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Penn State wrestling rankings update: Where are the Lions to start December?

Greg Pickelby: Greg Pickel12 hours agoGregPickel

Penn State wrestlers had last week mostly off for Thanksgiving. But, some other teams, namely Iowa State toppling Iowa, were on the mat in addition to some tournaments. That does lead to some changes in the rankings this week, albeit not many of them. Here is the latest rundown as of Dec. 2:

WeightNameFLOInterMatThe Open Mat
125 poundsLuke LilledahlNo. 2 (2)No. 2 (2)No. 1 (1)
133 poundsMarcus BlazeNo. 7 (7)No. 11 (12)No. 7 (7)
141 poundsAaron NagaoNo. 12 (12)No. 8 (10)No. 11 (10)
149 poundsShayne Van NessNo. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)
157 poundsPJ DukeNo. 29 (29)No. 15 (16)No. 5 (3)
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 BarrNo. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)No. 1 (1)
285 poundsCole MirasolaNo. 9 (10)No. 10 (10)No. 13 (13)

What changed this week?

Frankly, almost nothing. Nagao and Cole Mirasola were bounced around a bit but that’s something that will likely happen through at least the start of the Big Ten dual meet schedule.

Looking ahead to the Penn State weekend

A double dual weekend is on deck for Penn State. The Lions go to Drexel Friday. The match starts at 7:30 p.m. ET on FLO. Then, on Sunday, Penn State welcomes Lehigh to Rec Hall. That match is at 1 p.m. ET on B1G+.

The big question this week focuses on whether or not Aaron Nagao will compete. He suffered an injury at the Army Black Knight Invitational that forced him to medically default out of the final. If he is unable to go at 141 pounds, Penn State will have two options: Pull Braeden Davis’ redshirt or wrestle freshman Cael Nasdeo to buy time to figure out Nagao’s long-term outlook. We’d expect the Lions to go in the latter direction if Nagao cannot compete.