Nittany Lions are in the consolation round. Future Penn State wrestler Marcus Blaze won his opening bout of the challenge tournament, defeating Carter Young 9-4 at 65 kg. Blaze then fell to Jesse Mendez, a national champion from Ohio State, in the quarterfinals.At the same weight class, Penn State three-time All-American Beau Bartlett lost a 1-0 decision to Iowa commit Bo Bassett, who just completed his junior year at Pennsylvania’s Bishop McCort High.
Following Friday’s semifinals, the men’s freestyle finals are scheduled to begin at noon Saturday. The winner of each Trials final advances to Final X in June in Newark, New Jersey. The winners of Final X will qualify for the USA Wrestling team that will compete at the World Wrestling Championships in September in Croatia. Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl and Mitchell Mesenbrink already have secured spots at Final X.With the win, Duke advanced to Friday’s semfinals to face another national champion from Nebraska. Duke will take on Ridge Lovett, who won the 149-pound title in Philadelphia. Caleb Henson, whom Lovett beat in the final, is in the other 70 kg semifinal bout.
Duke is among four current or former Nittany Lions who will compete in the Team Trials semifinals. Carter Starocci, Penn State’s five-time national champion, will take on Chance Marsteller at 86 kg. The winner could face Kyle Dake, the four-time world champion who represents the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, in Saturday’s final. Dake meets former Northern Iowa wrestler Parker Keckeisen, whom Starocci defeated for the 184-pound title at the NCAA championships.
