Braeden Davis rises in rankings despite suffering loss in return from injury

Braeden Davis went 1-1 over the weekend in the duals against Ohio State and Illinois in his first action since returning from a three-week absence with an injury. Despite splitting the duals, the Penn State wrestling sophomore moved up one spot in the latest InterMat rankings, going from No. 8 to No. 7.

Davis started the weekend with an 8-5 victory over No. 11 Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State on Friday night. The win wasn’t without controversy, however, as Bouzakis appeared to have scored two near-fall points with a reversal before it was reviewed and taken off the board. The most impressive part of the win was how Davis fought off a flurry of attacks by Bouzakis in the final 30 seconds of the match to come out on top.

Sunday was a different story, as Davis lost to No. 4 Lucas Byrd of Illinois by a 7-1 decision. Byrd controlled the pace right from the start, never letting Davis get anything going offensively. The match was close to being a major decision, but the referees determined that a late shot from Byrd wasn’t quite enough to award the takedown.

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Davis appeared somewhat gassed by the third period in both duals, showing that the sophomore still may be working back to 100% after battling injury for most of the last month.

Davis’s new ranking isn’t so much because of what he did on the mat but rather what happened around him. Zeth Romney of Cal Poly plummeted seven spots from No. 2 to No. 9 after falling twice, first to unranked Markel Baker (Northern Illinois) and then to No. 8 Nasir Bailey (Little Rock). While the weekend may not have been perfect by Davis’s standards, it was still an improvement in the national picture.

Looking ahead towards the Big Ten Championships

Braeden Davis broke onto the national scene after winning the Big Ten Championship at 125 pounds last season. With only two losses at the time, the postseason performance was enough to earn the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Championships.

Although he was eliminated in the round of 12, it was still a season many in the media did not see coming from the true freshman. This year, there is less surprise around the sophomore’s status within the 133-pound weight class heading into March. He has hovered around the All-American bubble all season, but has shown flashes that he could make a deeper run at the NCAAs in a month.

Six Big Ten wrestlers are in the top 12 of the InterMat rankings at 133 pounds. Davis ranks behind three of them: No. 2 Drake Ayala (Iowa), No. 3 Lucas Byrd (Illinois), and No. 5 Braxton Brown (Maryland). Held out when Penn State wrestling faced Iowa and Maryland, Davis has only faced Byrd this season.

But if Davis can win the Big Ten once again this year, a top-three seed at Nationals is almost guaranteed with the amount of quality wins he would have to pick up along the way. However, health will be the key for any run down the stretch. With the regular season finale against American on the horizon, it’ll be interesting to see if Cael Sanderson chooses to test the battle-worn sophomore or uses to opportunity as a tune-up for the postseason.

Penn State wrestling will take on American Friday night inside Rec Hall. The match will stream live on BTN+ at 7 p.m.

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