UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lions (0-0, 0-0 B1G), winners of seven of the last eight NCAA titles, will enter the 2018-19 season ranked No. 1 in InterMat's preseason Tournament Power Index (TPI). Eight Nittany Lions are ranked individually, including seven ranked in the top four.
Penn State sits at No. 1 in the preseason team TPI with 140.5 points with Ohio State a distant second with 99.0. Oklahoma State is third with 87.0, Iowa fourth with 86.5 and Michigan fifth with 72.5. The Nittany Lions will wrestle over a third of the preseason top 25 in duals this year. Nine of Penn State's 14 duals are against teams on the top 25 including No. 2 Ohio State, No. 5 Michigan (in the BJC), No. 6 Arizona State, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 10 Lehigh, No. 16 Northwestern, No. 17 Illinois, No. 21 Wisconsin and No. 25 Kent State in the season opener.
Penn State's seven All-Americans and one red-shirt freshman are ranked. InterMat does not rank true freshmen in its preseason release. Sophomore Nick Lee, who placed fifth at 141 last year to become a true freshman All-American, begins the season ranked No. 4 at 141. Red-shirt freshman Brady Berge, who wrestled unattached in open tournaments, begins the season ranked No. 16 at 149. Senior defending NCAA Champion Jason Nolf is ranked No. 1 at 157. Junior defending NCAA Champion Vincenzo Joseph is ranked No. 1 at 165.
Junior two-time finalist and '17 NCAA champion Mark Hall is ranked No. 2 at 174. Senior Shakur Rasheed, who earned his first All-America honor with a seventh place finish at 197 last year, is ranked No. 4 at 184. Senior defending 184-pound NCAA champion Bo Nickal is ranked No. 1 at 197. Senior heavyweight Nick Nevills, who earned his second All-America honor with a seventh place finish last year, is ranked No. 2 at 285.