Manheim, PA - The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) released the first regular season Division III Men's Coaches rankings. These include the team tournament poll and national and regional individual rankings.
Augsburg (89.5 pts) remains solidly in first place ahead of archrival Wartburg (54.5 pts). UW-Eau Claire is making the massive jump from 9th to #3 (39.5 pts). Completing the Top Five are #4 UW-La Crosse (39 pts) and #5 Alvernia (38 pts), who each slide up one spot.
In the individual rankings, Augsburg leads the country with three top-ranked wrestlers (141, 184, 285). Wartburg has two (174, 197), while Johnson & Wales (125), UW-Eau Claire (133), McDaniel (141), UW-Lacrosse (157), and Alvernia(165) each have a single wrestler at the top of their respective weight class.
There is a new number one at 149 in Thomas Monn of McDaniel, with defending national champion Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace moving up to 157. Petrella is ranked #2 behind Nolan Hertel, also a defending national champion. Just last week, Hertel won 3-1 in a marathon overtime match (TB2-2) over returning D2 national champion Nick Novak of St. Cloud State in the NWCA All-Star Classic.
TOP RANKED INDIVIDUALS | NATIONAL RANKINGS |
REGIONAL RANKINGS
125 Joziah Fry, Johnson & Wales
133 Tyler Fleetwood, UW-Eau Claire
141 Sam Stuhl, Augsburg
149 Thomas Monn, McDaniel
157 Nolan Hertel, UW-La Crosse
165 Matt Lackman, Alvernia
174 Zane Mulder, Wartburg
184 Bentley Schwanebeck-Osterman, Augsburg
197 Massoma Endene, Wartburg
285 Tyler Kim, Augsburg
TEAM TOP 25 - PDF
TOURNAMENT POLL METHODOLOGY: THIS IS A TOURNAMENT POWER INDEX RANKING; THE POLL IS NOT BASED ON A TEAM'S DUAL STRENGTH. TPI POINT TOTALS ARE BROKEN DOWN BY INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: [1St – 16pts], [2ND – 12pts], [3RD – 10pts, [4TH – 9pts], [5TH -7pts], [6TH – 6pts], [7TH -4pts], [8TH – 3pts], [9TH – 2pts], [10TH – 1pt], [11TH-15TH – 1/2pt]. THE TPI POINT TOTALS WILL BE LOWER THAN THE FINAL ACTUAL NCAA TOURNAMENT POINTS BECAUSE IT DOES NOT INCLUDE BONUS POINTS.
The NWCA Division III ranking committee consists of:
UMW Tony Valek (Augsburg) and Dave Malecek (UW-La Crosse)
LMW Dave Mitchell (Luther) and Eric Keller (Wartburg)
SE Jon Laudenslager (Wilkes) and Anthony Bonaventura (Stevens)
ME Mike Howard (Oswego State) and Joe Galante (TCNJ)
NE Scott Legacy (Castleton) and Corey Luce (NYU)
CENT Bill Schindel (Adrian) & Brandon Brissette (Olivet)
