2016 NCAA Wrestling Awards Recap

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA handed out the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Awards at the Divisions I, II and III Wrestling Championships earlier this month.

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.

In Division I, 149-pound national champion Zain Retherford of Penn State broke a tie with teammate Jason Nolf with three falls and a tech fall at Madison Square Garden to finish with an average of 5.00 team points per match, which helped the Nittany Lions to their fifth national championship in the last six years. Dan Hodge Trophy winner Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State came in second with an average of 4.709 points after winning his third consecutive national championship.

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 matches wrestled. 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)

Navy 184-pounder Mathew Miller had three falls in the wrestlebacks on his way to a fifth-place All-American finish at the Division I championships and the trophy for most falls with 18 this season.

Sophomore Isaiah Martinez of Illinois picked up his 14th tech fall of the season in the first round on his way to a second consecutive national championship and his second trophy for the most tech falls in Division I.

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.

In Division II, 184-pound national runner-up Travis McKillop of Pittsburgh-Johnstown claimed the trophy for Most Dominant Wrestler with an average of 4.44 points per match. Teammates Clint Poster and Austin Goergen of team champion St. Cloud State took the next two spots.

The crown for most falls in Division II came down to the aggregate time tiebreaker as Joshua Ailey of Central Oklahoma and Ronald Wardleigh of Western State each accumulated 15 falls this season. Ailey’s aggregate time of 35:20 surpassed Wardleigh’s 40:41 to be awarded the trophy in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Martin Ramirez’ 16-0 tech fall over Matt Paulus of Upper Iowa in the wrestlebacks propelled him to an All-American finish for Adams State and was his 10th tech fall of the season, which was the most in Division II.

Wabash 184-pounder Riley Lefever had two falls and two major decisions to wrap up his third national championship and second Most Dominant Wrestler Award. Lefever became just the 16th three-time national champion in Division III history. The junior will try to join Augsburg's Marcus LeVesseur next year as the only four-time champs.

Lefever nearly claimed a second trophy as he tied AJ Kowal with 22 falls this season, but the All-American from Stevens Institute of Technology won the tiebreaker with an aggregate time of 45:52, which was more than 11 minutes faster than Lefever.

The 184-pound weight class swept the wrestling awards in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as College at Brockport’s Jeff Palmeri took the award for most tech falls with 14 this season.