Gross & Lugo new No. 1s, Purdue joins Top 10 in WIN’s Jan. 6 Rankings

Photo: Wisconsin’s Seth Gross (left) defeated Iowa’s Austin DeSanto in the 2019 Midlands to take over No. 1 spot at 133 pounds in WIN’s Jan. 6 rankings. Iowa’s Pat Lugo (right) knocked off top-ranked Austin O’Connor for the 149-pound Midlands title and is now rated No. 1 at 149 pounds. (Ginger Robinson photos)

NEWTON, Iowa — Coming off Midlands championships where they knocked off the top-ranked wrestlers at 133 and 149 pounds, Wisconsin’s Seth Gross and Iowa’s Pat Lugo have taken over the top spots at those weight classes in WIN Magazine’s Jan. 6, 2020 Rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic.

Gross, who transferred this year from South Dakota State (where he won an NCAA title in 2018), returned to WIN’s No. 1 ranking at 133 pounds after the Badger senior defeated Iowa’s Austin DeSanto, 6-5, for the 133-pound championship at the Midlands, Dec. 30, in Chicago. This victory also avenged an earlier-season loss to the Hawkeye junior, who held the top spot for a month.

Lugo became the new No. 1-ranked wrestler at 149 pounds after the senior defeated North Carolina’s Austin O’Connor, 8-4, in the finals at this year’s Midlands.

Iowa, which dominated the recent Midlands with five individual champions and a tournament-record 196.5 points, remained the No. 1 team in WIN’s dual team rankings (4-0) and Tournament Power Index. The Hawkeyes continue to feature a ranked wrestler at all 10 weight classes with nine rated in the Top 8 of their weight class, including Spencer Lee No. 1 at 125, and leads the current TPI with 130.5 points.

Penn State, which has not competed as a full team since Dec. 8, remains No. 2 in both the Dual rankings (3-1) and TPI (105). Seven of the eight ranked Nittany Lions are rated in the Top 8, including four wrestlers ranked No. 1: Nick Lee (141), Vincenzo Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174) and Anthony Cassar (Hwt).

Ohio State is ranked No. 3 in the TPI (51) with six ranked wrestlers, including top-ranked Kollin Moore at 197. The other top-ranked wrestler are Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin at 157 pounds and  Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia at 184.

Among the schools making the biggest jump as a team is Purdue, which is tied for fourth place in WIN’s TPI (49) and features five ranked wrestlers; four in the Top 8, including Devin Schroder  (No. 5 at 125 pounds), Kendall Coleman (No. 6 at 157), Dylan Lydy (No. 4 at 174) and Christian Brunner (No. 2 at 197).

WIN’s Tournament Power Index is a prediction of accumulated NCAA points of ranked wrestlers on a respective team associated to where they might place at the 2020 NCAA Championships, March 19-21, in Minneapolis, Minn.

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 points because it does not include bonus points.

WIN Magazine’s Jan. 6, 2020 Dual Team Rankings

WIN Magazine’s Jan. 6, 2020 Tournament Power Index

WIN Magazine’s Jan. 6, 2020 Individual Rankings

125 pounds

133 pounds                                               

141 pounds

149 pounds           

157 pounds           

165 pounds                                               

174 pounds

184 pounds                                   

197 pounds

Heavyweight