All-Americans Hildebrandt and Massa among seven newcomers to WIN’s Jan. 10 TPI and Rankings

Photos: Top, Penn State’s Drew Hildebrandt defeated Indiana’s Jacob Moran in a 125-pound match last Sunday in State College, Pa., after transferring from Central Michigan, where he finished fourth in last year’s NCAAs. Hildebrandt also won a match against Maryland last weekend and he is ranked No. 8 in WIN’s rankings. Bottom photo: Logan Massa (right), who earned a pair of All-American honors (3rd at 165 in 2017 and fifth last March at 174) in his first five years at Michigan, saw his first action last weekend and is rated No. 6 by WIN.

NEWTON, Iowa — Seven wrestlers, including two former All-Americans in Drew Hildebrandt and Logan Massa, had success last week to earn national rankings for the first time this winter in WIN Magazine’s Jan. 10 Tournament Power Index and Team/Individual Rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic.

Hildebrandt, a former All-American from Central Michigan, made his debut for No. 1 Penn State at 125 pounds last weekend and is rated No. 8 in this week’s rankings. Hildebrandt, who finished fourth nationally for the Chippewas in 2021, joins six other Top-8 ranked PSU wrestlers — including four No. 1s: Roman Bravo-Young (133), Nick Lee (141), Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (184)  — as the Nittany Lions earned 112.5 TPI points in this week’s poll.

Like Hildebrandt, Massa earned another year of eligibility from the NCAA because of the pandemic after claiming two All-American honors — third in 2017 at 165 and fifth last March at 174 — for the Wolverines. The graduate student, now in his sixth year in Ann Arbor, is ranked sixth at 174. Overall, Michigan ranks third in WIN’s Tournament Power Index with 73 points and features a ranked wrestler at each weight. One the most notable names among their six Top-8 wrestlers is Nick Suriano, the former NCAA champ from Rutgers, who held onto his No. 2 ranking at 125 with his first match in a Wolverine singlet last weekend.

Defending national champion Iowa, ranked second behind Penn State in both WIN’s Dual rankings and TPI, also feature a ranked wrestler at each weight class as Abe Assad rejoined the rankings at No. 17 at 184 pounds. The Hawkeyes, who have 84 TPI points, have two wrestlers ranked as high as No. 2: Jaydin Eierman (141) and Michael Kemerer (174), who saw his first action of the season last weekend for the Hawkeyes.

WIN’s Tournament Power Index predicts approximately how many NCAA points a team could score in Detroit in March at the Division I Championships based on where their individuals are ranked at this point in the season. Excluding bonus points, the TPI is based on numbers associated with individual placements/rankings based on our current rankings below: 20 points for 1^st, 16 for 2^nd, 13.5 for 3^rd, 12.5 for 4^th, 10 for 5^th, 9 for 6^th, 6.5 for 7^th and 5.5 for 8^th. Wrestlers ranked 9-12 earn two points each, followed by 1.5 points for wrestlers ranked 13-16 and 1 point for those ranked 17-20.

Another newcomer to this week’s rankings was Pitt’s Cole Matthews (No. 16 at 141). The Panther moved into that spot after upsetting Michigan’s Stevan Micic. Meanwhile, the 174-pound weight class welcomed Purdue’s Gerrit Nijenhuis and Wisconsin’s Andrew McNally to WIN’s weekly rankings, while Lehigh’s A.J. Burkhart earned a No. 20 ranking at 184 pounds.

WIN Magazine’s Jan. 10 Tournament Power Index

WIN Magazine’s Jan. 10 Dual Rankings

WIN Magazine’s Jan. 10 Individual Rankings

125 pounds

133 pounds

141 pounds

149 pounds

157 pounds

165 pounds

174 pounds

184 pounds

197 pounds

Heavyweight