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Penn State wrestling rankings update: Where are the Lions after beating Drexel and Lehigh?

Greg Pickelby: Greg Pickel8 hours agoGregPickel

Penn State wrestlers are on the move in the latest rankings after the No. 1 Nittany Lions beat Drexel and Lehigh last weekend without all of their starters available. Here is the latest rundown as of Dec. 10:

WeightNameFLOInterMatThe Open Mat
125 poundsLuke LilledahlNo. 2 (2)No. 2 (2)No. 1 (1)
133 poundsMarcus BlazeNo. 7 (7)No. 10 (11)No. 5 (7)
141 poundsAaron NagaoNo. 11 (12)No. 7 (8)No. 12 (11)
149 poundsShayne Van NessNo. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)
157 poundsPJ DukeNo. 12 (29)No. 8 (15)No. 5 (5)
165 poundsMitchell MesenbrinkNo. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)
174 poundsLevi HainesNo. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)
184 poundsRocco WelshNo. 4 (4)No. 4 (4)No. 4 (4)
197 poundsJosh BarrNR (1)NR (1)No. 1 (1)
285 poundsCole MirasolaNo. 9 (9)No. 11 (10)No. 10 (13)

What changed this week?

There were two major changes this week. The first is that InterMat and FLO dropped returning All-American Josh Barr from their rankings since he hasn’t taken the mat yet this season. Both responded by putting the current starter, Connor Mirasola, in the top 10. We’ll leave Barr in our breakdown for now, but it’s possible that all three might removed him if he doesn’t return this weekend.

“We removed Josh Barr from the rankings this week due to inactivity. Barr hasn’t wrestled since the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and we typically use the CKLV as the cutoff for inactive wrestlers,” Jon Kazak writes for FLO.

“Should Barr compete this year, he’ll re-enter the rankings then. With Barr out, Connor Mirasola comes into the rankings at #10 since Mirasola’s best win of his career is over #11 Deanthony Parker.”

The other big change sees freshman PJ Duke surge into the top 15 after his very successful start to the season.

Looking ahead to the Penn State weekend

A single dual weekend is on tap for the Nittany Lions. Penn State takes on Wyoming at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday. Big Ten Network will televise the match.

“Wyoming has some good wrestlers,” Sanderson said this week, per The Daily Collegian. “Obviously, it’s a great program. I think part of your nonconference schedule, you try to get out and wrestle teams… it’s a long trip.

“It’ll be a good, nice, long trip for our team. It’s good for team bonding and all that fun stuff.”