Where Penn State’s Wrestlers Are Ranked Entering the Regular-Season Finale

Penn State wrestler Beau Bartlett reclaimed the No. 1 spot at 141 pounds this week following his 4-2 win over Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez, the second of perhaps four bouts the NCAA championship contenders will wrestle this season. Bartlett, ranked third last week, moved up to the top spot in InterMat’s weekly rankings, though this is just the beginning.

“We’re looking at is as, hey, we’re going to meet again in two weeks [at the Big Ten Championships] and again at nationals potentially, so we just have to keep getting better and figure out what Beau can do,” Sanderson told reporters this week in State College. “There’s going to be small adjustments [with Bartlett], and they’re going to make adjustments obviously, and that’s what makes it fun.”

Bartlett became the fourth wrestler in Penn State’s starting lineup to claim the No. 1 ranking, according to InterMat. Bartlett joins Tyler Kasak (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) and Carter Starocci (184) as the top-ranked wrestlers at their weight classes. All 10 of Penn State’s starters are ranked in InterMat’s top 10, with eight wrestlers ranked first or second. That means InterMat has Penn State sending as many as eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championship finals at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Arena on March 22.

Here’s a look at Penn State’s rankings, according to InterMat. The Nittany Lions (14-0) have topped the team tournament and duals rankings all season.

125: No. 9 Luke Lilledahl (14-2): The freshman dropped from seventh to ninth after losing his second bout of the season. Lilledahl was leading Ohio State’s Brendan McCrone (ranked 21st) 6-2 in the second period when McCrone turned a cradle into a pin. It was the first time a Penn State starter has been pinned this season. “Sometimes things like that happen, and you just learn and get ready for the next one,” Sanderson said this week.

133: No. 7 Braeden Davis (8-3): The sophomore moved up one spot after a 1-1 weekend in which he met a pair of top-12 wrestlers. Davis, wrestling for the first time since Jan. 24, scored a gutty 8-5 win over Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis before falling 7-1 to third-ranked Lucas Byrd of Illinois. Davis could see one or both again at the Big Ten Championships.

141: No. 1 Beau Bartlett (17-0): As he did during the 2024 regular season, Bartlett ascended to the No. 1 spot at the weight class with a win over Mendez. And also as it was last year, the win marked just the beginning. Mendez won the next three bouts to claim the Big Ten and NCAA titles (he also won an exhibition at Rec Hall last November). But Bartlett said he’s ready for the final college round between the two wrestlers.

“I think I’ve been adjusting my mindset to try and improve every week,” Bartlett said before the Ohio State match. “[I] tried to come out really hot at the beginning of the year in the All-Star match and I think I put extra pressure on myself. So really just thinking it’s another match in the right direction, and we’ll have more gos. We’ve had some before. I think I’m doing everything right. I’m having fun with it.”

149: No. 2 Shayne Van Ness (16-1): From 149 on, every Penn State wrestler is ranked in the top 2. Van Ness is 6-0 since his lone loss to Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett (ranked fourth). That includes wins over No. 3 Kayle Parco of Iowa and No. 6 Dylan D’Emilio of Ohio State. Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson (15-0) is No. 1. Van Ness beat Henson 5-3 on his way to placing third at the 2023 NCAA Championships.

157: No. 1 Tyler Kasak (13-1): Kasak retained the top spot despite not wrestling last weekend vs. Ohio State and Illinois. The sophomore was hurt Feb. 9 vs. Maryland’s Ethen Miller and took an injury default, accounting for his lone loss. Before that, Kasak had two wins over top-5 wrestlers. Sanderson said this week that Kasak is “doing really well.”

165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (18-0): Mesenbrink has been the weight class’ most dominant wrestler this season. In 16 bouts wrestled (he has received two forfeits), Mesenbrink has scored 14 technical falls, the most in the country, and two major decisions. His closest win is by nine points over Illinois’ 14th-ranked Braeden Scoles. Mesenbrink leads Penn State in duals takedowns with 50 while not allowing one.

174: No. 2 Levi Haines (16-1): Haines, the defending national champ at 157, has lost just once in his last 40 bouts. That was to top-ranked Keegan O’Toole of Missouri in sudden victory in December. Since then, Haines is 8-0 with two falls.

184: No. 1 Carter Starocci (17-0): A Hodge Trophy contender, Starocci ranks third nationally in match power of any wrestler, according WrestleStat. Starocci also has an exhibition win over No. 2 Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. The two likely will meet in the NCAA final in Philadelphia. Starocci has 15 bonus-point wins this season.

197: No. 2 Josh Barr (14-1): Barr moved up one spot to No. 2 in InterMat’s rankings after a pair of ranked bonus-point wins last weekend. Barr scored 35 points in his two bouts, including a 20-5 technical fall over Ohio State’s Seth Shumate. The redshirt freshman is behind only Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan, who won their regular-season bout 5-1.

285: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (15-0): The senior missed last weekend’s road trip with an illness but is pointed squarely at the Big Ten Championships, where he should get the first of potentially two bouts with top-ranked Gable Steveson of Minnesota. Kerkvliet has been to the last two finals and is the defending champ; Steveson won NCAA titles in 2021 and ’22.