InterMat Staff

On Thursday afternoon, the NCAA released its first set of RPI rankings. RPI will play a part in the number of automatic allocations each conference gets at each weight, along with at-large berths, and NCAA seeding. 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. They are as follows: 125 133 141 149 157 165 174 184 197 285

On Thursday morning, the NCAA released its second set of DI coaches rankings. The final rankings will play a part in the number of automatic allocations each conference gets at each weight, along with at-large berths, and NCAA seeding. To be noted in the rankings, a wrestler must have been designated as a starter by their head coach. They also must compete in at least 8 DI matches at their rankable weight and must have competed once in the last 30 days. The rankings are as follows: 125 lbs 133 lbs 141 lbs 149 lbs 157 lbs 165 lbs 174 lbs 184 lbs 197 lbs 285 lbs

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee has announced the pre- allocation spots for the 2025 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 23. 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 43 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 11, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. on March 12. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The coaches’ rankings are determined by a vote of 16 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each of the eight 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 weightclass 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. No forfeit of any kind counts toward the match minimum. 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 2025 Division I Wrestling Championships is available at ncaa.org. The 2025 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships take place March 20-22 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia as the event returns for the first time since 2011.

USA Wrestling and Beat the Streets Wrestling (New York) will present Final X on Saturday, June 14 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Final X will determine the 2025 U.S. Senior World Championships Teams in two Olympic disciplines: men’s and women’s freestyle. There will be 20 weight classes contested, 10 in each men’s and women’s freestyle. The U.S. Greco-Roman World Championship Team members will be determined April 23-27 at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas, Nev., which means there will be no Greco-Roman matches at Final X this year. The top two U.S. athletes in each weight class will compete in a best-of-three series at Final X to determine who will wrestle at the 2025 Senior World Championships on Sept. 13-21 in Zagreb, Croatia. This year’s event will be the 15th BTSNY Annual Benefit. These unique and electrifying annual events help BTSNY raise critical funds to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young boys and girls in New York City. BTSNY provides a safe, positive environment for student-athletes to learn essential life lessons of discipline, perseverance, self-reliance, humility and a strong work ethic through the sport of wrestling. The BTSNY Annual Benefit after party will follow the conclusion of Final X. Session times for Final X will be 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time. A variety of options for Final X wrestling-only event tickets are available to the public on Ticketmaster, starting at 11 a.m. Friday. Fans can also make a generous donation to BTSNY while purchasing wrestling-only tickets on Ticketmaster. BTSNY Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages, which include access premier seating to Final X and access to the exclusive after-party, are available at btsny.org. For more information on ticket packages, email BTS Executive Director Brendan Buckley at bbuckley@btsny.org. Donations and BTSNY Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages directly help BTSNY make a lifelong impact on New York City youth in need. There are seven U.S. wrestlers who won a medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, and four athletes who won a medal at the 2024 World Championships that are eligible to advance directly to the Final X best-of-three series, if they accept their position and compete in the same weight class in Final X. They must declare they will compete at that weight class and accept their direct Final X qualification by Monday, April 15, 2025, USA Wrestling will announce when athletes accept their Final X position. Once 2024 Olympic and World medalists have either accepted or refused their Final X position, the rest of the field will be determined at the U.S. Open on April 23-27 at The Expo at World Market Center in Las Vegas and the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament on May 17-18 at Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville, Kentucky. In weight classes where an athlete has advanced directly to Final X, the U.S. Open champion will earn the opposing Final X spot. In weight classes in which no athlete earned an automatic Final X berth, the champions of the U.S. Open and World Team Trials Challenge Tournament will wrestle at Final X. World Team Trials Challenge Tournament qualifiers are determined based on the approved World Team Trials procedures for each of the Olympic disciplines, which are posted in the Team Selection section of USA Wrestling’s website. “USA Wrestling is pleased to partner again with Beat the Streets New York and the Prudential Center to bring Final X back to New Jersey. Our nation’s best men and women freestyle wrestlers will be showcased, with a berth on the 2025 U.S. Senior World Team up for grabs. Final X is one of the most exciting wrestling events in our nation, with many current or future World and Olympic medalists expected to compete. Wrestling fans are encouraged to come out and enjoy the action, while supporting youth wrestling in New York City. It will be a great showcase of world-class wrestling,” said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director. “Beat the Streets is thrilled to host Final X once again for our Annual Benefit, in partnership with USA Wrestling. This event is our largest fundraiser, covering 75% of our annual expenses and enabling us to empower 2,500-plus New York City boys and girls through the sport of wrestling. We are excited to hold Final X at Prudential Center and look forward to witnessing world-class athletes vie for spots on Team USA at the 2025 World Championships,” said Brendan Buckley, Beat the Streets Executive Director. “Prudential Center is grateful for this opportunity to welcome back to Newark our partners at Beat the Streets Wrestling and USA Wrestling for another high stakes Final X competition,” said Dylan Wanagiel, Vice President, Sports Properties and Special Events, HBSE/Prudential Center. “We are honored to host the best wrestlers in the United States in their quest to represent our country and achieve wrestling immortality, while also supporting the mission of Beat the Streets. As we cement Prudential Center as a premier destination for all combat sports, we look forward to welcoming grappling fans from across the country to the wrestling hotbed of New Jersey for this marquee event.” The United States is a world power in international wrestling, coming off a seven-medal performance at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. The athletes showcased in Final X in Newark are expected to be contenders for the U.S. team at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. * If Prudential Center’s tenant, New Jersey Devils, host an NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs game on June 14 the contingency date for Final X would be Sunday, June 15. ### About Beat the Streets Wrestling (New York) Beat the Streets Wrestling has pioneered a movement that includes 150 individual wrestling programs, a youth league and the first girls high school league in New York City. BTS works to develop the full human and athletic potential of NYC boys and girls and strengthen the city’s wrestling culture. BTS aims to make a lifelong impact on student-athletes through the lessons learned on the wrestling mat – discipline, perseverance, self-reliance, humility and a strong work ethic. For more information about BTS, visit btsny.org and follow BTS on Facebook, Instagram and X. About Prudential Center Prudential Center is the world-class sports and entertainment venue located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Opened in October 2007, the state-of-the-art arena is the home of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) three-time Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils, Seton Hall University’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball program, Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) New York Sirens, and more than 210 concerts, family shows and special events each year. Ranked in the Top 5 worldwide by Pollstar, Billboard and Venues Today, Prudential Center is recognized as one of the premier venues in the United States, and hosts over 2 million guests annually. For more information about Prudential Center, visit https://www.prucenter.com/ and follow the arena on Facebook, X and Instagram @PruCenter. Prudential Center is a HBSE property. About USA Wrestling USA Wrestling is the National Governing Body (NGB) for wrestling in the United States and the representative to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and United World Wrestling (UWW), the sport’s international federation. It serves a membership of over 344,000 athletes, coaches, and officials, charters over 5,500 wrestling clubs, and sanctions over 2,400 wrestling tournaments annually. As the NGB for wrestling, USA Wrestling is also responsible for the selection of U.S. World and Olympic teams at multiple age levels in the Olympic disciplines of men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle, and Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as Beach wrestling. USA Wrestling also provides extensive quality opportunities in folkstyle, the traditional style of wrestling in the United States. For more information, visit TheMat.com.

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