One Of The Greatest Dynasties In Sports History: Penn State Wrestling Wins Its 13th National Championship In 15 Years

Hunter Martin. Getty Images.

This morning, Penn State wrestling clinched its FIFTH straight national title. It's the 14th national championship in program history, with 13 of those coming in the last 15 years under head coach Cael Sanderson. 

Sanderson is the most accomplished collegiate wrestler of all time. He went 159-0 on the mats at Iowa State. He's an Olympic gold medalist. A Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. And now he's built the ultimate powerhouse as a coach in Happy Valley. 

The NCAA Championships are still going on in Cleveland right now, so Penn State has a chance to make even more history, despite the fact that they've mathematically won the championship already. The team is currently on pace to break the all-time scoring record at the tournament, which would be the third consecutive year they've done that. 

It's unreal. They just get better and better. 

Now, I'm a Penn State alum, and I'm fully cognizant of just how ridiculous this run has been for the wrestling program. But I've never been a big wrestling fan like some other people I know, most notably the pride of Wheeling, West Virginia -- Kyle Bauer. 

KB attended the Championships as a fan this weekend, so I decided to reach out to him and get his perspective on the Penn State dynasty:

The Penn State wrestling program has hacked and defeated modern athletics. Everyone is numb to their greatness. We’ve forgotten that there ever even used to be a “team race.”

Their top dogs - Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines, and Josh Barr - are so intensely dominant and “automatic” that you watch their (elite) opponents like you’d watch your special needs toddler son pick up a pencil and attempt to write his name in cursive. 

Those three are at such a high level that fans are desensitized to guys like Shayne Van Ness, who occasionally shows glimpses of humanity and gives up a takedown. He still ended up winning 22-1 in the semi-finals and no one batted an eye.

There ya have it. KB has spoken. 

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It's truly one of the greatest dynasties we've ever seen. And there is zero sign of it slowing down. 

So congrats to Coach Sanderson. Congrats to the team for dominating all season. What an insane accomplishment this is, even though we all could've predicted that Penn State would be hoisting the trophy in the end. It's just what they do.