NCAA Wrestling Top 10 Team Rankings After National Duals Invitational

The 2025-26 NCAA Wrestling kicked into full gear over the weekend with the inaugural National Duals Invitational, a reimagined version of the long-held dual tournament at the end of each season.

This year’s tournament acted, more or less, as a curtain raiser on the new season and gave us a fascinating look into new faces, transfers, and what programs are coming out of the gates hot.

It also produced a surprise winner, as the Ohio State Buckeyes ripped through the field en route to a championship. In doing so, the Buckeyes shot up toward the top of the first NCAA Wrestling team rankings.

NCAA Wrestling Team Rankings Following Big Weekend

Ranking teams can be difficult.

The NCAA Tournament has a format that rewards teams for having elite wrestlers who finish highly and also put up bonus points. Meanwhile, duals can do the same, but even more so, they reward teams who have deep lineups.

Some teams, like the Buckeyes, have both, so they’ll be well up our initial rankings, which take both duals and the NCAA Tournament in March into consideration. But a familiar face still rules the roost.

10) NC State Wolfpack

The Wolfpack entered the tournament as a sleeper pick to make a deep run, and looked good in an opening victory over North Iowa.

Led by defending national champion Vince Robinson, NC State then got off to a strong start in the quarterfinals against Oklahoma State before eventually falling, 23-11.

The Pack then lost again on the backside, this time to ACC rival Virginia Tech, and Robinson also lost to longtime nemesis Eddie Ventresca. That ended NC State’s run toward a top-eight finish.

Veterans Jackson Arrington and Ryan Jack also took losses at the event, while junior Matt Singleton looked impressive throughout at 174 pounds.

9) Virginia Tech Hokies

The aforementioned Hokies wrestled five times over the two days, picking up wins over Wyoming and NC State, while losing to Big Ten foes Illinois and Minnesota (the latter of which they lost to both on the front side and back side).

Ventresca’s win over Robinson would put him in contention for a No. 1 ranking at 125 pounds, but he also lost to Jore Volk of Minnesota twice over the weekend.

Hokies redshirt freshman Dillon Campbell had a strong weekend, going 4-1 at 133 pounds, with his lone loss coming to top-ranked and defending national champ Lucas Byrd of Illinois, 5-2.

Meanwhile, sophomore Sonny Sasso went 4-0, including a major decision victory over returning All-American Joey Novak of Wyoming.

8) Lehigh Mountain Hawks

There’s certainly an argument that Lehigh should be left off this list. After all, the Mountain Hawks went 1-2 and lost to Illinois team that did not make the top 10.

But hear me out.

Lehigh wrestled without stars Ryan Crooham and Luke Stanich, both of whom are working their way back from injury, and sophomore Logan Rozynski picked up one of the bigger wins of the weekend over defending national champion Antrell Taylor of Nebraska at 157 pounds.

Junior heavyweight Nathan Taylor also did not compete for the Mountain Hawks, making it hard to get a true read on how they would have performed with a full lineup.

7) Minnesota Golden Gophers

All told, National Duals were a pretty successful venture for the Golden Gophers. While they got blown out by the Buckeyes in the quarterfinals, they won all four of their other duals, including wins over Virginia Tech (twice) and Missouri.

Volk picked up two big wins over Ventresca and his lone loss came to Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis, while redshirt freshman Charlie Millard went 4-1 on the weekend.

However, top-ranked Max McENelly fell to Missouri redshirt freshman Aeoden Sinclar, a rising star in his own right at 184 pounds, and highly touted 141-pounder Vance VomBaur lost by major decision to top-ranked Jesse Mendez and dropped a close match to Northern Iowa’s Corey Land.

6) Iowa State Cyclones

One of the two big teams not in attendance at this weekend’s event was Iowa State. The Cyclones, by virtue of last year’s finish, didn’t qualify automatically and were not one of the teams randomly drawn in.

However, coach Kevin Dresser has perhaps his deepest roster yet since coming to Des Moines from Virginia Tech, thanks to returning stars such as top-ranked heavyweight Yonger Bastida and brothers Evan and Jacob Froster.

The ‘Clones were also active in the transfer portal, adding Stevo Poulin and Vince Zerban from Northern Colorado as well as Rocky Elam from Missouri.

We’ll learn far more about Iowa State this coming Sunday when they face in-state rival Iowa in the iconic Cy-Hawk dual.

5) Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Huskers had as perplexing a weekend as any team involved in the tournament. They entered as a trendy pick to win it all thanks to a deep lineup led by a pair of national champions and an additional national finalist.

And on day one, you could see why, with comfortable victories over both Lehigh and Michigan.

However, whatever happened overnight was not ideal for Nebraska. The Cornhuskers got absolutely decimated in the semifinals by Ohio State, 33-3.

Both national champs, Antrell Taylor and AJ Ferrari, lost their matches, as did national finalist Brock Hardy – albeit to defending champ Jesse Mendez.

In the third-place match, Hardy lost yet again, this time by major decision to true freshman Sergio Vega, as Nebraska was blown out by Oklahoma State, 33-6.

Nebraska has too much talent and experience to think it won’t get things sorted out. But it was an ugly Sunday for the Huskers.

4) Oklahoma State Cowboys

On one hand, the National Duals Invitational was funded and more or less created by an Oklahoma State booster, and the Cowboys came in, according to many, as favorites.

So losing in the semifinals to Iowa, in somewhat convincing fashion, is a tough look. And multiple Oklahoma State big-name transfers: Richie Figueroa, Casey Swiderwski, Alex Facundo, and Zack Ryder, each lost multiple times.

On the other side of that coin, true freshmen Vega, Landon Robideau, and LaDarion Lockett all looked fantastic, going undefeated throughout the event. Lockett and Vega each picked up victories over returning NCAA finalists, while Robideau scored bonus points in three of his four victories.

The result itself may not be what Pokes fans wanted, but the future is extremely bright in Stillwater.

3) Iowa Hawkeyes

Would Iowa have liked to win the whole thing? Yes, absolutely. Will coaches Tom and Terry Brands take a moral victory from finishing second, even with a win over Oklahoma State? Absolutely not.

But there were certainly some positives to take away for the Hawkeyes.

On one hand, veterans Drake Ayala and Michael Caliendo, both returning NCAA finalists, lost matches that they were favored in, both to freshmen. Caliendo lost in a somewhat contentious fashion to Lockett. Meanwhile, Ayala lost both to Lucas Byrd, who beat him in last year’s NCAA finals, and Ohio State redshirt freshman Ben Davino, who looks every bit like a title contender.

On the other hand, redshirt freshman Angelo Ferrari went undefeated with three wins over top-10 opponents. Transfer Massoma Endene, a three-time NCAA Division III national champion, also went undefeated up at 197 pounds, and second-ranked Patrick Kennedy ran the table at 174 pounds, winning a pair of nailbiters in the process.

2) Ohio State Buckeyes

Listen, there’s no other way to say it, Ohio State was brilliant in Tulsa from top to bottom.

Former highly touted recruit Nic Bouzakis, in his first season down at 125 pounds, went 2-0 with a pair of top-10 wins, including a big pin in the finals against Iowa’s Dean Peterson.

The aforementioned Davino went 4-0 with three major decisions and a dominant 10-4 win over Ayala. Mendez made it clear he’s the best 141-pound wrestler in the country by a good bit. Sophomore Brandon Cannon went 4-0 with bonus-point victories, erasing memories of a loss to high school phenom Melvin Miller the week prior.

Junior Dylan Fishback went 2-2 at 184 pounds, but went to sudden victory with both McEnelly and Angelo Ferrari, while heavyweight Nick Feldman went undefeated with a victory over AJ Ferrari in the semifinals.

Ohio State rolled all weekend and made a strong claim as the No. 2 team in the nation.

1) Penn State Nittany Lions

In any other universe, Ohio State’s performance would make it the clear No. 1 team in the country. But in this university, the Penn State Nittany Lions exist.

The Nittany Lions have won the last four NCAA Tournaments, they’ve won 12 of the last 14, and they return two national champions and two national finalists to their lineup.

Last year, all 10 of the Nittany Lions’ starters ended the year as All-Americans. While only five of those starters return, an additional two are redshirting, and in their spots are two of the top-three rated recruits in the 2025 class.

Penn State opened its season with a 45-0 demolition of Oklahoma on Friday night, and that was without returning national finalist Josh Barr at 197 pounds. His backup, Connor Mirasola, picked up an 11-3 major decision victory over the eighth-ranked wrestler in the country.

The Buckeyes are loaded this year. Oklahoma State and Iowa are both trying to load up for the future. But for the time being, the Nittany Lions are still, by far, the top dog.