InterMat Staff

Caldwell

Delbarton

The NCAA allocations came out Thursday afternoon and my initial reaction was disbelief at how few spots were allotted to the ACC. After thinking more on it and looking at the big picture of the season, the numbers made more sense - even if I didn’t agree with them. There were several wrestlers who have looked great in the second half of the season that either didn’t compete in the beginning of the year, or had a weight change. There were also a large number of injuries that had a major impact on the number of matches that some wrestlers were able to compete in--this was especially true for UVA who has had the worst luck with injuries this year that I may have ever seen. After digging into the Coaches’ Rankings, RPI and winning percentages across the conference, I’ve tried to make sense of the numbers. Let’s take a look at where the spots were earned, by whom, and how many wrestlers were just off the bubble of earning another allotment for the conference. If there is any silver lining to the way all of this shook out, it is that there are several ACC wrestlers who will be in prime position to earn an at-large bid with them being so close to meeting criteria to earn an allotment. 125 Expected: 3 Earned: 2 This one was one of the bigger surprises to me. I expected Flynn and Camacho to earn their bids, which they did. I also thought Spencer Moore would add a 3rd, but his RPI dropped between the 1st and 2nd run to put him 1 off the threshold of 28. 133: Expected: 4 Earned: 3 Orine and Latona were guarantees, covering all three criteria. Vinnie Santaniello has a ton of matches this year with some good wins, and some good losses--he was able to earn an allocation through his CR and RPI. I was hopeful with the year that Yarbrough has had that he would be able to earn a slot. He was negatively impacted by injury default losses at Midlands that dropped his winning percentage below the threshold. 141 Expected: 4-5 Earned: 3 This was the weight that really stood out and made a lot of people scratch their heads. The ACC has four ranked in the top 15 but only 3 allotments were earned; it makes it even more intriguing that only two of the three slots were earned by those top-15 wrestlers. Lachlan McNeil earned one allotment by meeting all three criteria, as did Ryan Jack. The third bid was earned by Jack Gioffre from Virginia by way of his winning percentage and RPI. Cole Matthews has looked incredible in the back half of the season, including victories over three top-5 ranked wrestlers, and going undefeated in the ACC. However, he had a very rocky early season, including a point in which he lost four straight matches to lower ranked wrestlers. His winning percentage of 62.5% shows this very clearly. This also severely impacted his RPI, to the point that even three top-5 victories didn’t bring it above the cutoff. His coaches ranking was well within the criteria, but he was below the cutoff for winning percentage and one over the cutoff for RPI. Tom Crook not earning an allotment is the result of a mid-season weight change. If you look at his overall record and winning percentage, it is good enough to meet the percentage criteria and enough matches to earn an RPI. However, only 14 of his matches are at 141. This means he didn’t meet the 15 match minimum at the weight to earn an RPI (which likely would have been within the criteria) and dropped his winning percentage from 78% to just below the cutoff at 71%. So, at one of the deepest and most competitive weights in the conference, we are going to have some ferocious competition in Chapel Hill to earn one of the three AQ spots. 149 Expected: 2-3 Earned: 2 Henson and Arrington are solid top-5 wrestlers, so they were expected to earn allocations. I was hopeful that between Finn Solomon and Jayden Scott one additional slot would be earned. Solomon had the RPI but not the winning percentage after going through a bit of a slump in the second half of the season. Jayden Scott has a few good wins but didn’t have enough matches for an RPI. 157 Expected: 2-3 Earned: 2 I expected 157 to be a bit of a mess. Ed Scott, while he has had a couple uncharacteristic losses, has had a great season with some big wins; he covered all three criteria to earn a bid. Bryce Andonian was able to hit the RPI and winning percentages. It is fortunate that he hit his 15 match mark prior to his injury against Shapiro; since he has been out more than 30 days since his last competition he was no longer eligible for the Coaches’ Ranking. The final two that had a chance were Dylan Cedeno and Sonny Santiago who had nearly polar opposite seasons. Cedeno has looked fantastic in competition; he is 11-3 on the year but has been derailed by injuries; he didn’t hit 15 matches in order to earn RPI and since he has been out of competition, he dropped just below the cutoff of the CR. Sonny Santiago started his season slowly and has had a great second half of his season, especially in ACC competition. He wasn’t able to overcome early losses to get his winning percentage above the threshold and was just past the RPI cutoff. 165 Expected: 3 Earned: 2 This one was a painful miss. Connor Brady and Derek Fields both covered two of the three criteria and earned bids. Holden Heller met the criteria for the CR but was just past the RPI cutoff and his winning percentage of 70.5% was just under the 71% cutoff. 174 Expected: 4-5 Earned: 4 This weight was pretty chalk for allocations. Mekhi Lewis covered two of three; he is 13-0 so he didn’t have enough matches for RPI. Justin McCoy and Luca Augustine both covered all three criteria and Tyler Eischens hit two of three, missing the winning percentage threshold. Alex Faison was just on the outside of the CR and RPI. 184 Expected: 4 Earned: 4 This was also pretty chalk, with some late drama thrown in from the Hokies. Dylan Fishback and Reece Heller covered all three criteria and Gavin Kane was just under the winning percentage threshold but covered CR and RPI. TJ Stewart was able to get enough matches in the final weekend to meet the 10 match minimum for winning percentage; at 8-2 his 80% winning percentage and 14 in the Coaches’ Ranking was enough to earn a slot. 197 Expected: 4 Earned: 4 Another pretty chalk weight to make three in a row. Trent Hidlay, Mac Stout and Max Shaw each covered all three criteria to earn bids. Andy Smith was under the threshold on winning percentage but met criteria for CR and RPI. 285 Expected: 2-3 Earned: 2 I was hopeful we would see both Catka’s earn a bid, but Ryan just missed the cutoff for CR and RPI. Owen Trephan and Hunter Catka both met all three criteria. The wildcard here is Dayton Pitzer who has been out after injuring his shoulder against Colton Schultz. He was ranked in the top 15 when injured and would have been on track to earn a top 20 RPI. Will he wrestle in Chapel Hill? Will he be anywhere near full strength? It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

Poway

Middletown North

Foran

St. Thomas Aquinas

Pingry

St. Benedict's Prep

On the final day of the Pan-American Olympic Games Qualifying, there were plenty of familiar faces who locked up spots at the 2024 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, none were wrestling for the United States. Two representatives from the US Men’s Freestyle team traveled to Acapulco, Mexico in hopes of qualifying their weights for the Olympics. Neither was successful; however, there were plenty of familiar faces who punched their tickets to the Paris Games. Five former DI All-Americans, Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico), Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico), Austin Gomez (Mexico), Ethan Ramos (Puerto Rico), and Amar Dhesi (Canada) all made it to the semifinals of their respective weights and will wrestle at the Olympics. While the US has the Olympic Team Trials to determine our representative, these wrestlers will go to Paris after their performance today. Both of the wrestlers representing the United States lost to an opponent who was(is) a prominent DI wrestler. At 65 kg, Nick Lee had an early lead on Austin Gomez; however, the Michigan star turned it up in the second stanza. Gomez once trailed 10-4, but used a four-point throw to turn the tide and spur him to a 22-12 tech. Gomez locked up his Olympic berth after a 6-3 win over North Carolina All-American Lachlan McNeil, who was representing Canada. Zane Richards was able to advance to the 57 kg semifinals after a quick 14-1 tech over Peter Hammer Cude (Costa Rica) in less than two minutes. For the Olympic berth, Richards needed to get past former Lehigh national champion Darion Cruz. A few months ago, Richards defeated Cruz at the Pan-American Games, 8-2. This time, Richards wasn’t able to get to his offense and settled for a pair of points on shot clock violations. In the final seconds of the bout, Cruz was able to get a step-out point to push him ahead on criteria, 2-2. The winners of our Olympic Trials at 57 and 65 kg’s will travel to Istanbul in early May for the Last Chance Qualifier, along with three members of the Greco-Roman team. US Results 57 kg Semifinals Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico) over Zane Richards (USA) 2-2 Quarterfinals Zane Richards (USA) over Peter Hammer Cude (Costa Rica) 14-1 65 kg Quarterfinals Austin Gomez (Mexico) over Nick Lee (USA) 22-12 Quotas Earned 57 kg - Mexico, Puerto Rico 65 kg - Cuba, Mexico 74 kg - Cuba, Venezuela 86 kg - Canada, Puerto Rico 97 kg - Cuba, Dominican Republic 125 kg - Canada, Puerto Rico

Yesterday, NCAA DI Conference Allocations were released. Initially, we responded with an article regarding ranked wrestlers who missed the allocation cut. Now, we’re getting into some general takeaways regarding the allocations. Some weights/conferences stood out immediately as ones where conferences appeared to get shorted and there are plenty of interesting situations that could arise depending on conference results. 1. 141 in the ACC only gets three bids Probably the first thing that caught my eye and some of my co-worker’s eyes were 141 lbs in the ACC. There are four wrestlers currently ranked in InterMat’s top-16 from the ACC. They only received three automatic bids to Kansas City. More interesting is that the ACC wrestlers at this weight that earned those bids were #4 Ryan Jack, #5 Lachlan McNeil, and NR Jack Gioffre. #14 Cole Matthews and #16 Tom Crook did not earn bids. There’s a world where all of these wrestlers likely compete in Kansas City, through three automatic bids and two at-large berths. I wouldn’t want to rely on that; however. 141 lbs already has seven ranked wrestlers who didn’t earn bids and only six at-large’s available. That’s before any upsets at the conference tournament. So, how did this happen? Because Crook only had 14 DI matches at 141 lbs, he didn’t qualify for an RPI. In November, Crook competed in two open tournaments at 149 lbs. Cole Matthews finished one slot under the needed RPI and was significantly under the benchmark in winning percentage. (.720 - .625). What I don’t like about Matthews missing it, in particular, is that it legitimizes the fact that wrestlers are oftentimes better off not wrestling tough matches. Matthews suffered four losses to wrestlers who finished the year ranked in the top-13 nationally. If you take those four off his record, he still comes up just shy of the needed winning percentage; but it’s close. Or substitute those losses for a couple of wins at a “Last Chance Qualifier” and he’s in good position. All year, I’ve been upset about good individual matchups not materializing. Injury and illness are difficult to avoid in wrestling and sometimes they rear their ugly heads. But other times, games are played. I don’t like the idea of punishing a wrestler who constantly answered the bell, as Matthews did. Your answer to my plight for Matthews may be “win more matches,” and I’m sure that’s his mindset. I’d imagine Matthews thinks he let a few get away to opponents he should’ve beaten. But, let’s not act as if he didn’t have a handful of quality wins. One of only two people to beat #2 Jesse Mendez, defeated #4 Ryan Jack a CKLV champion, and #5 Lachlan McNeil. Plus, he pinned Tom Crook, though that win suddenly doesn’t look good from a qualification standpoint, since Crook didn’t earn a bid. My opinion is that Matthews places top-three at ACC’s and takes matters into his own hands. At the end of the day, we’ll probably have the best guys in Kansas City, but I don’t like the precedent we’re working with when it comes to rewarding wrestlers for showing up as little as possible. 2. Changes in Initial Allocations Per Conference ACC = - 5 (33 to 28) Big 12 = -7 (64 to 57) Big Ten = +3 (85 to 88) EIWA = +8 (45 to 53) MAC = -1 (23 to 22) Pac-12 = +5 (19 to 24) SoCon = +2 (12 to 14) These are the changes from 2023 to 2024 for wrestlers who earned allocations for their conferences. Those 2023 numbers are strictly the initial allocations, not bids that had to be thrown back or anything like that. The biggest impact on a single conference was the improvement of Little Rock and subsequently, the allocations for the Pac-12. The Trojans were responsible for five allocations in 2024, which is exactly the overall number the league improved by from last year to this one. The ACC had a significant drop-off for a conference that typically is growing. We mentioned a few 141’s that were expected to earn bids. There was also another top-15 wrestler from the league who missed out on earning a bid (Holden Heller - 165). Then you consider that North Carolina and Virginia are both a bit younger than usual. With those points in mind, there shouldn’t be any long-term worries about the conference. 3. 174 lbs better be careful One of the most significant takeaways from the final weekend of the regular season was the injury to three-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci. At this time, we’re still not completely aware of just how serious his knee injury is. What can’t be disputed is that it looked bad and so didn’t Starocci’s reaction. Many people are anticipating Starocci not being able to complete the tournament. If Starocci gets the first seed, he’d have to win his first match in the quarterfinals to lock up a spot in the semis, and therefore, the top-six. With the Big Ten getting eight wrestlers in automatically, that would put him in Kansas City. If Starocci is unable to compete, at all, and injury defaults in back-to-back matches, that would leave him a match shy of the top-eight and needing an at-large berth. As things stand right now, there are five ranked wrestlers at 174 lbs and only four at-large berths. That doesn’t account for Starocci needing one and any other upsets that occur during conference weekend. For the rest of the weight class, get within qualification status! You really don’t want to be relying on an at-large at 74. 4. Teams with multiple wrestlers on the wrong side of the allocation bubble As I was putting together the list of ranked wrestlers who did not earn allocations for their conference, I noticed teams with multiple wrestlers listed. That makes me wonder whether these teams have someone familiar with the numerical portion of the process. If their wrestlers were close to hitting the benchmarks in one of the categories used, why didn’t they go to a Last Chance Qualifier event and try to pad the stats? I don’t love the idea of doing that, but it’s within the rules in this qualification process and only helps your wrestlers and your conference. 5. Watch what Iowa does All eyes are typically on anything that Iowa does, so why should conference entries be any different? Iowa has a couple of options at multiple weights (133, 149, 184, and 285 lbs). First and foremost, Caleb Rathjen (149) and Bradley Hill (285) both earned allocations for the Big Ten. If either of them do not enter the Big Ten Championships, their allocation is thrown into the at-large pool. The word out of Iowa City is that Rathjen should go, so that isn’t a concern. What happens at heavyweight remains to be seen. True freshman Ben Kueter has shown that he can probably go deep at nationals this year with wins over #11 Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State) during his last outing. All year, the Iowa staff has gone back and forth between Brody Teske and Cullan Schriever at 133 lbs. Neither earned an at-large, so nothing changes for the conference with either entrant. Of course, we also have 184 lbs. Iowa did not earn an allocation at the weight. Gabe Arnold has bumped up for key duals and fared very well at the weight. I don’t see Tom Brands throwing Arnold out there under these circumstances, but should he do so, Arnold would have to qualify by placement rather than getting an at-large. 6. The Ivy League earned 23 bids There will be plenty of changes to the allocation process next year with conference realignment and one wrestling-specific wrinkle is that the Ivy League teams will be qualifying directly through their conference - rather than through the EIWA. If the EIWA and Ivy split this year, you’d have the Ivy League with 23 automatic bids and the EIWA with 30. Those are pretty solid numbers for an EIWA that has been dominated by the Ivy schools, of late. When the announcement was made regarding this split, you hoped that this wouldn’t negatively impact either potential conference. With this year’s numbers, that looks like it’s not the case.

Mentor

Harrison Central

Central Cass

Champlin

Sumner

Farmington

Caledonia

Southern Regional

Heading into his final postseason wrestling for Oklahoma State, Daton Fix sat down with Ryan Holmes to discuss a variety of topics. Daton talks about why he came back for the extra year, keeping his weight down for the Olympic Trials, competing against Iowa and much more. For the full interview

Well, I’m back. Don’t ask. Let’s just say that February hasn’t exactly been kind to me. But now it’s March and that’s all behind me. So I tried to put on a Willy Wonka exhibit that failed miserably. It happens. Just move on. Somehow this edition became very heavy on New Jersey and that’s not my fault. I don’t think we got one question from someone not from the Garden State. Let’s find out! What made nj.com finally decide to stream states for free all of a sudden? I’ll hang up and listen…bye. Brandon from New Jersey Yeah, and thanks for the call. I thought they were free the last few years after a couple years of turbulent broadcasts that started with an awful year where it was on Track. I don’t want to rip anyone here, but you had eight mats and could only log in on one browser at a time. How was I supposed to navigate eight tabs at once? Especially when every time I did, it would take 30 seconds to load or I might have to sign in again at times. I don’t know why this question reminded me of that but it did. The next year it returned to its original home but under a new format that at least does the job. My only issue is that there’s no app for streaming devices so it’s either mirror the screen or use one of those awful web browsers they give you. At any rate, it’s still awesome and if you're reading this when it comes out, then the quarterfinals are only in an hour or so. Watch it! It’s free! What are your favorite conference tournament memories from over the years? Also, what are your least favorite conference tournament memories from over the years? Also, do you have any indifferent memories? Don’t share those last ones. They seem boring. Kevin Claunch from New Jersey It has to be the six Big Ten champs from New Jersey in 2019. It really was pretty cool and a culmination of a decade’s worth of really high-level guys coming out of the state. Just think, Sebastian Rivera and Anthony Cassar were probably the least recruited of the bunch and they beat the two biggest prospects of the decade in Spencer Lee and Gable Steveson. One is an Olympic champ and the other may be one in a few months. Do I have any indifferent memories? Probably when Michigan won the conference tournament a few years ago. Totally indifferent to it. Forgot it even happened. Seems everyone else did, too. My least favorite moment was something our next guest had to deal with personally. This week, @bryanhazard retired from coaching. The @GMUWrestling Hall of Famer had an illustrious coaching career at Robinson High School. Did you know that the frequently used cross-arm tilt is called “The Hazard” in many parts of the country? Kevin McGuigan from New Jersey Well, I did not know that. But a congrats is in order for the hazardous one on behalf of InterMat for his 28 years in coaching. You are free to go polish a boat in Mexico until you spot a barefoot Jason Bryant in the distance walking towards you. Since Big Tens are driving distance to Maryland this year, do we get #JaggerSession? No, I am not broadcasting this time. Only NJ states remain! Nick Kosko from New Jersey Driving distance for you maybe but I’m at the top of the state! It’s nearly four hours away! But seriously, I simply can’t make it. Home duties have me tied up at the moment so it’s Jaggervision all weekend here. And you bloody should be announcing it! They have multiple mat streams so I don’t see why each mat can have someone on the mic. Folks, if you haven’t watched Rutgers on Big Ten Plus (or Penn, Princeton, and various sports in the Atlantic County area) my man Nick has emerged as the voice of New Jersey sports. If we can’t get him next week in Maryland, then the NJ State Tournament is a fitting sendoff to the Winter of Kosko. I also caught him headbanging to System Of A Down seconds before the start of the Wisconsin dual a few weeks ago. Total pro. Should the NCAA finals go in weight order prior to the main event or mix the order further to build it like a fight/pro wrestling card? Rhino from New Jersey Oh, without a doubt like a fight card. It should’ve happened years ago. I don’t see the reason why not to do it. You’re going to confuse the fans and they won’t know the order? Please. I know the world is getting dumber by the day, but we’re not that bad yet. Just put a little graphic with the order with the rest of the graphics on the crawl. You don’t want to insult the wrestlers by saying they don't have a marquee matchup? The wrestlers should have bigger things to worry about anyway. Then at least put the top three or five matches last and do the rest in order. Is this the key to the sport breaking out? Of course not. But it builds excitement as the night goes on. It’s called quality television. I’ll teach you about it. Jags, my wise friend, O/U on AA's in Kansas City from NJ colleges is 2.5. Where is the smart (your) money going? Salty Walkon from New Jersey First off, my money is never smart. I’m a terrible gambler. But the number does seem to be on point. Rider and Princeton would need someone to get hot and sneak one in or you’re relying on Rutgers getting three in there. I’d still take the over because I’m a mark and want to cheer for my guys. Did Oklahoma State fumble the bag or did Iowa jump levels after the thorough ass-kicking from Penn State? JD Money from New Jersey Iowa won because they are simply a better team. Sure, they’ve had a weird year, but that was expected. They’re still the second-best team in my opinion and a performance like that is just what the doctor ordered for the Hawkeyes to have a solid postseason. Penn State has reached an absurd height of dominance right now. You know they will have six to eight guys in the semifinals on Friday night. All you can do is try to get there and beat them. Anything can happen in March. That’s why they wrestle the matches. Once again, we’ve reached the Burger King of Kings from New Jersey portion of the mailbag. Since we’re nearly out of time, I chose a fee to answer in rapid fire. Have you been to Iowa? Would you come to a dual here? No and yes. I’m told it’s the only way to truly understand Iowa fans. You must walk the streets of Iowa City Is it pronounced "Rut-geers" or "Rut-gahs"? Definitely Rutgahs. The trick is to say it almost like one syllable as gruff as you can. That’s Jersey perfection. What Jersey piece of culture is the rest of the country sleeping on? Gas station attendants. I seriously don’t know how this isn't a thing in literally the rest of the country. How do you talk to nonwrestling people to get them to come to a dual? Promise them punch and pie.

After a day’s worth of Greco-Roman action, the attention at the Pan-American Olympic Games Qualifier turned to women’s freestyle. It was an excellent day for the American women as they went undefeated and qualified all three of the previously unqualified weights for the 2024 Olympics. With their performance at the 2023 World Championships combined with today’s results, the United States will send six women to the upcoming Olympic Games. Of course, the actual women who will represent the United States will be determined at the Olympic Team Trials in April. Of the American’s who competed today, the lone returning Olympian of this group was Kayla Miracle, a two-time world medalist. Miracle earned her spot in the semifinals with a fall over Cuba’s Maria Santana Garcia in the quarters. She locked up the quota by shutting out two-time age group world medalist Astrid Montero Chirinos of Venezuela. The first American to clinch an Olympic berth was 2022 World Champion Dom Parrish at 53 kg. After a tech in the quarterfinals, Parrish got down early in her semifinal bout against Lauren Herin Avila of Cuba. Parrish grabbed a hold of the lead with a four-point throw, followed by two points from a challenge and another from a lost challenge. Late in the match, with Parrish holding onto a one-point lead, Herin Avila was pushing for the winning score. Parrish was able to counter as the final seconds ticked off the clock to win, 9-6, and lock up the quota for the United States. Finally, two-time Senior World Champion Amit Elor made her debut at 68 kg. In a rare turn of events, Elor was down early as she was thrown to her back for four points in the semifinal bout. That was all of the offense that Thamires Martins Machado (Brazil) could muster. Elor reeled off ten straight points to win 10-4. 53 kg Semifinals: Dom Parrish over Laura Herin Avila (Cuba) 9-6 Quarterfinals: Dom Parrish over Antonia Valdes Arriagada (Chile) 10-0 62 kg Semifinals: Kayla Miracle over Astrid Montero Chirinos (Venezuela) 3-0 Quarterfinals: Kayla Miracle over Maria Santana Garcia (Cuba) Fall 68 kg Semifinals: Amit Elor over Thamires Martins Machado (Brazil) 10-4 Quarterfinals: Amit Elor over Brenda Sterling Martinez (Cuba) 12-1 Quotas Earned 50 kg - Colombia, Cuba 53 kg - USA, Venezuela 57 kg - Canada, Ecuador 62 kg - Canada, USA 68 kg - USA, Venezuela 76 kg - Canada, Ecuador

NCAA DI Conference allocations have been released! As soon as they were posted by the NCAA wrestling coaches, fans, media members and everyone else in between frantically scrolled through them to see which weight classes had earned “how many” allocations for the 2024 NCAA Championships. The way that these were generated, there will always be room left over for at-large bids. All ten weight classes had between four and six berths reserved for at-larges. Some basic math skills will show that there will always be a few ranked wrestlers who do not earn automatic qualifying bids for their respective conference. So who are they? We’ve gone through and noted the wrestlers who are currently in InterMat’s top-33, yet did not earn bids for their conference. This doesn’t mean they can’t wrestle in Kansas City, they just need to place within the number of berths given to their weight class - or rely on a at-large. For each weight class, we’ve noted the at-large’s available, as well. For some weights, the at-large number matches the number of ranked wrestlers who didn’t earn bids. Other weights are where it gets dicey. For example, 133 lbs has five at-large berths available, but six ranked wrestlers who didn’t earn bids. That means, in a best case scenario, one ranked wrestler will miss out on the trip to Kansas City. That is only if everything goes as expected. What’s more likely is there will be some unranked wrestlers that steal slots at the national tournament and push even more ranked wrestlers out. 133, 141, 149, 157, 174, and 184 all have negative deficits between the at-larges and ranked wrestlers. If you’re looking for the wrestlers who actually did earn allocations, the Seton Hall Pirate has made an Allocation List , which is extremely helpful for these exercises. 125 lbs At-Large: 6 125: ACC (2) - #28 Spencer Moore: (North Carolina) 125: Big 12 (6) - #26 Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa), #27 Kysen Terukina: (Iowa State), #32 Eli Griffin (California Baptist) 125: Big Ten (9) 125: EIWA (5) 125: MAC (2) 125: Pac-12 (2) - #19 Richie Figueroa (Arizona State), #29 Dominic Mendez (Cal Poly) 125: SoCon (1) - #25 Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) 133 lbs At-Large: 5 133: ACC (3) - #27 Marlon Yarbrough (Virginia) 133: Big 12 (6) 133: Big Ten (7) - #20 Schriever/Teske (Iowa), #23 Tony Madrigal (Illinois), 133: EIWA (5) - #21 Angelo Rini (Columbia), #32 Braden Basile (Army West Point), #33 Micah Roes (Binghamton) 133: MAC (1) 133: Pac-12 (3) 133: SoCon (3) 141 lbs At-Large: 6 141: ACC (3) - #14 Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh), #16 Tom Crook (Virginia Tech) 141: Big 12 (5) - #28 Josh Edmond (Missouri), #29 Haiden Drury (Utah Valley), #30 Cole Brooks (Wyoming), #31 Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) 141: Big Ten (11) - #25 Vance Vombaur (Minnesota) 141: EIWA (4) 141: MAC (1) 141: Pac-12 (2) 141: SoCon (1) 149 lbs At-Large: 4 149: ACC (2) - #32 Jayden Scott (North Carolina) 149: Big 12 (6) - #26 Logan Gioffre (Missouri), #31 Maxwell Petersen (North Dakota State) 149: Big Ten (9) - #24 Michael Cetta (Rutgers) 149: EIWA (4) - #29 Eligh Rivera (Princeton) 149: MAC (3) 149: Pac-12 (3) 149: SoCon (2) 157 lbs At-Large: 4 157: ACC (2) - #27 Dylan Cedeno (Virginia), #32 Sonny Santiago (North Carolina) 157: Big 12 (6) - #30 Jared Hill (Oklahoma) 157: Big Ten (9) - #29 Isaac Wilcox (Ohio State) 157: EIWA (3) 157: MAC (5) 157: Pac-12 (3) - #33 Legend Lamer (Cal Poly) 157: SoCon (1) 165 lbs At-Large: 5 165: ACC (2) - #14 Holden Heller (Pittsburgh) 165: Big 12 (6) 165: Big Ten (10) - #31 Blaine Brenner (Minnesota) 165: EIWA (5) - #28 Cody Walsh (Drexel), #32 Joshua Kim (Harvard) 165: MAC (1) 165: Pac-12 (2) - #33 Chance McLane (Arizona State) 165: SoCon (2) 174 lbs At-Large: 4 174: ACC (4) 174: Big 12 (6) - #22 Jared Simma (Northern Iowa), #31 Tate Picklo (Oklahoma) 174: Big Ten (8) - #30 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota), #32 Brody Baumann (Purdue) 174: EIWA (6) 174: MAC (2) 174: Pac-12 (2) - #33 Matthew Olguin (Oregon State) 174: SoCon (1) 184 lbs At-Large: 5 184: ACC (4) 184: Big 12 (5) - #13 Clayton Whiting (Missouri), #28 Dennis Robin (West Virginia), #33 Jacob Armstrong (Utah Valley) 184: Big Ten (8) - #31 Troy Fisher (Virginia Tech) 184: EIWA (7) 184: MAC (2) 184: Pac-12 (1) - #32 Tony Negron (Arizona State) 184: SoCon (1) - #29 Caleb Hopkins (Campbell) 197 lbs At-Large: 4 197: ACC (4) 197: Big 12 (6) - #16 Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) 197: Big Ten (7) - #30 Kael Wisler (Michigan State), #33 Gabe Sollars (Indiana) 197: EIWA (6) - #28 Jack Wehmeyer (Columbia) 197: MAC (2) 197: Pac-12 (3) 197: SoCon (1) 285 lbs At-Large: 4 285: ACC (2) - #13 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh), #33 Ryan Catka (Virginia) 285: Big 12 (5) - #15 Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa) 285: Big Ten (7) 285: EIWA (8) 285: MAC (3) 285: Pac-12 (3) - #21 Josiah Hill (Little Rock) 285: SoCon (1)

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee has announced the pre- allocation spots for the 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships as listed in the chart below. Each qualifying tournament was awarded pre-allocations to the national tournament based on regular season performance by conference wrestlers through February 26. The pre-allocations were determined by using a sliding scale of the three standards, win percentage, coaches’ rank, and RPI ranking; while never going below the base of .700 winning percentage, top 30 coaches’ ranking and top 30 RPI ranking until reaching the maximum of 29 wrestlers per weight class. For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his conference tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class. Each conference is awarded a minimum of one automatic qualification per weight class, which will go to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA championship spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at conference tournaments based solely on place-finish. After all the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 47 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 12, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. on March 13. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The coaches’ rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each of the seven conferences. For ranking purposes, coaches may only consider a wrestler that has been designated as a starter at a respective weight class. Wrestlers must have eight Division I matches in the weight class to be considered with at least one match within the last 30 days. The RPI is a calculation that consists of three factors: winning percentage, opponent winning percentage (strength of schedule) and opponent’s opponent winning percentage (opponent’s strength of schedule). Only matches against Division I opponents at the designated weight class count towards the RPI and a wrestler needs to have wrestled 15 matches to be ranked. The coaches’ ranking and RPI are two of several criteria that will be evaluated during the at-large selection and seeding process along with head-to-head competition, quality wins, conference tournament placement, results versus common opponents and win percentage. A full description of the entire selection process for the 2024 Division I Wrestling Championships is available at ncaa.org. The 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships take place March 21-23 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City as the event returns to the city for the first time since 2003.

Dudley