Big Ten Wrestling Power Rankings: Is it Penn State Wrestling and everyone else?

Penn State's Carter Starocci, right, wrestles Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis at 174 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.220319 Ncaa Session 6 Wr 056 Jpg
Penn State's Carter Starocci, right, wrestles Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis at 174 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.220319 Ncaa Session 6 Wr 056 Jpg
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Mar 19, 2022; Detroit, MI, USA; Penn State wrestler Roman Bravo-Young celebrates after defeating Oklahoma State wrestler Daton Fix in the 133 pound weight class final match during the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Cesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 19, 2022; Detroit, MI, USA; Penn State wrestler Roman Bravo-Young celebrates after defeating Oklahoma State wrestler Daton Fix in the 133 pound weight class final match during the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Cesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Dual Rank: 1
Record: 0-0
Ranked Wrestlers: 8
133 No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young
141 No. 13 Beau Bartlett
149 No. 25 Shayne Van Ness
165 No. 18 Alex Facundo
174 No. 1 Carter Starocci
184 No. 1 Aaron Brooks
197 No. 1 Max Dean
285 No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet

Remember when I said the Big Ten is going to be a three-horse race in the 2022-2023 season?

Yep, just kidding.

Unless something catastrophic goes wrong, the Big Ten is going to be the Penn State Nittany Lions and everyone else. Period.

Cael Sanderson and his supremely talented coaching staff return four NCAA Champions from the prior season along with Greg Kerkvliet who has to be an odds-on favorite to win the title at 285 (disclaimer: once he crushes Tony Cassioppi later in the season).

It’s also entirely possible Penn State will have huge holes in their lineup at 125 (surprise, surprise) and 157 as Robbie Howard is coming back from another shoulder injury and standout recruit Levi Haines will most likely redshirt.

And guess what? It doesn’t matter.

Beau Bartlett will finally get a chance to be unleashed at his more native weight class and young guns Shayne Van Ness and Alex Facundo are soon to be household names for Nittany Lion fans.

Olympic Gold medalist David Taylor’s M2 Training Center is a very successful wrestling facility, Bo Nickal is making waves in the world of MMA and he has a premier American Top Team MMA training center in Pleasant Gap, Kyle Dake just joined the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, and Cael Sanderson just landed the top wrestling recruit in the 2024 class.

All of this culminates into one thing, Penn State wrestling is the king now in collegiate wrestling and they look to be the king in the foreseeable future because they haven’t shown any signs of slowing down.

The train gets rolling in the 2022-2023 season this Friday (November 11th) as Penn State hosts Lock Haven at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall.