NCAA announces wrestling awards standings for 2017 season

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA has released the updated standings for the 2017 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 they must come against opponents in the same division. Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time.

NCAA champion Gabe Dean of Cornell holds sole position of the top spot in falls in Division I with 12 at 184 pounds. Penn State national champion Zain Retherford, teammate Bo Nickal and Chad Walsh of Rider have all accumulated 10 falls so far, this season.

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In Division II, Western State 125-pounder Ronald Wardleigh holds the national lead with 10 falls this season over Carmine Ciotti of Gannon with nine.

Heavyweight Jake Evans of Waynesburg holds the Division III lead over Messiah 133-pounder Hunter Harris by virtue of aggregate time. Evans’ 17 falls have come in 51:34, while Harris has reached his 17 in just a little bit longer time of 52:55.

True freshman Jack Mueller of Virginia leads Division I in tech falls with nine this season at 125 pounds, while Te’Shan Campbell of Pittsburgh and 2016 national runner-up TJ Dudley of Nebraska are right behind Mueller with eight.

Adams State 133-pounder Martin Ramirez leads a quartet of wrestlers that each have six tech falls in Division II. Ramirez’ time of 21:45 is faster than Francis Mizia of Mercyhurst, Cody Law of Pittsburgh-Johnstown and Tyler Mies of Newman.

Stephen Jarrell of Johnson & Wales (Rhode Island) has 13 tech falls at 174 pounds to hold a lead of four over his next closest competition.

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. A 12-match minimum is required to be eligible for the Most Dominant Award.

* 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)

The initial Most Dominant Wrestler standings will be released later this season to allow wrestlers to achieve the 12-match minimum that is required to be eligible for the standings.

NCAA Stat Leaders - Falls

NCAA Stat Leaders - Tech Falls