Penn State has 10 wrestlers in Intermat rankings, remains at top of NWCA Top 25 poll
Another week has come and gone with Penn State still the unanimous No. 1 team in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Top 25 poll, even with only one dual under its belt.
The Nittany Lions finally got their season underway Sunday with a dominating 41-3 win over Drexel. It was their 57th straight dual win.
Penn State’s longest dual win streak is 60, which spanned from 2015-2019.
When it came to the rest of the top 25, the top five teams remained the same with Iowa, Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Ohio State behind the Nittany Lions in that order.
Virginia Tech and Missouri tangled in a top 10 match this week with the Hokies coming out on top, 23-10. Virginia Tech remained at No. 7 with the Tigers dropping one spot from No. 8 to No. 9.
Some other news broke last week when two-time NCAA and Olympic champion Gable Steveson announced he was returning to Minnesota for his last season. Steveson hasn’t wrestle collegiately since 2022.
With the announcement, the Golden Gophers bumped up two spots to get into the top 10 at No. 10. Michigan is No. 8 this week, giving the Big Ten five of the top 10 teams in the country.
Illinois (No. 16) and Rutgers (No. 17) are the only other Big Ten teams ranked in the top 25.
10 Nittany Lions ranked individually
When Intermat released its weekly rankings on Tuesday, Penn State had 10 wrestlers in the top 33 of the country.
Mitchell Mesenbrink (165 pounds) and Carter Starocci (184) are the only wrestlers ranked No. 1 at their weight class.
Beau Bartlett (No. 3, 141), Shayne Van Ness (No. 2, 149), Tyler Kasak (No. 4, 157), Levi Haines (No. 2, 174) and Greg Kerkvliet (No. 2, 285) all are still ranked in the top five of their weights.
Kerkvliet was No. 1 until Steveson announced his return. Kasak was the lone wrestler to move up the rankings.
Braeden Davis (No. 7, 133) and Josh Barr (No. 23, 197) remained the same. Freshmen Luke Lilledahl (No. 33, 125) entered the rankings for the first time after starting his college career with a forfeit against Drexel.
The other No. 1 ranked wrestlers are Arizona State’s Richie Figueroa (125) and Jacori Teemer (157), Lehigh’s Ryan Crookham (133), Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez (141), Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson (149), Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole (174) and Cal State Bakersfield’s AJ Ferrari (197).
NWCA Top 25 Poll
| Rank | Points |
| 1. Penn State (1-0) | 400 |
| 2. Iowa (3-0) | 382 |
| 3. Oklahoma State (2-0) | 361 |
| 4. Nebraska (3-0) | 354 |
| 5. Ohio State (2-0) | 337 |
| 6. NC State (4-0) | 320 |
| 7. Virginia Tech (2-0) | 306 |
| 8. Michigan (1-0) | 265 |
| 9. Missouri (1-1) | 250 |
| 10. Minnesota (1-0) | 241 |
| 11. Cornell (0-0) | 239 |
| 12. Iowa State (1-1) | 223 |
| 13. South Dakota State (1-0) | 216 |
| 14. Northern Iowa (0-0) | 197 |
| 15. Stanford (4-1) | 176 |
| 16. Illinois (3-0) | 172 |
| 17. Rutgers (3-1) | 147 |
| 18. Lehigh (1-0) | 133 |
| 19. West Virginia (2-0) | 122 |
| 20. Little Rock (2-0) | 84 |
| 21. Pittsburgh (1-0) | 58 |
| 22. Oklahoma (1-0) | 56 |
| 23. Arizona State (1-1) | 47 |
| 24. Oregon State (1-2) | 33 |
| 25. North Carolina (2-1) | 27 |
Others receiving votes: Wyoming 12, Indiana 11, Northern Colorado 10, Army West Point 8, Maryland 7, Penn 5, Cal Poly 1.
