NCAA Wrestling Most Dominant Wrestler Standings of 2017

Matt Holmes of NCAA.com released the Most Dominant Wrestler rankings and information explaining how the rankings are created below.

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.

In Division I, Penn State 149-pounder Zain Retherford leads the first release of standings for the Most Dominant Wrestler Award. Retherford is contributing 5.60 team points per match for the 2016 national champions. Teammate Bo Nickal is second with 5.50 points at 184 pounds, while Cornell 184-pounder Gabe Dean and Penn State 157-pounder Jason Nolf are third with 5.40 points.

Francis Mizia of Mercyhurst leads Division II with an average of 5.00 points at 165 pounds, while Montrail Johnson of Wisconsin-Parkside is second with 4.71 points. Lance Evans of Wartburg has a commanding lead in Division III with an average of 5.56 team points per match at heavyweight.

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.

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 are calculated with a 14-match minimum against wrestlers from the same division.

Dean maintains his hold on the national lead for falls in Division I with 14, while Chad Walsh of Rider is second with 12 at 165 pounds. Heavyweight Garrett Gray of Tiffin leads Division II with 11 falls, while Kevin Barrett of Nebraska-Kearney and Ronald Wardleigh of Western State each have 10. Hunter Harris of Messiah has pulled ahead in Division III with 24 falls this season at 141 pounds, six more than his nearest competitor.

True freshman Jack Mueller of Virginia leads Division I in tech falls with nine this season at 125 pounds, but is only holding off heavyweight Thomas Haines of Lock Haven by aggregate time. Mueller’s nine tech falls have come in 33:47, 20 minutes less than Haines.

Division II features a logjam of six wrestlers that have tallied six tech falls this season. Aggregate time comes into play again with 184-pounder Nicholas Fiegener of California Baptist tallying his tech falls in 19:38 to take the top position, two minutes less than Martin Ramirez of Adams State in second.

Stephen Jarrell of Johnson & Wales (Rhode Island) has 14 tech falls at 174 pounds to hold a lead of two over Jason Lynch of Chicago at 197 pounds.

NCAA STAT LEADERS – MOST DOMINANT
Division I
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Avg. Team Points
1	Zain Retherford	Penn St.	149	5.60
2	Bo Nickal	Penn St.	184	5.50
3	Gabe Dean	Cornell	184	5.40
3	Jason Nolf	Penn St.	157	5.40
5	Isaiah Martinez	Illinois	165	4.71
5	Thomas Gilman	Iowa	125	4.71
7	Seth Gross	South Dakota St.	133	4.45
8	Zahid Valencia	Arizona St.	174	4.42
9	Mark Hall	Penn St.	174	4.27
9	Joshua Rodriguez	North Dakota St.	125	4.27

Division II
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Avg. Team Points
1	Francis Mizia	Mercyhurst	165	5.00
2	Montrail Johnson	Wis.-Parkside	184	4.71
3	Carmine Ciotti	Gannon	133	4.69
4	Tyler Reinhart	Pitt.-Johnstown	165	4.60
5	Kevin Barrett	Neb.-Kearney	285	4.33
6	Garrett Gray	Tiffin	285	4.32
7	Nick Becker	Wis.-Parkside	174	4.21
8	Jason Buhr	Colorado Mesa	165	4.18
9	Ronald Wardleigh	Western St.	125	4.10
10	Willie Bohince	Mercyhurst	125	4.05

Division III
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Avg. Team Points
1	Lance Evans	Wartburg	285	5.56
2	Lucas Malmberg	Messiah	125	4.93
3	Troy Stanich	Stevens	133	4.90
4	Dan Del Gallo	Southern Me.	149	4.67
4	Jake Evans	Waynesburg	285	4.67
6	Triston Engle	Brockport	197	4.65
7	Carlos Toribio	Ithaca	197	4.63
8	Seth Lansberry	Lycoming	149	4.57
9	Zachery Roseberry	Delaware Valley	285	4.52
9	Sonnieboy Blanco	Wash. & Jeff.	174	4.52
Most dominant rankings are based off of a minimum of 14 matches

NCAA STAT LEADERS – FALLS
Division I
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Falls	Time
1	Gabe Dean	Cornell	184	14	34:42
2	Chad Walsh	Rider	165	12	53:23
3	Zain Retherford	Penn St.	149	11	35:04
4	Bo Nickal	Penn St.	184	11	37:08
5	Adam Mackie	Lock Haven	174	10	14:34
6	Ross Larson	Oklahoma	285	10	23:58
7	Evan Fidelibus	Rider	141	9	25:00
8	Mark Hall	Penn St.	174	9	29:25
9	Jason Nolf	Penn St.	157	9	29:30
10	Patrick Quinlan	Frank. & Marsh.	141	9	38:44

Division II
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Falls	Time
1	Garrett Gray	Tiffin	285	11	25:21
2	Kevin Barrett	Neb.-Kearney	285	10	25:52
3	Ronald Wardleigh	Western St.	133	10	27:47
4	James Lehman	Wis.-Parkside	285	9	21:54
5	Carmine Ciotti	Gannon	149	9	26:41
6	Tyler Reinhart	Pitt.-Johnstown	165	8	11:38
7	Andy Welton	Mercyhurst	285	8	16:05
8	Tyler Richardson	East Stroudsburg	174	8	23:54
9	Francis Mizia	Mercyhurst	165	8	24:07
10	Payton Tawater	Colorado Mesa	157	7	11:46

Division III
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Falls	Time
1	Hunter Harris	Messiah	141	24	73:07
2	Jake Evans	Waynesburg	285	18	52:41
3	Troy Stanich	Stevens	133	16	50:14
4	AJ Kowal	Stevens	197	15	38:19
5	Corbin Bunsold	Otterbein	184	15	40:08
6	Dusten Reed	Wartburg	133	13	19:48
7	Justin Cochran	Roger Williams	141	13	27:00
8	Guy Patron	Loras	197	13	27:21
9	James Bethel	SUNY Oneonta	285	13	30:04
10	Anthony Arroyo	Baldwin Wallace	174	13	36:39

NCAA STAT LEADERS – TECH FALLS
Division I
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Tech Falls	Time
1	Jack Mueller	Virginia	125	9	33:47
2	Thomas Haines	Lock Haven	285	9	54:23
3	Te`Shan Campbell	Pittsburgh	165	8	34:01
4	TJ Dudley	Nebraska	184	8	37:39
5	Connor Medbery	Wisconsin	285	7	31:16
6	Mike Hughes	Hofstra	285	7	38:41
7	Stephen Suglio	Kent St.	197	6	25:33
8	Ethan Lizak	Minnesota	125	6	26:14
9	Sal Mastriani	Virginia Tech	157	6	27:20
10	Alex Griffin	Purdue	157	6	28:20

Division II
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Tech Falls	Time
1	Nicholas Fiegener	California Baptist	184	6	19:38
2	Martin Ramirez	Adams St.	133	6	21:45
3	Francis Mizia	Mercyhurst	165	6	22:39
4	Cody Law	Pitt.-Johnstown	157	6	33:57
5	Nic Goebel	Findlay	149	6	35:11
6	Tyler Mies	Newman	149	6	35:21
7	Austin Petril	Kutztown	125	5	19:33
8	Jason Buhr	Colorado Mesa	165	5	24:54
9	Jacob Waste	California Baptist	197	5	27:25
10	Logan Hopp	Upper Iowa	285	4	17:10

Division III
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Tech Falls	Time
1	Stephen Jarrell	Johnson & Wales (RI)	174	14	77:26
2	Jason Lynch	Chicago	197	12	66:57
3	Lucas Malmberg	Messiah	125	10	52:47
4	Alex Kramer	Ursinus	149	9	29:59
5	Seth Lansberry	Lycoming	149	9	41:56
6	Ben Swarr	Messiah	174	9	60:47
7	Bobby Jordan	Johnson & Wales (RI)	125	8	44:45
8	Zach Wilhelm	Stevens	149	8	45:31
9	CJ Luth	Southern Me.	157	7	24:38
10	Mason Geary	Wis.-La Crosse	149	7	28:38

Kyle Carroll

Kyle Carroll is a Long Island, N.Y. native and avid MMA and amateur wrestling fan. He has been a part of the wrestling community for nearly 20 years. Carroll has six years of experience coaching high school wrestling. His father coached high school wrestling over 35 years, passing on his strong knowledge. Carroll has been reporting MMA news since January 2011. The former wrestler’s coverage includes the 2012 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials, 2013 & 2016 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championship, and numerous MMA events (Bellator MMA, King of the Cage, North American Fighting Championship, and Glory).

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