Luke Lilledahl knew this would be his toughest match to date. He also knew he was up for anything Nebraska’s Caleb Smith would throw his way.

Lilledahl’s confidence paid off. The Penn State freshman 125-pounder remains unbeaten after outlasting the Husker super senior late in their dual match last weekend.

The 4-2 win pushed Lilledahl to 11-0 on the season and served as his first victory against an All-American. Smith, who qualified for each of the last three NCAA tournaments at 125, finished sixth for the Huskers last season.

For a wrestler who has NCAA title dreams and then some, the win served as his first proof of concept.

Lilledahl is ready to turn it up a notch.

“Luke’s special,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “He’s got a great feel in addition to his athleticism and speed and I think he just loves competing and he just loves the sport.”

The proof was on full display in the third period.

Tied 1-1 after each wrestler was able to get off the bottom, Lilledahl reeled off shot after shot to keep Smith — a veteran of 144 collegiate bouts — on defense. Lilledahl’s shots forced Smith to take a stalling warning with 1:20 on the clock and he secured the match-sealing takedown with 15 seconds left.

After winning two Junior Hodge Trophies and adding a U20 World Championship at 57 kilograms this summer, Lilledahl has turned his momentum into results in Penn State’s lineup.

He’s been able to get off the bottom seemingly with ease, and as the season’s progressed is scoring not only off his own shots, but off opponents’ as well. Before heading to Nebraska, Lilledahl reflected on his early folkstyle success, attributing a lot of it to being prepared. He wrestled a handful of collegiate opens when he was still in high school just a year ago.

“For me, it’s been, I don’t wanna say easy, but it hasn’t been super hard for me,’ Lilledahl said. “But I think that just comes with my experience. I have a lot more experience than a lot of these other freshmen, just like wrestling on bigger stages, things like that.”

The biggest stages are still to come.

Sanderson said on Monday Lilledahl’s ultimate goal is to become an Olympic champion. Winning Penn State its first NCAA title at 125 since Nico Megaludis in 2016 would be an important step toward potentially making a national team.

“That just kind of shows that you’ve got a lot of potential and ability,” Sanderson said. “I think being able to push the pace like he did and then also be able to have the ability to scramble and control the center of the mat and all the things he did, everything is a step for him in his pursuit of being the best wrestler in the world.”

Rare Loss 

Shayne Van Ness might’ve surrendered the first bonus points of his career over the weekend, but Sanderson is confident his sturdy 149-pounder will shake it off and learn from it.

Van Ness dropped a 10-2 major decision to reigning Big Ten champ Ridge Lovett in Lincoln after the Husker earned big points with a flurry of third-period action.

“I think that could be an NCAA finals match there,” Sanderson said. 

If it comes to that, Sanderson believes Van Ness will have taken the time to learn from slight miscues against Lovett that make the final score look much more one-sided than the match actually was.

Despite forcing Lovett to defend early and taking a 2-1 lead into the third, Van Ness couldn’t keep Lovett down late. The Nebraska junior escaped to make it 2-2 with about a minute and a half left. 

It was enough time for Lovett to score off a head-inside single and later crank Van Ness to his back for a seven-point swing. A riding-time point ensured the major.

“Shayne’s on a good path,” Sanderson said. “He’s doing a great job. He’s working hard, he’s been very consistent and those big matches, it’s one second here and relaxing for one second there, so that’s kind of obviously a big takeaway from the dual meet, we’ve just got to wrestle through positions a little bit better.”

National Duals 

Sanderson’s teams competed in and skipped the National Duals when they were a thing every year seasons ago. 

If they come back — as some in the collegiate wrestling world are proposing — maybe Penn State would partake. Maybe the Nittany Lions wouldn’t. 

Sanderson was non-committal on Monday. He’s always been a proponent for the NCAA Championships deciding the team title.

“I think that’s just kind of always been what people think is the answer is the National Duals,” Sanderson said. “I don’t really feel any different right now than I did about it 10 years ago. I think you can create a big event without including every team in the country. I think it’s sad that we think we have to have a National Duals to create a big event.  

There’s obviously some merit to the idea, but it’s just kind of a broken record.”