UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team (5-0, 1-0) remains the top-ranked team in the country in the Dec. 15 release of InterMat Wrestling’s Tournament Power Index (TPI). Head coach Cael Sanderson’s squad also tops InterMat’s Dual Meet Rankings. This marks the eighth straight week that Penn State, with nine ranked individuals, holds the No. 1 spot in the TPI.
Penn State sits in the No. 1 spot with 113 points while Oklahoma State is in second at 103.5. Iowa is third at 100.0 while Cornell is fourth with 73.0. Virginia Tech sits in fifth with 72.0.
Senior Morgan McIntosh is ranked No. 1 at 197 and is 8-0 on the year and sophomore Zain Retherford is ranked No. 1 at 149 with a 9-0 mark to lead Penn State’s nine ranked wrestlers. Red-shirt freshman Jason Nolf is ranked No. 3 at 157 with a 10-0 record and senior Nico Megaludis is ranked No. 4 at 125 with a 9-1 mark. Red-shirt freshman Bo Nickal is ranked No. 5 at 174 with a 10-0 record, giving Penn State five wrestlers ranked in the top five.
Junior All-American Jimmy Gulibon is ranked No. 6 at 141 at 5-2 while senior All-American Jordan Conaway is ranked No. 6 at 133 with an 8-1 record. Sophomore Matt McCutcheon is ranked No. 13 at 184 with a 7-1 record. Junior Geno Morelli makes his rankings debut as a Nittany Lion with a No. 19 nod at 165 and is 11-2 on the year.
Penn State is now 5-0 on the year, 1-0 in Big Ten dual meets. Sanderson’s squad heads to Rider University in New Jersey for a Saturday dual meet with the Broncs. The dual begins at 4 p.m. and will air live on TCN.