UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Oct. 17, 2018 – 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 (Evansville, Ind.), 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 (Mantorville, Minn.), who wrestled unattached in open tournaments, begins the season ranked No. 16 at 149. Senior defending NCAA Champion Jason Nolf (Yatesboro, Pa.) is ranked No. 1 at 157. Junior defending NCAA Champion Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is ranked No. 1 at 165.
Junior two-time finalist and '17 NCAA Champion Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) is ranked No. 2 at 174. Senior Shakur Rasheed (Coram, N.Y.), 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 (Allen, Texas) is ranked No. 1 at 197. Senior heavyweight Nick Nevills (Clovis, Calif.), who earned his second All-America honor with a seventh place finish last year, is ranked No. 2 at 285.
Penn State's season begins on Sunday, Nov. 11, when the Nittany Lions host No. 25 Kent State in Rec Hall at 2 p.m. The dual will be preceded by the raising of last year's National Championship banner.
The 2018-19 Penn State wrestling season is sponsored by The Family Clothesline. Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.
