Penn State wrestlers sit atop the rankings for six of 10 weight classes and every Nittany Lion starter is in the top of 12 of the new InterMat rankings released on Tuesday.
Luke Lilledahl and Rocco Welsh are the latest Nittany Lions to ascend to No. 1 in their weight classes after impressive wins over the weekend at Iowa and Northwestern.
Lilledahl moved up from No. 2 to the top spot at 125 pounds after defeating No. 6 Dean Peterson of Iowa in an 11-5 decision on Friday night, then beating Northwestern’s Dedrick Navarro with a 20-5 technical fall on Sunday. The sophomore, who won the Big Ten title and placed third at NCAAs last year, is now 11-0 on the season.
Welsh, meanwhile, jumped from No. 4 at 184 to No. 1 after knocking off formerly top-ranked Angelo Ferrari 2-1 in tiebreakers at Iowa. The sophomore transfer from Ohio State improved to 11-0 on the year with a 22-7 tech fall over Northwestern’s J.D. Perez.
Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174) and Josh Barr (197) all maintained their No. 1 rankings after remaining undefeated with wins at Iowa and Northwestern.
Freshman P.J. Duke stayed at No. 3 in the 157 pound rankings after advancing to 11-0 on the season with victories against Iowa’s 12th-ranked Jordan Williams and Northwestern’s Gunnar Myers. Fellow frosh Marcus Blaze remained No. 4 at 133 pounds as he improved to 13-0 with a pair of ranked wins over Iowa’s Drake Ayala and Northwestern’s.
Redshirt freshman heavyweight Cole Mirasola moved up one spot to No. 12 following an upset of Iowa’s fifth-ranked Ben Kueter and a tech fall of Northwestern’s Gabe Christenson to improve to 10-2.
Braeden Davis fell four spots to No. 11 at 141 pounds after suffering his first loss of the season since removing his redshirt at the start of the month and the Nittany Lions’ only defeat of the weekend. He dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Iowa’s 11th-ranked Nasir Bailey on Friday night before bouncing back with a 9-0 major decision against Northwestern’s Billy Dekraker
Penn State remained at No. 1 in the new NWCA team rankings following its NCAA-record 80th consecutive dual meet win. The Nittany Lions earned 14 first-place votes, with No. 2 Ohio State receiving two. Iowa State, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Virginia Tech, NC State, Minnesota and Michigan rounded out the top 10.
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