Penn State wrestling moves up to No. 2 in latest NWCA coaches poll after win over Michigan

Editor’s note: The Centre Daily Times will publish weekly updates based on NWCA coaches team and InterMat individual rankings to give readers a glimpse into how Penn State wrestling fits into the bigger picture.

Penn State wrestling jumped to No. 2 in the second-to-last National Wrestling Coaches Association’s coaches poll of the season on Tuesday, after defeating Michigan, 18-13, on Sunday.

The win vaulted the Nittany Lions ahead of the Wolverines — last week’s No. 2 team — and bumped their conference counterpart down to No. 4.

Only the Iowa Hawkeyes (5-0) remain in front of Penn State, again receiving all 14 first place votes. The 4-0 Nittany Lions have the lowest number of matches of any team ranked in the top 25.

Among those 25 programs are 10 Big Ten programs, the same number as in last week’s poll. Joining the Hawkeyes, Nittany Lions and Wolverines are No. 8 Nebraska, No. 9 Minnesota, No. 11 Illinois, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 17 Purdue, No. 23 Michigan State and No. 25 Wisconsin.

Both Rutgers and Northwestern are receiving votes and sit just outside the top 25.

The Nittany Lions will take on Ohio State Friday night and then Maryland Monday night before the final iteration of the poll is released. The matchup with the Buckeyes is set to take place on the road while the dual with the Terrapins is scheduled to be Penn State’s first home match of the year, after the previous home matches were postponed.

They’ll take on those opponents with nine wrestler ranked in the latest individual InterMat rankings, the same number as last week. However, seven of the nine weight classes where Penn State had wrestlers ranked saw movement from the Nittany Lions after the win over Michigan.

The only two to remain in the same position were Roman Bravo-Young, who stayed at No. 3 at 133 pounds, and Nick Lee, who held steady at No. 2 at 141 pounds. Both won their matches Sunday by decision.

Three Penn Staters moved up in the rankings with freshman 174-pounder Carter Starocci seeing the biggest boost. The freshman — who was named Big Ten wrestler of the week Tuesday — jumped from No. 8 to No. 5 after defeating then-No. 2 Logan Massa 7-1 in tiebreakers. Massa fell just behind Starocci to No. 6 after the loss.

Aaron Brooks bumped up from No. 3 to No. 2 after a 10-5 decision win, and previous No. 1 at 184 pounds, Michigan’s Myles Amine, moved up to 197 pounds. Brady Berge, the previous No. 9 at 157 pounds, switched spots with last week’s No. 8 Will Lewan after defeating him Sunday, 4-1.

Penn State also saw a shake up at 149 pounds with Jarod Verkleeren falling out of the poll from No. 19 and Terrell Barraclough moving into the rankings at No. 20 after losing a close 4-3 decision to current No. 5 Kanen Storr.

Three Nittany Lions fell in the rankings, with 165-pounder Joe Lee seeing the most significant drop, falling from No. 6 to No. 14 after losing a 4-1 decision to Michigan’s Cameron Amine. Amine moved up three spots from No. 16 to No. 13, one spot ahead of Lee.

Heavyweight Seth Nevills fell from No. 7 to No. 8 after losing a 12-2 major decision to No. 2 Mason Parris, and 197-pounder Michael Beard fell from No. 14 to No. 16 after losing an 8-5 decision to the aforementioned Myles Amine, who now ranks at No. 2 at 197 pounds after moving up a weight class.

NWCA Division I Coaches Poll

(Feb. 16, 2021)

Others Receiving Votes: Rutgers 21, Northwestern 19, Wyoming 17, Binghamton 9, Appalachian State 8, West Virginia 7, Hofstra 5, Lehigh 4, Northern Colorado 4, Stanford, 3, North Dakota State 2, Army West Point 1.

Dropped Out: None

This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 2:35 PM.

Jon Sauber

Centre Daily Times

(814) 231-6461

Jon Sauber covers Penn State football and men’s basketball for the Centre Daily Times. He earned his B.A. in digital and print journalism from Penn State and his M.A. in sports journalism from IUPUI. His previous stops include jobs at The Indianapolis Star, the NCAA, and Rivals.