Seven returning champs and Penn State among top-ranked in WIN’s 2018-19 Preseason Ranks

Updated: September 6, 2018

NEWTON, Iowa — Seven returning national champs, including Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia (above) and Penn State are ranked No. 1 team in WIN Magazine’s 2018-19 Preseason Tournament Power Index and Individual Rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic.

WIN’s Tournament Power Index (TPI) awards team points for individuals ranked in the respective weight classes based on how many potential All-Americans each school could produce at the 2019 NCAA Championships next March in Pittsburgh.

WIN’s TPI point totals are broken down by the following individual rankings: 1st – 20 (16 AA points + 4 advancement points); 2nd – 16 (12+4); 3rd – 13.5 (10+3.5); 4th – 12.5 (9+3.5); 5th – 10 (7+3); 6th – 9 (6+3); 7th – 6.5 (4+2.5); 8th – 5.5 (3+2.5). Additional points for other rankings include: 9th/12th – 2; 13th/16th – 1.5; 17th-20th – 1. TPI points will be lower than the final actual NCAA tournament point totals because it does not include bonus points.

The Nittany Lions feature seven ranked wrestlers, all of whom are predicted to finish in the Top 8 which would also garner them All-American honors in their weight classes to give the Nittany Lions 112 TPI points. That includes three defending national champions who are rated No. 1 in their weight class: Jason Nolf (157 pounds), Vincenzo Joseph (165) and Bo Nickal (184, who has moved up to 197). Meanwhile, 174-pounder Mark Hall, a 2017 NCAA champion for Penn State, and heavyweight Nick Nevills are ranked No. 2. With Nickal moving up to 197, Shakur Rasheed, an All-American at 197, has dropped down to 184, where he is ranked fifth.

Ohio State, last year’s team runner-up, is ranked No. 2 with 83.5 points. That includes seven ranked wrestlers, six the Top 8 of their weight class. This group includes 184-pound Myles Martin, a 2016 NCAA champion, who is rated No. 1 as well as 141-pound Joey McKenna and 197-pound All-American Kollin Moore, who are ranked No. 2.

Oklahoma State and Iowa are predicted to finish third and fourth, respectively, and are separated by only 1.5 points (73-71.5) as each school features nine ranked wrestlers. Seven Cowboys are ranked in the Top 8 of their weight class, led by Nick Piccininni, No. 3 at 125 pounds. The Hawkeyes feature five in the Top 8, including two top-ranked wrestlers: defending champion Spencer Lee at 125 pounds and heavyweight Sam Stoll.

Overall, seven defending champions return and are ranked No. 1. That includes 133-pound Seth Gross of South Dakota State, 141-pound Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell and 174-pound Zahid Valencia from Arizona State.

Another new top-ranked wrestler is Princeton’s Matt Kolodzik at 149 pounds. The Tiger finished third last year as a sophomore.

WIN’s preseason rankings do not include any true or redshirt freshmen. They will be considered by WIN’s Rankings Committee once they compete in varsity matches this season. Also, wrestlers’ weight classes are subject to change.

WIN will announce its first Dual-Team rankings on Dec. 3, 2018.

Below is a list of the entire TPI rankings list as well as the Top 20 rankings in all ten weight classes. It includes each wrestler’s record from last year and how they fared in the 2018 NCAA Championships. It also indicates how many wrestlers have transferred since last year or redshirted last season.

WIN’S 2018-19 Tournament Power Index (TPI)

Rank	School	Total Ranked	Top 8 Ranked*	TPI Points
1.	Penn State	7	7	112
2.	Ohio State	7	6	83.5
3.	Oklahoma State	9	7	73
4.	Iowa	9	5	71.5
5.	Michigan	4	4	51
6.	Lehigh	9	5	50.5
7.	Nebraska	6	4	50
8.	Cornell	7	4	48.5
9.	Arizona State	7	3	46
10.	Missouri	7	3	45
11.	North Carolina State	6	3	39.5
12.	Virginia Tech	8	3	37.5
13.	Northern Iowa	7	3	35.5
14.	Rutgers	4	2	33
15.	Northwestern	5	2	27
16.	South Dakota State	3	1	22.5
17.	Princeton	2	1	22
18t.	Illinois	5	1	19.5
18t.	Wisconsin	4	1	19.5
20.	Minnesota	5	2	19
21.	Lock Haven	4	1	17.5
22.	North Carolina	3	2	16.5
23t.	Kent State	1	1	16
23t.	Maryland	3	1	16
25.	Oregon State	2	1	14
26.	Iowa State	3	1	12
27.	Wyoming	3	1	9.5
28t.	Campbell	3	1	9
28t.	Virginia	3	1	9
30.	Purdue	5	0	8.5
31.	Utah Valley	3	1	8
32.	Old Dominion	2	1	6.5
33t.	Army	3	0	5.5
33t.	Stanford	3	0	5.5
35t.	Drexel	3	0	4.5
35t.	North Dakota State	3	0	4.5
37t.	Duke	2	0	4
37t.	Navy	2	0	4
39t.	Clarion	2	0	3
39t.	CSU Bakersfield	2	0	3
39t.	Oklahoma	3	0	3
42t.	Buffalo	2	0	2.5
42t.	Indiana	2	0	2.5
42t.	Northern Colorado	2	0	2.5
45.	Fresno State	2	0	2
46t.	Brown	1	0	1.5
46t.	Central Michigan	1	0	1.5
46t.	Franklin & Marshall	1	0	1.5
46t.	Michigan State	1	1	1.5
46t.	Ohio	1	0	1.5
46t.	Pitt	1	0	1.5
52t.	American	1	0	1
52t.	Appalachian State	1	0	1
52t.	Gardner Webb	1	0	1
52t.	George Mason	1	0	1
52t.	Northern Illinois	1	0	1
52t.	Rider	1	0	1
52t.	West Virginia	1	0	1

* projected All-Americans, wrestlers who finish in the Top 8 of the weight class

WIN’s 2018-19 Preseason Individual Rankings

125 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Spencer Lee	Iowa	Soph.	22-2	1st
2.	Sebastian Rivera	Northwestern	Soph.	31-8	6th
3.	Nick Piccininni	Oklahoma State	Junior	24-5	NQ
4.	Ronnie Bresser	Oregon State	Senior	23-6	7th
5.	Zeke Moisey	Nebraska*	Senior	26-12	8th
6.	Sean Russell	Minnesota*	Senior	32-7	NQ
7.	Connor Schram	Lehigh*	Senior	injured	—
8.	Taylor LaMont	Utah Valley	Soph.	27-5	NQ
9.	Louie Hayes	Virginia	Soph.	31-8	NQ
10.	Ryan Millhof	Arizona State	Senior	17-7	NQ
11.	Travis Piotrowski	Illinois	Junior	19-10	NQ
12.	Jay Schwarm	Northern Iowa	Junior	25-12	NQ
13.	Gabe Townsell	Stanford	Junior	20-15	NQ
14.	Paul Bianchi	North Dakota State	Soph.	24-15	NQ
15.	Rayvon Foley	Michigan State	Soph.	28-11	NQ
16.	Devin Schroder	Purdue	Soph.	reserve	—
17.	Connor Brown	Wisconsin*	Soph.	26-16	NQ
18.	Kyle Akins	Buffalo	Senior	22-10	—
19.	Brock Hudkins	Northern Illinois	Junior	18-12	NQ
20.	Christian Moody	Oklahoma	Junior	23-15	NQ

* – transfers

133 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Seth Gross	South Dakota State	Senior	29-1	1st
2.	Stevan Micic	Michigan	Junior	26-3	2nd
3.	Nick Suriano	Rutgers	Junior	25-1	2^nd/125
4.	Tariq Wilson	North Carolina State	Soph.	27-10	3rd
5.	Luke Pletcher	Ohio State	Junior	30-4	4th
6.	Scott Parker	Lehigh	Senior	22-5	7th
7.	Montorie Bridges	Wyoming	Soph.	35-7	8th
8.	Jack Mueller	Virginia	Junior	24-7	NQ
9.	Austin DeSanto	Iowa*	Soph.	30-7	NQ
10.	John Erneste	Missouri	Senior	27-4	NQ
11.	Chas Tucker	Cornell	Junior	22-11	NQ
12.	Sean Nickell	CSU Bakersfield	Senior	24-12	NQ
13.	Korbin Myers	Virginia Tech*	Junior	28-11	NQ
14.	Rico Montoya	Northern Colorado	Senior	25-14	NQ
15.	Cam Sykora	North Dakota State	Junior	23-12	NQ
16.	Cameron Kelly	Ohio U.	Senior	25-8	NQ
17.	Colin Valdivez	Northwestern	Soph.	20-13	NQ
18.	Dylan Duncan	Illinois	Soph.	20-9	NQ
19.	Matt Schmitt	West Virginia	Soph.	23-14	NQ
20.	Josh Terao	American U.	Senior	29-10	NQ

* – transfer

141 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Yianni Diakomihalis	Cornell	Soph.	34-1	1st
2.	Joey McKenna	Ohio State	Senior	21-2	3rd
3.	Jaydin Eierman	Missouri	Junior	32-3	4th
4.	Kaid Brock	Oklahoma State	Junior	30-5	5th/133
5.	Nick Lee	Penn State	Soph.	33-7	5th
6.	Chad Red	Nebraska	Soph.	26-11	7th
7.	Mitch McKee	Minnesota	Junior	21-8	NQ
8.	Sa’Derian Perry	Old Dominion*	Junior	18-19	8th
9.	Michael Carr	Illinois	Soph.	20-7	NQ
10.	Mason Smith	Arizona State*	Junior	32-7	NQ
11.	Vince Turk	Iowa	Junior	16-10	NQ
12.	Nick Gil	Navy	Senior	33-10	NQ
13.	Luke Karam	Lehigh	Soph.	21-9	NQ
14.	Josh Alber	Northern Iowa	Senior	25-8	NQ
15.	Cole Weaver	Indiana	Senior	26-12	NQ
16.	Brent Moore	Virginia Tech	Soph.	20-12	NQ
17.	Ryan Diehl	Maryland	Senior	13-14	NQ
18.	Henry Pohlmeyer	South Dakota State	Junior	24-11	NQ
19.	Russell Rohlfing	CSU Bakersfield	Junior	22-13	NQ
20.	Nate Limmex	Purdue	Junior	26-16	NQ

* – transfers

149 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Matt Kolodzik	Princeton	Junior	29-6	3rd
2.	Anthony Ashnault	Rutgers	Senior	redshirted	3-time AA
3.	Grant Leeth	Missouri	Soph.	26-5	6th
4.	Boo Lewallen	Oklahoma State	Junior	29-8	8th
5.	Ke-Shawn Hayes	Ohio State	Junior	29-7	NQ
6.	Max Thomsen	Northern Iowa	Junior	28-9	NQ
7.	Justin Oliver	North Carolina State*	Senior	28-7	NQ
8.	Pat Lugo	Iowa*	Senior	redshirted	2-time NQ
9.	Paul Fox	Stanford	Senior	23-9	NQ
10.	Brock Zacherl	Clarion	Senior	29-3	NQ
11.	Jarrett Degen	Iowa State	Soph.	23-11	NQ
12.	Jared Prince	Navy	Junior	22-6	NQ
13.	Ryan Blees	Virginia Tech	Senior	23-9	NQ
14.	Sam Krivus	Virginia	Junior	20-15	NQ
15.	Alfred Bannister	Maryland	Senior	24-10	NQ
16.	Tommy Thorn	Minnesota	Senior	18-13	NQ
17.	Cole Martin	Wisconsin	Junior	17-14	NQ
18.	Sam Turner	Wyoming	Soph.	25-17	NQ
19.	Davion Jeffries	Oklahoma	Senior	24-19	NQ
20.	Khristian Olivas	Fresno State	Junior	25-8	NQ

* – transfers

157 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Jason Nolf	Penn State	Senior	26-1	1st
2.	Hayden Hidlay	North Carolina State	Soph.	26-1	2nd
3.	Tyler Berger	Nebraska	Senior	28-9	3rd
4.	Alec Pantaleo	Michigan	Senior	21-7	5th
5.	Micah Jordan	Ohio State	Senior	25-9	6th
6.	Josh Shields	Arizona State	Junior	34-4	7th
7.	Ryan Deakin	Northwestern	Soph.	32-7	NQ/149
8.	Kennedy Monday	North Carolina	Soph.	21-16	NQ
9.	Mitch Finesilver	Duke	Senior	19-6	NQ
10.	Ian Brown	Lehigh	Senior	18-12	NQ
11.	Garett Hammond	Drexel	Senior	20-7	NQ
12.	Luke Weiland	Army	Junior	24-17	NQ
13.	Austin Kraisser	Campbell	Junior	21-13	—
14.	Taleb Rahmani	Pitt	Junior	18-14	NQ
15.	Kaleb Young	Iowa	Soph.	reserve/174	—
16.	Andrew Shomers	Oklahoma State*	Junior	29-8	NQ
17.	Steve Bleise	Minnesota	Senior	20-9	NQ/149
18.	Tyler Marinelli	Gardner Webb	Senior	26-8	NQ
19.	Larry Early	Old Dominion	Junior	29-12	NQ
20.	Alex Klucker	Lock Haven	Junior	25-11	NQ

* – transfer

165 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Vincenzo Joseph	Penn State	Junior	25-2	1st
2.	Evan Wick	Wisconsin	Soph.	29-7	3rd
3.	Chance Marstellar	Lock Haven	Senior	45-4	4th
4.	David McFadden	Virginia Tech	Junior	35-2	5th
5.	Alex Marinelli	Iowa	Soph.	19-6	6th
6.	Logan Massa	Michigan	Junior	17-8	NQ, ’17 AA
7.	Jon Jay Chavez	Cornell	Senior	23-6	7th
8.	Chandler Rogers	Oklahoma State	Senior	24-6	8th
9.	Isaiah White	Nebraska	Junior	25-8	NQ
10.	Anthony Valencia	Arizona State	Junior	27-10	NQ
11.	Bryce Steiert	Northern Iowa	Senior	redshirted	2-time NQ
12.	Branson Ashworth	Wyoming	Senior	36-6	NQ
13.	Te’Shan Campbell	Ohio State	Senior	19-12	NQ
14.	Gordon Wolf	Lehigh	Senior	20-11	NQ
15.	John Van Brill	Rutgers	Senior	22-14	NQ/157
16.	Andrew Fogarty	North Dakota State	Junior	30-12	NQ
17.	Demetrius Romero	Utah Valley	Junior	26-9	NQ
18.	Connor Flynn	Missouri	Junior	25-9	NQ
19.	Bryce Martin	Indiana	Senior	15-10	NQ
20.	Joey Gunther	Illinois*	Junior	16-9	NQ

* – transfer

174 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Zahid Valencia	Arizona State	Junior	32-0	1st
2.	Mark Hall	Penn State	Junior	32-1	2nd
3.	Myles Amine	Michigan	Junior	26-7	3rd
4.	Daniel Lewis	Missouri	Senior	33-2	4th
5.	Jordan Kutler	Lehigh	Junior	28-6	6th
6.	Michael Kemerer	Iowa	Junior	27-3	4th/157
7.	Jacobe Smith	Oklahoma State	Senior	22-8	8th
8.	Taylor Lujan	Northern Iowa	Junior	30-7	NQ
9.	Dylan Lydy	Purdue	Junior	35-14	NQ
10.	Ben Harvey	Army	Junior	23-11	NQ
11.	Johnny Sebastian	Northwestern	Senior	28-12	NQ
12.	Matt Finesilver	Duke	Soph.	26-11	NQ
13.	Brandon Womack	Cornell	Junior	17-11	NQ
14.	Daniel Bullard	North Carolina State	Soph.	17-11	NQ
15.	Kimball Bastian	Utah Valley	Junior	20-11	NQ
16.	Ryan Christensen	Wisconsin	Senior	25-15	NQ
17.	Hunter Bolen	Virginia Tech	Soph.	21-12	NQ
18.	Brandon Krone	Minnesota	Senior	12-10	NQ
19.	Dean Sherry	Rider	Senior	19-11	NQ
20.	Andrew Morgan	Campbell	Junior	18-9	—

184 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Myles Martin	Ohio State	Senior	31-3	2nd
2.	Emery Parker	Illinois	Senior	28-4	3rd
3.	Taylor Venz	Nebraska	Soph.	29-9	4th
4.	Zack Zavatsky	Virginia Tech	Senior	31-8	6th
5.	Shakur Rasheed	Penn State	Senior	24-5	7^th/197
6.	Chip Ness	North Carolina	Senior	20-12	7th
7.	Max Dean	Cornell	Soph.	31-6	8th
8.	Ryan Preisch	Lehigh	Senior	16-4	NQ
9.	Drew Foster	Northern Iowa	Senior	26-6	NQ
10.	Nick Reenan	North Carolina State	Junior	redshirted	2017 NQ/174
11.	Nick Gravina	Rutgers	Senior	19-7	NQ
12.	Dakota Geer	Oklahoma State*	Soph.	redshirted	2017 NQ
13.	Cash Wilcke	Iowa	Junior	21-9	NQ/174
14.	Canten Marriott	Missouri	Soph.	26-8	NQ
15.	CJ LaFragola	Brown	Senior	21-10	NQ
16.	Martin Mueller	South Dakota State	Junior	26-8	NQ
17.	Kordell Norfleet	Arizona State	Soph.	12-13	NQ
18.	Corey Hazel	Lock Haven	Junior	24-10	NQ
19.	Sam Colbray	Iowa State	Soph.	reserve	—
20.	Kayne MacCallum	Oklahoma*	Soph.	18-15	NQ

* – transfer

197 pounds

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Bo Nickal	Penn State	Senior	31-0	1^st/184
2.	Kollin Moore	Ohio State	Junior	27-4	4th
3.	Kyle Conel	Kent State	Senior	30-11	3rd
4.	Jacob Holschlag	Northern Iowa	Junior	23-12	5th
5.	Ben Darmstadt	Cornell	Soph.	33-4	6th
6.	Willie Miklus	Iowa State*	Senior	25-6	8th
7.	Preston Weigel	Oklahoma State	Senior	11-4	NQ
8.	Chris Weiler	Lehigh	Soph.	17-10	NQ
9.	Eric Schultz	Nebraska	Soph.	20-11	NQ
10.	CJ Brunner	Purdue	Junior	24-11	NQ
11.	Patrick Brucki	Princeton	Soph.	29-10	NQ
12.	Nathan Traxler	Stanford	Soph.	19-12	NQ
13.	Rocco Caywood	Army	Senior	20-14	NQ
14.	Corey Griego	Oregon State	Senior	21-7	NQ
15.	Tom Sleigh	Virginia Tech*	Senior	redshirted	3-time NQ
16.	Stephen Loiseau	Drexel	Senior	32-12	NQ
17.	Malik McDonald	North Carolina State	Senior	reserve	2017 NQ
18.	Jacob Seely	Northern Colorado	Junior	16-11	NQ
19.	Wyatt Koelling	Missouri	Soph.	reserve	NQ
20.	Greg Bulsak	Clarion	Soph.	21-9	NQ

* – transfers

Heavyweight

Rk.	Name	School	Year	’17-18 W-L	’18 NCAA
1.	Sam Stoll	Iowa	Senior	25-6	5th
2.	Nick Nevills	Penn State	Senior	30-7	7th
3.	Youssif Hemida	Maryland	Senior	30-8	8th
4.	Derek White	Oklahoma State	Senior	25-4	NQ
5.	Tanner Hall	Arizona State	Senior	22-8	NQ
6.	Jordan Wood	Lehigh	Soph.	22-7	NQ
7.	Jere Heino	Campbell	Senior	27-7	NQ
8.	Bill Miller	Virginia Tech*	Senior	18-6	NQ
9.	Thomas Haines	Lock Haven	Senior	20-7	NQ
10.	Shawn Streck	Purdue	Soph.	30-15	NQ
11.	Jeramy Sweany	Cornell	Senior	21-8	NQ
12.	Cory Daniel	North Carolina	Senior	23-9	NQ
13.	Conan Jennings	Northwestern	Senior	25-12	NQ
14.	Matt Stencel	Central Michigan	Soph.	28-15	NQ
15.	Jake Gunning	Buffalo	Senior	17-8	NQ
16.	Antonio Pelusi	Franklin & Marshall	Senior	26-10	NQ
17.	A.J. Nevills	Fresno State	Soph.	26-10	NQ
18.	Matt Voss	George Mason	Senior	24-13	NQ
19.	Joey Goodhart	Drexel	Senior	redshirted	2-time NQ
20.	Cary Miller	App. State	Junior	19-9	—