College wrestling: NCAA releases award standings update

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA has released the updated standings for the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Awards that will be awarded in March at the respective Division I, II and III Wrestling Championships.

The inaugural NCAA 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 towards a student-athletes total they must come against opponents in the same division. Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time.

Most Division I schools took last week off to prepare for conference tournaments taking place this weekend leading to no changes in the standings.

Division II and III wrestlers competed in regional action last weekend to qualify for national championship competition March 11-12. The NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships take place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, while the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships return to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. For tickets to either championship, visit http://www.ncaa.com/tickets. 

Pittsburgh-Johnstown 184-pounder Travis McKillop leads Division II with an average of 4.95 team points per match, followed by heavyweight Garrett Grey of Tiffin with 4.81 points.

The 2014-15 NCAA Division III Most Dominant Wrestler is well on his way to earning the award for the second year in a row as Wabash 184-pounder Riley Lefever has an average of 5.73 points. Heavyweight Donald Longendyke is second with an average of 5.46 points for Augsburg.

The Most Dominant Wrestler standings are calculated by adding the total number of points awarded through match results and dividing that number by the total number of matchs wrestled. Team points per match are awarded as follows and based on a minimum of 17 matches in the division.

* 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)

Central Oklahoma 141-pounder Joshua Ailey is the new leader in Division II with 14 falls, but three wrestlers are on his heels with 13 falls.

AJ Kowal of Stevens Institute of Technology holds the national lead with 21 falls this season in Division III, while Lefever and Josh Thomson of Messiah (57:28) each have 20 falls.

Martin Ramirez of Adams State and Francis Mizia of Mercyhurst both have nine tech falls in Division II. Ramirez holds the tiebreaker in aggregate time (28:07-34:15) over Mizia, while two more wrestlers have earned eight tech falls.

Michael Fleck, a 125-pounder from Wilkes, holds the national lead in Division III with 13 tech falls, one ahead of College at Brockport 184-pounder Jeff Palmeri.

Most dominant rankings are based off of a minimum of 17 matches