Penn State’s Bartlett takes over top spot at 141 in WIN’s Feb. 5 rankings

Photo: Penn State’s Beau Bartlett (right) edged Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez, 4-1 in sudden victory at 141 pounds last Friday night in State College. The Nittany Lion will be ranked No. 1 by WIN when his top-ranked team will face No. 3 Iowa this Friday in Iowa City, where Bartlett should meet the Hawkeyes’ Real Woods who was No. 1 last week before getting upset at Michigan. (Photo by Mark Selders, Penn State Athletics)

NEWTON, Iowa — Penn State’s Beau Bartlett has taken over the top spot at 141 pounds in WIN Magazine’s Feb. 5 rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic.

This advancement by the Nittany Lion comes after he defeated Ohio State’s No. 3 Jesse Mendez last weekend … and before Penn State travels to face Iowa this Friday in Iowa City, where Bartlett is scheduled to meet No. 2 Real Woods. The Hawkeye senior was ranked No. 1 at 141 before he was upset by Michigan’s Sergio Lemley last weekend.

Overall, Penn State (8-0) leads both WIN’s dual rankings and Tournament Power Index with 137.5 points as the Nittany Lions features 10 ranked wrestlers, including four other No. 1-ranked wrestlers: Levi Haines (157), Carter Starocci (174), Aaron Brooks (197) and Greg Kerkvliet (Hwt).

Oklahoma State (12-0), coming off a road victory over Missouri, remains the only other undefeated dual team in NCAA Division I wrestling and is ranked second in both WIN’s dual rankings and TPI with 65.5 points. The Cowboys also feature 10 ranked wrestlers, including seniors like Daton Fix (2^nd/133), Izzak Olejnik (4^th/165) and Dustin Plott (2^nd/184) and four freshmen: Troy Spratley (7^th/125), Tagen Jamison (7^th/141), Jordan Williams (20^th/149) and Brayden Thompson (20^th/174). (Plott does have an additional COVID year of eligibility remaining.)

Iowa and Iowa State are both ranked third and fourth, respectively, in both the dual rankings and TPI. Missouri is ranked No. 5 in the dual rankings, while Michigan is rated fifth in the TPI.

WIN’s TPI predicts how high a team would finish in this year’s NCAA Division I Championships based on a point total associated with individual placement and advancement points that could be scored at the 2024 NCAAs.

The following is a breakdown of those points: 20 for 1st place, 16 for 2nd, 13.5 for 3rd, 12.5 for 4th, 10 for 5th, 9 for 6th, 6.5 for 7th and 5.5 for 8th. Wrestlers ranked 9-12 earn two points each, followed by one and a half points for wrestlers ranked 13-16 and one point for those ranked 17-20.

Also, it should be noted that WIN’s individual rankings are not necessarily simply an update of recent wins and losses, but more of a prediction at this point in the season of where wrestlers would be seeded at the 2024 NCAAs, which will be held in Kansas City, Mo., in March, if that event was held now.

 WIN Magazine’s Feb. 5 Dual-Team Rankings

WIN Magazine’s Feb. 5 Tournament Power Index

WIN Magazine’s Feb. 5 Individual Rankings

125 pounds  

133 pounds  

141 pounds

149 pounds

157 pounds   

165 pounds      

174 pounds   

184 pounds 

197 pounds  

Heavyweight