No. 1 Penn State, No. 3 Iowa share Big Ten dual title; Top 19 in NWCA Coaches Poll unchanged

Manheim, Pennsylvania - Two of the nation’s last three unbeaten teams in Division I, Penn State and Iowa, clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season championship with conference wins over the weekend. Penn State (13-0) remained No. 1 in the nation, while Iowa (14-0) remained third in the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll released on Tuesday.

Second-ranked Oklahoma State (14-0) will face Iowa on Sunday at historic Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Penn State beat then-No. 24 Illinois 39-9 and Michigan State 37-10 to finish up its conference slate. The Nittany Lions will host Buffalo at Rec Hall to close out the regular season on Sunday.

Oklahoma State ended No. 5 Missouri’s 35-match win streak on Saturday with a 19-15 win in Columbia in front of a record crowd at the Hearnes Center. Missouri crushed its previous attendance record as 4,721 fans saw the dual come down to overtime in the final bout.

Iowa will go into Stillwater on the strength of a pair of weekend wins. The Hawkeyes trounced host Wisconsin 35-2 and Indiana 37-9. Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 28-22-2. No. 4 Michigan improved to 12-1 and finished its Big Ten season with an 8-1 record. The Wolverines headed east and beat Maryland 34-4 and No. 18 Rutgers 28-7. Highlighting the win over Rutgers was a key clash at 133 pounds where top-ranked Stevan Micic of Michigan beat Nick Suriano 3-2 in a matchup between returning NCAA finalists. Suriano was second a year ago at 125 pounds.

No. 6 Ohio State (11-2) doubled up with Big Ten wins over the weekend. The Buckeyes beat then-No. 20 Purdue 34-3 before topping No. 7 Nebraska 21-12 in Columbus. No. 8 Minnesota (14-3) beat Indiana 34-3 in Minneapolis.

Ninth-ranked Cornell (13-2) headed into ACC territory and came away with a pair of victories. The Big Red edged No. 14 Virginia Tech 17-16 on criteria on Friday night before beating No. 13 North Carolina 29-5 in Chapel Hill. Also in the ACC, No. 10 NC State beat North Carolina 20-14, which sets up a final weekend to determine the ACC regular season title. Virginia Tech hosts NC State on Friday night while North Carolina, also 3-1 in conference, will need to beat Duke to claim a share of the title. Virginia Tech did beat No. 22 Virginia at the Moss Arts Center to improve to 9-4.

Other ranked wins were recorded by No. 12 Wyoming (26-19 over Northern Colorado), No. 15 Pittsburgh (20-19 over Duke), No. 19 Princeton (29-6 over Penn), No. 20 Purdue (18-14 over Michigan State), No. 21 Lehigh (28-6 over No. 25 Army West Point) and No. 23 Lock Haven (36-3 over Cleveland State).

The NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll is voted on by two coaches from each Division I wrestling conference. Each first-place vote is worth 25 points, 24 points for a second-place vote, 23 for a third-place vote and so on through to one point for a 25th-place vote.

NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll – February 19, 2019

Rank	Team (First)	Record	Points	Conference	Previous
1	Penn State (15)	13-0	399	Big Ten	1
2	Oklahoma State (1)	14-0	385	Big 12	2
3	Iowa	14-0	368	Big Ten	3
4	Michigan	12-1	350	Big Ten	4
5	Missouri	15-1	333	MAC	5
6	Ohio State	11-2	324	Big Ten	6
7	Nebraska	11-5	291	Big Ten	7
8	Minnesota	14-3	281	Big Ten	8
9	Cornell	13-2	278	EIWA	9
10	NC State	15-3	259	ACC	10
11	Iowa State	10-2	247	Big 12	11
12	Wyoming	16-4	219	Big 12	12
13	North Carolina	11-7	196	ACC	13
14	Virginia Tech	9-4	195	ACC	14
15	Pittsburgh	12-3	183	ACC	15
16	Wisconsin	8-6	155	Big Ten	16
17	Northern Iowa	6-5	145	Big 12	17
18	Rutgers	11-6	139	Big Ten	18
19	Princeton	8-6	111	EIWA	19
20	Lehigh	8-9	82	EIWA	21
21	Lock Haven	9-3	63	EWL	22
22	Purdue	7-9	63	Big Ten	20
23	Virginia	12-9	62	ACC	22
24	Army West Point	7-3	22	EIWA	25
25	Stanford	9-3	15	Pac-12	NR

Others Receiving Votes: Illinois 11, North Dakota State 9, Appalachian State 4, Navy 4, Binghamton 2, Fresno State 2, Oklahoma 2, Buffalo 1
Dropped Out: No. 24 Illinois