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v2NCAA Men's Awards 2-11-26

National Wrestling Coaches Association NWCA Communications

NCAA Men’s wrestling award standings update for the 2026 season - Feb. 11

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has released updated standings for the 2026 NCAA Men's Wrestling Awards that will be awarded in March at the respective Division I, II and III Wrestling Championships. 

The inaugural NCAA Men's Wrestling Awards were presented at the 2012 wrestling championships. The three awards, given in each division, honor the Most Dominant Wrestler as well as the student-athletes that have accumulated the most falls and the most technical falls throughout the course of the regular and postseasons. 

For falls and tech falls to be counted for the awards they must come against opponents in the same division (i.e. Division III vs. Division III). Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time. 

This week features the unveiling of standings of the Most Dominant Wrestler award, which is a 15-match minimum to qualify for the standings.

The Most Dominant Wrestler standings are calculated by adding the total number of team points awarded through match results and dividing that number by the total number of matches wrestled. Points per match are awarded as follows.
 
* Fall, forfeit, injury default or DQ = 6 points (-6 points for a loss)
* Tech falls = 5 points (-5 points for a loss)
* Major decision = 4 points (-4 points for a loss)
* Decision = 3 points (-3 points for a loss)

Penn State holds the top two spots in Division I, with Mitchell Mesenbrink leading with a 5.35 average and in second Levi Haines with a 4.88 average.

In Division II, heavyweight Isaiah Vance leads the way with a 5.26 average. His teammate at Pitt-Johnstown, Matt Sarbo, sits second with a 4.5 average.

Atop Division III sits 157-pounder Trent Mahoney of Albright with an average of 5.71. In second, RIT's Josh Harkless finds himself on the leaderboard again a year later with an average of 5.65 for the heavyweight class.

The top three in Division I falls remain the same this week. Heavyweight Vincent Mueller still paces with 11 falls in 20:32.

In Division II, Glenville State's Ethan Mitchell leads the way with 15 falls at 141-pounds.  Ashland's heavyweight Wyatt Bailey has 14, while Pitt-Johnstown's heavyweight Isaiah Vance has 13 in 19:46.

184-pounder Sean Malenfant of Alfred State still leads Division III. He has earned 32 falls in 72:45. Clayton McDonough of Luther remains second with 29 in 75:35. Ursinus's 174-pounder Anthony Cerulli takes third this week at 23 in 33:49. 

Division I tech falls stay the same this week. Ohio State's Ben Davino at 133-pounds leads over Franklin and Marshall's 184-pounder James Conaway. Both are at 11 tech falls. Davino beats out Conway by aggregate time, 53:06 and 65:17, respectively. 

The top two in Division II remain unchanged, with David Hunsberger continuing to set the pace at 11 technical falls on the season. Ethan Farnell holds second with eight, while Caleb Moore of Belmont Abbey also has eight to round out the top three. Farnell's eight technical falls have come in a lower aggregate time (26:17) than Moore's.

Keegan Demarest the165-pounder of Messiah still holds first with 28 tech falls. Avery Leonard of Oneonta State is next in line with 19, two behind him is Tucker Seidel of Messiah with 17 in 45:10.

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