McEnelly, the No. 3 seed, beat No. 4 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State 6-5 in a thrilling third-place match. Plott led 3-0 in the third period (including a riding time point secured) before McEnelly scored a takedown with 41 seconds left. McEnelly conceded an escape for a 4-3 Plott lead. With 29 seconds left, McEnelly countered a shot by Plott and spun around for the decisive takedown.
In the consolation semifinals, McEnelly topped Maryland’s No. 8 seed Jaxon Smith 4-1, getting a takedown 12 seconds into the first sudden-victory session. The Waconia native finished his season with a 25-2 record with his only losses to Keckheisen and Penn State’s five-time national champion Carter Starocci, both in sudden victory.
When asked about his future in an ESPN post-match interview, McEnelly said, “National championship, Olympic championship, everything. I’m coming for it all.”
Gophers junior 141-pounder Vance VomBaur finished eighth for the second consecutive year, losing a 17-3 major decision to Iowa State’s Jacob Frost.
Led by Starocci, the first five-time NCAA Division I champ, Penn State clinched its fourth consecutive team championship and 12th in the past 14 years. The Nittany Lions finished with 177 points, breaking the record of 172.5 that they set last year. Penn State became the second team to have wrestlers in all 10 weight classes earn All-America honors, joining the 2001 Gophers. Nebraska was second at 117, followed by Oklahoma State (102.5), Iowa (81) and the Gophers and Ohio State (51.5 each) in the top five.
Penn State heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet, who won the 2024 NCAA title but lost to Hendrickson in the semifinals Friday, medically defaulted two matches Saturday because of an apparent knee injury. The former Simley High School standout finished sixth.