Oklahoma State’s Olejnik and Stanford’s Provo make biggest jumps in WIN’s Dec. 4 Rankings

Photos: Izzak Olejnik (left) of Oklahoma State and Stanford’s Nico Provo were among the 10 individual winners at last weekend’s Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. With those wins, each wrestler moved up to No. 2 in their respective weight classes of 165 and 125 pounds. (Sam Janicki photos)

NEWTON, Iowa — NCAA Division I college wrestling started the month of December with a bang, especially at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where there were plenty of upsets, which impacted WIN Magazine’s Dec. 4 rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic.

While all 10 No.1-ranked individual remained on top of their weight classes, there were plenty of other changes.

Among the more notable changes to this week’s rankings saw Oklahoma State’s Issak Olejnik (165) and Stanford’s Nico Provo (125) move up to No. 2 in their weight classes after winning individual titles in Las Vegas last weekend. Olejnik, a senior transfer from Northern Illinois, was ranked fourth a week ago, while Provo, a sophomore, climbed all the way from a No. 20 ranking on Nov. 27.

Also, there are 14 individual newcomers to these rankings.

In the team rankings, defending champ Penn State holds a big lead in WIN’s Tournament Power Index (TPI), which predicts how high a team would finish in this year’s NCAA Division I Championships based on a point total associated with individual placement and advancement points that could be scored in the 2024 NCAAs.

The following is a breakdown of those points: 20 for 1st place, 16 for 2nd, 13.5 for 3rd, 12.5 for 4th, 10 for 5th, 9 for 6th, 6.5 for 7th and 5.5 for 8th. Wrestlers ranked 9-12 earn two points each, followed by one and a half points for wrestlers ranked 13-16 and one point for those ranked 17-20.

Also, it should be noted that WIN’s individual rankings are not necessarily simply an update of recent wins and losses, but more of a prediction at this point in the season of where wrestlers would be seeded at the 2024 NCAAs, which will be held in Kansas City, Mo., next March, if that event was held now.

The Nittany Lions feature nine ranked wrestlers for 144.5 TPI points, followed by NC State (79.5), Missouri and Nebraska (66 points each) and Cornell (64.5).

Penn State, which opened its dual-meet season with a victory over Lehigh this past weekend, is also rated No. 1 in WIN’s first dual-team rankings of the season. The other Top-5 dual teams are No. 2 NC State (7-0), No. 3 Missouri (2-0), No. 4 Iowa (4-0) and No. 5 Ohio State (4-0).

WIN’s Dec. 4 Dual-Team Rankings

WIN Magazine’s Dec. 4 Tournament Power Index (TPI)

WIN Magazine’s Dec. 4 Individual Rankings

125 pounds 

133 pounds  

141 pounds 

149 pounds                                                                                                 

157 pounds 

165 pounds                                                                                                 

174 pounds                                                                                                 

184 pounds 

197 pounds   

Heavyweight