BOONE, N.C. — Five wrestlers from App State have top-33 national rankings within their weight classes in the Division I Coaches Rankings that were released Thursday.
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Codi Russell, No. 17 at 125 pounds
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Jonathan Millner, No. 14 at 149 pounds
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Cody Bond, No. 30 at 157 pounds
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Will Formato, No. 16 at 165 pounds
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Thomas Flitz, No. 13 at 174 pounds
The rankings are relevant when determining at-large berths within the 33-wrestler brackets for each weight class at the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 18-20 in St. Louis. App State, Wyoming and Northern Iowa are the only schools outside the primary Power Five structure with top-17 rankings from four wrestlers.
Each champion in the 10 weight classes at the SoCon Championships on Feb. 28 in Boone will qualify automatically for the NCAAs. The SoCon's second-place finishers at 149 pounds, 184 pounds and 285 pounds have also been pre-allocated to qualify automatically, with the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee switching its process for evaluating the strength of weight classes within each conference to a five-year historical average instead of a single-year formula measuring wrestlers' Division I winning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches ranking.
The SoCon went from four pre-allocations for second-place tournament finishers last year to three this year, but this year there are more at-large spots nationwide (64) across the 10 weight classes than there were last season (47). There are seven Division I wrestling leagues, and the Big Ten, for instance, will get as many as seven automatic qualifiers from some weight classes based on its strength as a league and the rankings of its wrestlers.
"The committee knew that there wasn't going to be enough regular-season competition to utilize the existing process where wrestlers earned pre-allocations for their conference based on regular season performance," said Karen Langston, senior associate athletics director at California State University, Bakersfield and chair of the wrestling committee. "The option to utilize the five-year historical average was an equitable alternative, and the way it worked out has opened more at-large spots this year for deserving wrestlers who don't qualify through their conference tournament."
| Weight Class |
Automatic allotments out of 33 spots nationally |
Automatic SoCon allotments |
SoCon wrestlers ranked in top 33 |
| 125 |
26 of 33 (7 at-large) |
1 |
2 |
| 133 |
27 of 33 (6 at-large) |
1 |
0 |
| 141 |
27 of 33 (6 at-large) |
1 |
1 |
| 149 |
27 of 33 (6 at-large) |
2 |
3 |
| 157 |
27 of 33 (6 at-large) |
1 |
2 |
| 165 |
26 of 33 (7 at-large) |
1 |
3 |
| 174 |
26 of 33 (7 at-large) |
1 |
2 |
| 184 |
27 of 33 (6 at-large) |
2 |
2 |
| 197 |
26 of 33 (7 at-large) |
1 |
2 |
| 285 |
27 of 33 (6 at-large) |
2 |
1 |
For the SoCon, there are spots where the five-year average helped weight classes that don't have as many highly ranked wrestlers as usual and spots where the five-year average potentially affects weight classes with more highly ranked wrestlers than usual.
For instance, the SoCon has two wrestlers ranked in the top 14 at 174 pounds but only one automatic, pre-allocated spot for the NCAAs, meaning at least one at-large berth would be needed for multiple SoCon wrestlers at that weight to make the NCAAs. That said, there are seven at-large berths available this year at 174, compared to four being available last year.
The SoCon has three wrestlers among the top 28 spots at 165 pounds but only an automatic spot for the tournament champion at that weight, while, in addition to 174, there are two ranked wrestlers but only an automatic spot for the champion at 125, 157 and 197.
On the flip side, the SoCon has been pre-allocated two automatic NCAA berths at 285 pounds, even though the league has only one heavyweight ranked in the top 33 (The Citadel's Michael McAleavey at No. 31). That opens up a second spot for a SoCon heavyweight who likely would not have qualified in past seasons.
After the conference tournaments have concluded, the Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining at-large qualifiers to fill out the 33-man bracket in each weight class. The complete field will be announced March 9, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on March 10.
The Division I Coaches Rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches, with two head coaches from each conference. For ranking purposes, coaches may only consider a wrestler that has been designated as a starter at a respective weight class.
