NCAA DI Rankings Updated (2/17/2026)

We’re coming down the home stretch of the 2025-26 regular season. Only one week of dual action remains. This week’s rankings had quite a few notable shake-ups. Marcus Blaze’s win over Ben Davino, coupled with Jax Forrest’s wild win against Aaron Seidel, forced us to rearrange a bit at 133. Forrest is now in the top six, and it gives us a more realistic view of what this weight could look like at nationals. Blaze goes up to #2 and is still unbeaten.

Speaking of undefeated Blaze’s, Marcus’ older brother, Joey, moves into the #3 slot at 165 lbs after his huge win over fellow NCAA finalist Mikey Caliendo. Look for a rematch soon, as both were likely the #2 or #3 seeds in the B1G regardless of the result.

I know some people get annoyed when we hold steady with a particular wrestler or give them a “mulligan.” That’s the case at 174 lbs after Patrick Kennedy lost to Beau Mantanona. People like to see a wrestler get hit hard in the rankings after an upset, but in this instance, none of the options made sense for moving Kennedy down. He has a recent-ish win over #4 Christopher Minto (who has four losses on the year) and two wins over Carson Kharchla. We’ll reconsider if Kennedy loses to Alex Facundo this week (who he has also beaten).

The same applies to Cody Merrill at 197. He lost to Sasso, but has wins over opponents in that same area like Angelo Posada and Camden McDanel (x2).

Two weeks ago, we held steady with Nick Feldman after a loss to Taye Ghadiali. At the time, the Feldman/Ferrari/Ghadiali group had all beaten each other and Feldman’s other losses were to the two wrestlers ranked above him. Now, after a loss to Cole Mirasola, he should probably drop.

Looking at the team tournament standings, which become increasingly important with only one week remaining in the dual season, Oklahoma State moves into third place. One reason for that is moving Jax Forrest into an All-American position. I still think they have the most potential to outwrestle their current rankings at nationals and perhaps threaten Ohio State.

Also from a team standpoint, Penn State added an additional 10.5 points to their already-absurd point total. It’s at 159.5 points, almost 60 ahead of second-place Ohio State. Blaze and Mirasola’s wins helped give the Nittany Lions this week’s boost. 

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