Former Penn State wrestler Levi Haines won his first world title Sunday in Kazakhstan as part of perhaps the best USA Wrestling performance ever at the World Wrestling Championships. Team USA won five gold medals and had nine medalists, both records, to claim its sixth men's freestyle world team title.

Penn State and the Nttany Lion Wrestling Club were a huge part of that. Penn State and NLWC wrestlers went 6-for-6 on the podium at the 2026 World Wrestling Championships and won three gold medals.

Haines claimed his first world title at 79 kg after placing second last season, while Kyle Snyder (97 kg) and Kyle Dake (86 kg) each won their fifth world titles. At 35, Dake became the oldest American to win a world freestyle championships.

Current Penn State wrestler Marcus Blaze, a U20 world champion, won his first medal at the Senior World level, claiming bronze at 61 kg. Former Penn State wrestler Zain Retherford won bronze at 70 kg representing the NLWC.

With five medalists and three world champions, the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club stood at the forefront of Team USA's world title. In fact, according to Penn State, the NLWC would have finished fourth as a country by itself. The NLWC won five of Team USA's nine medals in men's freestyle.

Elsewhere, former Penn State All-American Roman Bravo-Young won a silver medal representing Mexico. Bravo-Young lost to U.S. wrestler Spencer Lee in the 57 kg men's freestyle final. Lee told reporters afrer the match that he sustained his fourth torn ACL just three months ago.

Where does Levi Haines go after worlds?

Haines won his first world title after falling in the gold-medal match last season, defeating Mohammad Nokhodilarimi of Iran 4-3 in the final. Nokhodilarimi took a 3-2 lead through the first period, but Haines scored the eventual winning takedown with 2 minutes left in the match.

Haines reached his second straight final with a powerful run through the 79 kg weight class. He opened with a pin and technical fall before scoring an 8-1 decision in the quarterfinals. Haines then wrestled a tense semifinal bout, beating Mongolia’s Suldkhuu Olonbayar 3-3 on criteria.

A two-time NCAA champion at Penn State, Haines now is waiting on a legal ruling to learn whether he will be eligible to compete with the Nittany Lions for a fifth season. Haines is among thousands of former college athletes awaiting a decision in an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA to determine their eligibility for this season.

Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson said that Haines, a four-time Big Ten champion, is enrolled in classes and will be "ready to go" if he's deemed eligible.

"If he gets the call back to folkstyle, he's been wrestling folkstyle his whole life, so he'll be good to go," Sanderson said. "It’s not like he’s out in the woods hunting. He wishes he's out in the woods hunting every day, and he is when he can, but we’re not like calling him back out of the woods. … If he gets the call back to folkstyle, he’s going to be ready to go."

Blaze called his bronze medal "bittersweet," just as he did after winning the U.S. Open title earlier this year. The Penn State sophomore won his first two bouts at the World Championships before falling 3-2 in the quarterfinals to Ahmad Masoud Mohammadnezhadjavan of Iran.

Pulled back into the repechage, Blaze made the podium with consecutive victories.

"It's nice to medal, but I don't really judge my performances off of medals," Blaze told reporters in
Kazakhstan. "I judge my performance off of performance and how I actually wrestled."

Blaze now returns to the Nittany Lions, who will compete for their sixth straight NCAA team title. Penn State brings an 86-match win streak into its 2026-27 season-opener against Bloomsburg on Nov. 12 at Rec Hall.