Nebraska's NCAA champ Ridge Lovett opens up about catching up to Penn State & sends bold predictions for future

Nebraska wrestler Ridge Lovett revealed his thoughts on the gap between Nebraska and Penn State University. The Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling team grabbed the national title at the 2025 NCAA Championships, with several notable performances from wrestlers like Carter Starocci and Mitchell Mesenbrink, who won individual titles.

Ridge Lovett, who won the 2025 NCAA Championship in the 149 pound class, has represented the Huskers since the 2019-20 season. He came into the university as one of the nation's top ranked wrestlers, ranked #19 nationally by Flo Wrestling. He also bagged the 2025 Big Ten Championship in the 149 pound class and is now a senior at Nebraska.

Lovett made his feelings known on the gap between Nebraska and Penn State's wrestling teams. He mentioned that while it would be tough to catch up to them, there were chances for Nebraska to find a way to be better, telling Hail Varsity (13:39 onwards)

"Penn State's tough they do a really good job you know, they're getting kids from outside the US now. They just picked up a world champ from Japan on their team, so like you know it's tough to keep catching up to that but I think we're in a good spot.

"I really don't think it's that far and they were saying that this was the best Penn State team ever. It's like if that was the best ever, well okay then."

He was also asked about the future of the Nebraska wrestling team and made a bold prediction (14:30 onwards):

"I see a lot more team trophies coming, I'm really happy that we finally got one, that I finally got one while I was here, but, hopefully, we set a standard, and we can keep that going."

Ridge Lovett beat defending champion Gable Henson, grabbing the national title in the 149-pound class. The Huskers finished as NCAA team runner-up, with 117.0 points, marking their best performance at the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

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Ridge Lovett and Antrell Taylor brought home historic national titles for Nebraska

Ridge Lovett at the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship - Source: Getty

Ridge Lovett wasn't the only one to bring home a national individual title for the Nebraska Wrestling team, as No. 3-seeded Antrell Taylor won an NCAA Championship in the 157-pound class.

Antrell Taylor beat Joey Blaze 4-2, making history, as Lovett and Taylor marked the first time since 1984 (Jim Scherr and Bill Scherr) that the Huskers had two NCAA champions.

Lovett and Taylor share a close friendship, having competed together for the Nebraska Cornhuskers multiple times previously.