Three Penn State wrestlers see rankings drop ahead of NCAA seeding

Seeding for the 2025 NCAA Championships is set to be announced on Wednesday night. While Penn State wrestling easily qualified all its competitors for the upcoming national tournament, the Nittany Lions underachieved in last weekend’s Big Ten Championships based purely on expectations.

Those expectations may have been unreachable, but seeding suggested that six Nittany Lions would walk away with conference crowns while two more would have at least made the Finals in Evanston. Ultimately, Penn State sent six wrestlers to the Finals, with five bringing Big Ten titles back to Happy Valley.

True freshman Luke Lilledahl surprised many people by knocking off No. 1 and previously undefeated Matt Ramos (Purdue) in the Big Ten Semifinals on his way to a title at 125. But perhaps more shockingly, top seeds Beau Bartlett (141) and Shayne Van Ness (149) were upset before reaching the championship round. Josh Barr (197) also fell to Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas, a wrestler he defeated during the regular season.

Three Penn State wrestlers fall in updated national rankings

Penn State 133-pounder Braeden Davis © Chris Eutsler / Basic Blues Nation, 2025.

There is plenty of shakeup in the new InterMat rankings for Penn State wrestling following last weekend’s conference tournament. While Lilledahl ascended into the top three of the national rankings at 125, a trio of Nittany Lions all backslid in their respective weight classes.

Braeden Davis (No. 5 to No. 8)

Braeden Davis dropped from No. 5 to No. 8 after a mixed weekend in Evanston. The sophomore 133-pounder went 4-2 with quality wins over then-No. 28 Angelo Rini (Indiana) and No. 4 Braxton Brown (Maryland). Davis was eliminated from the winners’ bracket after a 3-1 Quarterfinals loss to No. 10 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers).

He battled his way back to reach the third-place match, where he lost for the second time via fall to No. 12 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State). The match was certainly one that Davis could have won and was leading for parts of it. But the scrambles that occurred on the ground were clearly in Bouzakis’ favor, and he was able to finish the deal and get Davis to his back for the pin.

Shayne Van Ness (No. 2 to No. 3)

Shayne Van Ness not reaching the Big Ten Finals was one of the biggest shocks for Penn State wrestling. In the initial tournament seeding, Van Ness avoided Kyle Parco (Iowa) and Ridge Lovett (Nebraska), the No. 3 and No. 4 wrestlers nationally. However, the Nittany Lion 149-pounder was upset 4-2 by No. 16 Kannon Webster (Illinois) in the Semifinals. Van Ness had previously majored Webster 15-4 when the two had met in Illinois just three weeks ago.

As a result, Van Ness dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 in the latest InterMat rankings. While the upset was shocking, Van Ness responded nicely, including a 13-0 major decision over Kyle Parco to claim third at 149. Van Ness is 20-2 on the season and primed to be one of the top seeds at the NCAA Championships.

Josh Barr (No. 2 to No. 3)

Josh Barr’s status for next week’s NCAA Championships is still uncertain after he suffered a leg injury early in his consolation match against Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota). Barr had defeated No. 20 Camden McDaniel (Nebraska) in the Quarterfinal before losing to Cardenas. The injury forced Barr to medically forfeit against Salazar and McDaniel in the fifth-place match, ultimately finishing sixth in the tournament. Now, Barr drops one spot in the national rankings, down to No. 3.

Looking ahead, the real question is how healthy will the redshirt freshman be if he does compete at the NCAA Championships? Last season, we saw Carter Starocci battle off a significant leg injury to win a National Championship. While the severity of his injury is unknown, his turnaround time will be much shorter than that of Starocci, who was injured in the regular season finale. Barr’s health will be a critical factor in whether Penn State wrestling can chase the NCAA points record once the action kicks off in Philadelphia next weekend.

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