Penn State's Early Wrestling Rankings? 'Whatever,' Cael Sanderson Says
The NCAA this week released its first edition of the 2024 coaches wrestling rankings, which often elicits strong responses, except from Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson. Four of his top wrestlers didn't even appear in the first set of rankings, and only four Nittany Lions were ranked. "That's just, whatever," Sanderson told reporters at his weekly media availability in State College on Tuesday.
Yes, three-time national champs Carter Starocci (174 pounds) and Aaron Brooks (197) were not part of the first rankings, nor were returning NCAA runnerups Levi Haines (157) and Greg Kerkvliet (285). The reason? According to the NCAA, wrestlers must have completed at least eight Division I bouts to be considered for the rankings. As a result, Starocci (7-0) and Kerkvliet (7-0) didn't reach the threshold, while Brooks (8-0) and Haines (9-0) did but were left out of the rankings. In fact, six of Penn State's wrestlers did not make the initial set of rankings.
Though that doesn't matter yet, the coaches rankings do factor into the seeds for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Wrestlers at nationals are seeded based on the rankings, head-to-head competition, quality wins and an RPI (rating percentage index), among other factors. The NCAA seeds can be interesting. Last year, for instance, Brooks was the No. 3 seed at 184 pounds despite being a two-time NCAA champ. Why? Largely because he was just 12-1 entering nationals.
To gauge a better sense of where Penn State stands, here's a look at the Nittany Lions in the latest InterMat Wrestling rankings. Penn State is ranked in all 10 weight classes, with nine in the top 10:
125: Braeden Davis (12-0) rocketed from No. 14 to No. 4 after a pair of wins vs. Michigan and Michigan State.
133: Aaron Nagao (8-2) dropped one spot to No. 5 following his sudden-victory loss to Michigan's Dylan Ragusin.
141: Beau Bartlett (12-0) remained at No. 2 behind Iowa's Real Woods.
149: Tyler Kasak (6-1) did not wrestle on the Michigan road trip and stayed at No. 12.
157: Levi Haines (9-0) retained the top spot ahead of Iowa's Jared Franek. However, Franek is No. 1 in the coaches' rankings.
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink (13-0) improved two spots to No. 7 after a pair of wins over top-10 opponents on the Michigan trip.
174: Carter Starocci (7-0) is the clear No. 1 here, even if he didn't wrestle last weekend because of an illness.
184: Bernie Truax (7-1) held firm at No. 5 with a pair of weekend wins.
197: Aaron Brooks (8-0) added two more technical falls to his resume (he has five) to retain the No. 1 spot.
285: Greg Kerkvliet (7-0) defeated Michigan's fourth-ranked Lucas Davison to retain the No. 1 position.
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