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NCAA Wrestling Power Rankings: Can anyone stop Penn State Wrestling?

By Chris Snyder

Penn State Wrestling's Aaron Brooks (Image via the Des Moines Register)
Penn State Wrestling's Aaron Brooks (Image via the Des Moines Register) /
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Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole is introduced before wrestling Stanford’s Shane Griffith at 165 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 012 Jpg
Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole is introduced before wrestling Stanford’s Shane Griffith at 165 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 012 Jpg /

No. 4

Missouri

Intermat Tournament Ranking: T5 (49.5)
2023 Dual Meet Record: 8-3
Conference: Big 12

Ranked Wrestlers: 10
125 No. 13 Noah Surtin
133 No. 28 Connor Brown
141 No. 16 Allan Hart
149 No. 7 Brock Mauller
157 No. 10 Jarrett Jacques
165 No. 2 Keegan O’Toole
174 No. 7 Peyton Mocco
184 No. 23 Colton Hawks
197 No. 4 Rocky Elam
285 No. 9 Zach Elam

Despite dropping two narrow losses to both No. 5 Arizona State (19-17) and No. 9 Virginia Tech (17-15), the Tigers rolled through the rest of their early season competition. Missouri won the Tiger Style Invite, downed No. 15 North Datoka State, finished third at the Southern Scuffle, and cruised past No. 13 Northern Iowa.

Then in their dual meet on the road against Oklahoma State, Missouri saw three of their top 10 ranked grapplers fall in upsets. Allan Hart and Jarrett Jacques suffered decision losses to lower ranked wrestlers, however Rocky Elam’s loss to No. 18 Luke Surber was a complete shock. The Tigers ultimately fell to Oklahoma State 17-16.

And on senior night in their last dual meet of the year, the Tigers faced a daunting task as No. 3 Iowa State came to town. But the Missouri wrestlers stepped up to the challenge. Rocky Elam shook off his previous loss by besting a top ten foe, Allan Hart got back in the win column, and Brock Mauller picked up a huge victory against Paniro Johnson.

The amount of firepower the Tigers have and with the difficult schedule they’ve seen so far this year, it’s going to be hard not to have them any lower than No. 4. But as always, time will tell.

The Big 12 Championships are schedule for March 4th and 5th in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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