Stanford redshirt freshman Aden Valencia celebrates during the NCAA men’s wrestling championships Saturday in Cleveland.
CLEVELAND — Stanford wrestler Aden Valencia has joined an elite list.
Valencia became the third individual national champion in program history, capturing the 149-pound title in overtime at the NCAA Championships, Saturday, at Rocket Arena. The redshirt freshman joins Stanford’s national champions Matt Gentry (2004) and Shane Griffith (2021).
The Morgan Hill native out of Ann Sobrato High School is the first Cardinal freshman to win an NCAA crown.
Penn State won the team title, its fifth straight. The Nittany Lions clinched the team title during the consolation matches earlier Saturday, finishing with four national champions and a record 181.5 points, breaking its own mark of 177 set last year. Penn State has won 13 of the last 15 national championships.
Valencia, the No. 10 seed, faced top-seed Shayne Van Ness of Penn State. He registered the first takedown of the match, leading 3-1 going into the second. Van Ness closed the gap, cutting Valencia’s lead to 5-4 heading into the final frame.
Van Ness registered an escape to start the third, knotting things up at 5-5 as neither wrestler was able to score for the remainder of regulation. In sudden victory, Valencia kept to his offense and wrapped up Van Ness for the winning takedown.
Stanford produced four All-Americans and finished sixth as a team with 67.5 points — all program records. Stanford’s previous highs at the national tournament were set in 2011 with three All-Americans and an 11th-place team finish.
Stanford’s other podium finishers: Nico Provo, 125s, third; Tyler Know, 133s, sixth; Angelo Posada, 197s, sixth.
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