NWCA Releases Division III Men’s Coaches Regular Season Poll #5

Manheim, PA – On Thursday the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) released their fifth set of regular season Division III Men’s Coaches Tournament and Dual Polls, as well as national and regional individual rankings.

Wartburg now sits at the top of both the Tournament and Dual Top 25 polls. This following their 22-14 upset win over then #1 Augsburg. The tournament poll top five is now comprised of #1 Wartburg (71 pts), #2 Johnson & Wales (51 pts), #3 Augsburg (48pts), #4 Baldwin Wallace (45.5 pts),and finally #5 Loras (34 pts).

Wartburg (12-1) is now the new #1 jumping up from third while #2 Augsburg (8-1), #3 Johnson & Wales (26-3), #4 UW-La Crosse (13-3), and #5 Baldwin Wallace (15-2) round out the top five.

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RANKINGS   –   INDIVIDUAL REGIONAL RANKINGS

The individual rankings saw a single change to the top spots with Zeke Smith (Loras College) taking over the #1 ranking at 157. Johnson & Wales (125 & 174) leads the nation with two top-ranked wrestlers.  Other programs with a #1 ranked wrestler are North Central, Wartburg, Baldwin Wallace, Loras, Rhode Island, UW-Whitewater, Coast Guard, and Olivet.

TOP RANKED INDIVIDUALS
125 – Josiah Fry, Johnson & Wales
133 – Robbie Precin, North Central
141 – Zaren Terukina, Wartburg
149 – Michael Petrella, Baldwin Wallace
157 – Zeke Smith, Loras Collage*
165 – Nate Lackman, Rhode Island
174 – Mike Ross, Johnson & Wales
184 – Jarritt Shinhoster, UW-Whitewater
197 – Coy Spooner, Coast Guard
285 – Donovan King, Olivet
* New #1

Poll Resources – Link

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 Jon McGovern (Dubuque)
SE Jon Laudenslager (Wilkes) and Anthony Bonaventura (Stevens)
ME Justin Signorelli (Alfred State) and Joe Galante (TCNJ)
NE Scott Legacy (Castleton) and Corey Luce (NYU)
CENT Bill Schindel (Adrian) & Brandon Brissette (Olivet)