The 2025-2026 college wrestling season hit a new milestone on Thursday. The second NCAA Coaches’ rankings of the year are now out, as are the first RPI rankings.
This is the middle of the former installment; the first came out on Jan. 29, the third will come out on Feb. 26, and the final version is out on March 9. They play a role in determining both the number of automatic bids each conference receives for the NCAA Tournament (which comes out on the 26th, as well) and the seeding for the nationals, which starts with at-large selections on the ninth and concludes with the bracket show on March 11.
Here is where each Penn State wrestler is in the second coaches’ rankings of the year:
Luke Lilledahl: No. 2 at 125 pounds behind only Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis.
Marcus Blaze: No. 3 behind Lucas Byrd of Illinois and Ben Davion of Ohio State, respectively.
Braeden Davis: No. 13 at 141 pounds
Shayne Van Ness: No. 1 at 149 pounds.
PJ Duke: No. 3 behind Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon and Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor, respectively., at 157 pounds
Mitchell Mesenbrink: No. 1 at 165 pounds.
Levi Haines: No. 1 at 174 pounds.
Rocco Welsh: No. 1 at 184 pounds
Josh Barr: No. 1 at 197 pounds.
Cole Mirasola: No. 9 at 285 pounds
Where is each Nittany Lion in the RPI rankings?
First, an explainer from the NCAA:
“The RPI is a calculation that consists of three factors: winning percentage, opponent winning percentage (strength of schedule) and opponent’s opponent winning percentage (opponent’s strength of schedule). Only matches against Division I opponents at the designated weight class count towards the RPI and a wrestler needs to have wrestled 15 matches to be ranked.”
Here’s where each Penn State wrestler is:
Luke Lilledahl: No. 1 at 125 pounds
Marcus Blaze: No. 1 at 133 pounds
Braeden Davis: Not yet able to be ranked at the 141 pounds due to only having 10 matches
Shayne Van Ness: No. 3 at 149 pounds behind Jaxon Joy of Cornell and Ethan Stiles of Ohio State, respectively
Top 10
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PJ Duke: No. 1 at 157 pounds
Mitchell Mesenbrink: No. 2 at 165 pounds behind Matty Bianchi of Little Rock
Levi Haines: No. 2 at 174 pounds behind Christopher Minto of Nebraska.
Rocco Welsh: No. 1 at 184 pounds
Josh Barr: Does not yet have 15 matches at 197 pounds (14-0 on the year)
Cole Mirasola: No. 11 at 285 pounds
What changed between the first and second Coaches’ rankings?
You can review our full look at the first set of rankings below:
Luke Lilledahl: No. 2 at 125 pounds behind only Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis.
Marcus Blaze: No. 3 at 133 pounds behind Illinois’ Lucas Byrd and Ohio State’s Ben Davino.
Braeden Davis: No. 10 at 141 pounds behind a number of wrestlers, including No. 1 Jesse Mendez of Ohio State and No. 4 Brock Hardy of Nebraska, among others.
Shayne Van Ness: No. 1 at 149 pounds.
PJ Duke: No. 2 at 157 pounds behind Brandon Cannon of Ohio State.
Mitchell Mesenbrink: No. 1 at 165 pounds.
Levi Haines: No. 1 at 174 pounds.
Rocco Welsh: No. 1 at 184 pounds
Josh Barr: No. 1 at 197 pounds.
Cole Mirasola: No. 9 at 285 pounds behind the likes of No. 1 Yonger Bastida of Iowa State and No. AJ Ferrari of Nebraska.
Looking ahead for Penn State
Penn State wrestlers have two final chances to improve their rankings before the postseason. The first comes on Friday, when the No. 1 Nittany Lions host No. 2 Ohio State at the Bryce Jordan Center. The match starts at 7 p.m. ET on BTN. Then, head coach Cael Sanderson’s team will wrap up its regular season by hosting Princeton on Fri., Feb. 20. That non-conference match starts at 7 p.m. ET. It will stream live on BTN+ from Rec Hall.
