WIN’s Dec. 2 Rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic

Photo: Austin DeSanto took over the No. 1 spot at 133 pounds this week after the Iowa junior defeated Wisconsin’s Seth Gross, the previous No. 1, by a 6-2 score Sunday night in Iowa City. (Photo by G. Wyatt Schultz) Meanwhile, the 38th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational will take place this weekend in Nevada, where the top two ranked wrestles at 157 and 184 pounds could meet.

NEWTON, Iowa — Iowa’s Austin DeSanto, with his victory on Sunday over Wisconsin’s Seth Gross, has taken over the top spot at 133 pounds in WIN Magazine’s Dec. 2 National Rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic.

The Hawkeye junior, who defeated Gross, the 2018 NCAA champion and previous top-ranked wrestler at 133, is now among ten ranked wrestlers, including nine rated in the Top 8 in their weight classes, for Iowa, which increased its lead in WIN’s Tournament Power Index. That includes two-time defending national champion Spencer Lee (top-ranked at 125 pounds) and both Alex Marinelli (No. 2 at 165) and Anthony Cassioppi (5^that heavyweight) after delivering wins over higher-ranked Wisconsin wrestlers.

Iowa also remains the top-ranked dual-meet team and followed by Penn State in both the team dual and TPI rankings. Ohio State, Nebraska and Oklahoma State are the next three-ranked teams in the TPI, while Nebraska, NC State and Virginia Tech are the remaining top-5 teams in the dual rankings.

While only a handful of school wrestled last week, most return to action this weekend. That includes the Dec. 6-7 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational with wrestlers from the likes of Arizona State, Cornell, Iowa State, Michigan, Minnesota, NC State, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Virginia and Virginia Tech competing.

This tournament includes 60 wrestlers who are ranked in the Top 10 at their weight class, including at 157 pounds, which features the top-three ranked wrestlers: NC State’s Hayden Hidlay, Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin and Iowa State’s David Carr; or at 184 pounds where two-time NCAA champion Zahid Valencia could face Northern Iowa’s No. 2 Taylor Lujan.

WIN’s Tournament Power Index is a prediction of accumulated NCAA points of ranked wrestlers on a respective team associated to where they might place at the 2020 NCAA Championships, March 19-21, in Minneapolis, Minn.

WIN’s TPI point totals are broken down by the following individual rankings: 1st – 20 (16 AA points + 4 advancement points); 2nd – 16 (12+4); 3rd – 13.5 (10+3.5); 4th – 12.5 (9+3.5); 5th – 10 (7+3); 6th – 9 (6+3); 7th – 6.5 (4+2.5); 8th – 5.5 (3+2.5). Additional points for other rankings include: 9th/12th – 2; 13th/16th – 1.5; 17th-20th – 1. TPI points will be lower than the final actual NCAA tournament points because it does not include bonus points.

WIN Magazine’s Dec. 2, 2019 Team Dual Rankings

WIN’s Dec. 2, 2019 Tournament Power Index

WIN’s Dec. 2, 2019 Individual Rankings

125 pounds

133 pounds                                               

141 pounds

149 pounds           

157 pounds           

165 pounds                                               

174 pounds           

184 pounds                                   

197 pounds           

Heavyweight