5 Penn State wrestlers at No. 1 in Intermat rankings, team stays atop NWCA Top 25
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penn State retains NWCA No. 1 with 13 first‑place votes; Ohio State rises to No. 2.
- Intermat lists five Penn State wrestlers at No. 1 and nine of ten ranked.
- Ohio State won National Duals; tournament results caused multiple ranking shifts.
Although Penn State’s wrestling team didn’t participate in the inaugural National Duals Invitational, there was plenty of action there that caused several team changes in the NWCA Top 25 poll that was released on Tuesday.
The Nittany Lions remained at the top while getting 13 first-place votes, with Ohio State climbing to No. 2 after being No. 4 a week ago. The Buckeyes, who won the National Duals Invitational, collected three first-place votes.
Ohio State topped Iowa (No. 3), 27-12, in the finals of the tournament, and throttled Nebraska (No. 5), 33-3, in the semifinals.
David Taylor’s Oklahoma State squad, which finished third in the National Duals Invitational, rounds out the top five at No. 4.
The Big Ten also has Minnesota (No. 7), Illinois (No. 9), Michigan (No. 13), Rutgers (No. 14) and Wisconsin (No. 24) ranked in the top 25. The Fighting Illini made the biggest leap of any team in the Top 25, moving up six spots from last week after a seventh-place finish in the National Duals Invitational.
5 Nittany Lions ranked No. 1 Intermat rankings
The weekly Intermat rankings came out on Tuesday, and Penn State had five of its wrestlers grabbing the top spot at their weight.
In all, the Nittany Lions had nine of their 10 wrestlers ranked in the top 33.
Luke Lilledahl (125 pounds), Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174) and Josh Barr (197) are those wrestlers ranked No. 1.
Lilledahl jumped up two spots as former No. 1 Vincent Robinson of North Carolina State and No. 2 Troy Spratley of Oklahoma State both suffered losses in the National Dual Invitationals. Spratley fell six spots in the rankings as Robinson fell to No. 2.
Marcus Blaze, who made his Penn State debut, jumped into the 133-pound rankings at No. 14. Aaron Nagao moved up a spot at 141 pounds to No. 10.
Rocco Welsh, who also made his Nittany Lions debut, fell two spots to No. 4 at 184 pounds. He was leaped by Iowa’s Angelo Ferrari (No. 1) and Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair (No. 2), who was No. 8 last week.
The other No. 1 wrestlers in the country are Illinois’ Lucas Byrd (133), Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez (141), West Virginia’s Ty Watters (157) and Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida (285).
