Weekly Review of Rankings, 3/10/26 -- Final Review of the Season

Week 16 of the rankings, and the rankings that reflect things after the conference championships. It's also the final review of the season, as most services don't generated rankings after NCAAs. P.J. Duke was the biggest mover for PSU, going up to #1 in every ranking by WrestleStat. Cole Misarola was the next biggest moved, as he dropped a small bit in most of the rankings at 285. Lastly, Marcus Blaze held steady in several polls, and moved down in others, so that both of his Averages moved down 1 place. Having 7 PSU guys ranked #1 in both of the Averages is something that I fear we're just taking for granted, and not appreciating just how special it is.

Years ago in the Weekly Review, I used to highlight the biggest deviations for PSU wrestlers amongst the ranking services. I still point it out in some weeks, but overall I've kind of gotten away from that. As this is the final review, I will take a look at that in this review.

Lilledahl: every service has him #1 except the Dual Impact Index, which has him #2
Blaze: every service has him #2 or #3, except for WrestleStat, which has him #5
Davis: there is a range in his rankings. AWN has him 10th (his best), while WIN Mag and Dual Impact Index have him 15th. The other services have him between those two numbers
SVN: every single service has him #1
Duke: every service has him #1 except for WrestleStat, which has him #3
Mesenbrink: every service has him #1
Haines: every service has him #1
Welsh: every service has him #1 except WIN Mag, which has him #2
Barr: every service has him #1
Mirasola: like Davis, there is a range in his rankings. Flo and AWN have him 7th, while WIN Mag has him 11th. The other services have him between those two numbers

Some of the services removed their Dual rankings, as the regular season has been over for a few weeks. For those services that included that data in their rankings, I removed it from the Review. I also point out that the NWCA Coaches Poll is only generated during the regular season, though I kept their last one in this Review, for consistency.

A reminder that: 1) different services treat freshman (RS or True) differently at the beginning of the season, 2) different services rank a differing number of prospects per weight class, and 3) computer generated rankings usually are off a good bit at the beginning of the season.

A reminder that parenthesis are listed at the end of each line to show what the ranking was for PSU in last week's rankings.


InterMat
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 2nd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 13th (14th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (4th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 8th (5th)
Tournament - 1st (1st)


FloWrestling
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 2nd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 14th (14th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (4th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levin Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 7th (5th)
Tournament - 1st (1st)
P4P: Mesenbrink - 1st (1st), Haines - 3rd (3rd), Van Ness - 4th (5th), Barr - 6th (7th), Welsh - 10th (14th), Lilledahl - 14th (18th), PJ Duke - 17th (not ranked)


The Open Mat
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 3rd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 11th (11th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: P.J. Duke - 1st (6th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 8th (5th)
Tournament - 1st (1st)
P4:: Mesenbrink - 1st (1st), Haines - 2nd (2nd), Barr - 4th (4th), Van Ness - 6th (7th), Lilledahl - 7th (not ranked), Welsh - 8th (not ranked), Duke - 9th (not ranked)


WIN Magazine
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 3rd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 15th (10th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (2nd)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 2nd (2nd)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 11th (11th)
Tournament - 1st (1st)


National Wrestling Coaches Association Coaches Poll -- I believe they only post during the regular season
PSU - 1st (1st)


Amateur Wrestling News
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 3rd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 10th (10th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (6th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 7th (5th)


The College Wrestling Report
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 2nd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 11th (11th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (4th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 8th (7th)
Tournament - 1st (1st)


WrestlingByPirate Dual Impact Index
125: Luke Lilledahl - 2nd (2nd)
133: Marcus Blaze - 2nd (2nd), Kyison Garcia - 30th (33rd)
141: Braeden Davis - 15th (15th), Aaron Nagao - 34th (35th), Cael Nasdeo - 53rd (50th), Kyison Garcia - 57th (57th), Hayden Cunningham - 58th (58th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st), Connor Pierce - 5th (5th), Dalton Perry - 43rd (48th)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (3rd), Joe Sealey - 11th (10th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st), Sam Beckett - 40th (35th)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st), William Henckel - 15th (18th), Sam Beckett - 59th (61st), Sean Degl - 75th (76th)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st), Asher Cunningham - 3rd (3rd)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st), Connor Mirasola - 5th (4th), Mason Ellis - 50th (51st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 8th (8th), Lucas Cochran - 9th (8th), Dawson Bundy - 59th (57th)
P4P: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 2nd (2nd), Josh Barr - 4th (4th), PJ Duke - 6th (11th), Shayne Van Ness - 7th (9th), Levi Haines - 9th (15th), Luke Lilledahl - 10th (12th), Rocco Welsh - 13th (17th), Marcus Blaze - 18th (13th), Cole Mirasola - 86th (86th), Braeden Davis - 150th (161st)
Tournament Strength - 1st (1st)


WrestleStat
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 5th (3rd), Kyison Garcia - 90th (87th), Masanosuke Ono - 228th (228th)
141: Nathan Desmond - 9th (8th), Braeden Davis - 11th (11th), Aaron Nagao - 14th (14th), Cael Nasdeo - 88th (88th), Hayden Cunningham - 114th (111th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st), Connor Pierce - 20th (19th), Dalton Perry - 77th (73rd), Brock Weiss - 209th (212th)
157: Tyler Kasak - 2nd (2nd), PJ Duke - 3rd (6th), Joe Sealey - 32nd (32nd)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st), Sam Beckett - 80th (80th), Ty Watson - 123rd (123rd)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st), William Henckel - 15th (16th), Sean Degl - 114th (113th)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st), Asher Cunningham - 11th (11th)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st), Connor Mirasola - 15th (15th), Mason Ellis - 56th (55th)
285: Cole Mirasola - 10th (8th), Lucas Cochran - 23rd (21st), Dawson Bundy - 93rd (93rd)
Tournament - 1st (1st)


As a reminder, it's Average Without Computer Rankings, and Average With Computer Rankings. The Average Without is an average of everything except the Dual Impact Index, and WrestleStat. The Average With includes the aforementioned. Also, while it's not currently a factor, the criteria is that a wrestler must be listed in at least half of the rankings to be included in the Averages.

I do give the Computer Generated Rankings some credit. While their rankings are listed multiple times in the examination of deviations above, the Average Without and the Average With have identical rankings. At the end of the season, the two Averages should be virtually identical, unless once component has vastly different numbers.

Average Without Computer Rankings
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 3rd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 12th (12th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (4th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 8th (6th)
Tournament - 1st (1st)

Average With Computer Rankings
125: Luke Lilledahl - 1st (1st)
133: Marcus Blaze - 3rd (2nd)
141: Braeden Davis - 12th (12th)
149: Shayne Van Ness - 1st (1st)
157: PJ Duke - 1st (4th)
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink - 1st (1st)
174: Levi Haines - 1st (1st)
184: Rocco Welsh - 1st (1st)
197: Josh Barr - 1st (1st)
285: Cole Mirasola - 8th (7th)
Tournament - 1st (1st)

Well, it took some time to complete the Review, but I finally was able to do so. WIN Mag's headline for their rankings lead me to believe it was their predictions for NCAAs (which I guess in a way it is), which kind of mislead me.

The rankings are complete, and the Averages have been generated.

I provided a little bit of additional information in this Weekly Review, since it's the final one of the 2025-26 season.

I have fun doing this each week, and I hope this Review, and the Reviews over the season, provided you with some good info, and also generated some questions and debate.

I didn't have a perfect thread to post this, so I'm placing it.

@Kozak -- I always enjoy contrasts, or look backs, like this.