Grand View claims 34th-straight No. 1 ranking in NAIA Coaches' Poll

Photo: Grandview Athletics

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Grand View (Iowa) finds itself in a familiar position, as the program garners the No. 1 ranking in the second regular-season edition of the NAIA Wrestling Coaches’ Top 20 Poll, the national office announced Wednesday. The Vikings, which claimed 169.5 points – 79 points more than the No. 2 team – have now been ranked atop the poll for 34-straight editions. The third regular-season installment is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000-01)
• Grand View owns the No. 1 ranking for the 39th time in program history, which ties the club with former member Lindenwood (Mo.) for the most No. 1 appearances since the start of the 2000-01 season.
• Similar to last edition, the Vikings boast 12 ranked grapplers, all of which are listed among the top 10 in their respective weight classes.
• Grand View’s top ranked wrestlers are: Hunter Genco at 133 pounds, Lawton Benna at 174 pounds and Dean Broghammer at 285 pounds. All three also held the No. 1 ranking in the first regular-season edition. Benna and Broghammer were also the No. 1 wrestler in the preseason poll.
• Coming in at No. 2 for a third-straight installment is Indiana Tech. The Warriors claimed 90.5 points behind 10 ranked wrestlers. Defending 125-pound national champion Mitch Pawlak grabbed a share of the No. 1 ranking at 133 pounds this week. The senior is 6-2 on the season, including a fifth-place finish at the Michigan State Open on Nov. 20.
• The remainder of the top five consists of No. 3 Williams Baptist (Ark.), No. 4 Menlo (Calif.) and No. 5 Montana State-Northern.
• With Pawlak’s jump to 133 pounds, Troy Lakin of Menlo (Calif.) takes over the No. 1 ranking at 125 pounds. The returning All-American is 6-2 to start the year with his only losses coming against David Gonzalez of Cal Poly and Ben Thornton of Purdue (Ind.) – both NCAA Division I institutions.
• Tyler Fraley of Williams Baptist (Ark.) at 141 pounds and Ben Stroh of Montana State-Northern at 184 pounds are the only other new No. 1s. Fraley enters the week with a 7-1 mark, while Stroh is 16-2.
• Since 2001, only Grand View (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16), former members Notre Dame (Ohio) (2010-11) and Lindenwood (2006-07) have spent the entire season ranked No. 1.

Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the six national qualifying groups.
• One day prior to the national poll, each qualifying group rater submits the top six individuals from each weight class in his geographic area into the system. Only wrestlers listed on a qualifying group ballot are considered for the national ballot.
• The top 16 individuals in each weight class is based on how each voter ranks the best individuals. An individual receives 20 points for each first place vote, 18 for second place and so on through the list. This same point system is used to determine the team ranking.
• The postseason poll was determined using the individual and team results from the national championship
• For the complete Top 20 calendar, click here.

2016-17 NAIA Wrestling Coaches’ Top 20 Poll – No. 2 (December 7, 2016)

Rank	Previous Rank	School	Total Team Points
1	1	Grand View (Iowa)	169.5
2	2	Indiana Tech	90.5
3	3	Williams Baptist (Ark.)	67.5
4	5	Menlo (Calif.)	65.5
5	7	Montana State-Northern	61
6	4	Oklahoma City	58
7	6	Southern Oregon	53.5
8	18	Campbellsville (Ky.)	52.5
9	13	Missouri Valley	51.5
10	8	Life (Ga.)	49.5
11	T9	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	48.5
12	11	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	45.5
13	T9	Concordia (Neb.)	44
14	T15	Warner Pacific (Ore.)	39
15	T15	Cumberlands (Ky.)	38.5
16	RV	Great Falls (Mont.)	34
17	19	Morningside (Iowa)	31.5
18	17	Cumberland (Tenn.)	28.5
19	RV	Southeastern (Fla.)	24
20	12	Baker (Kan.)	23

Dropped from the Top 20: York (Neb.) (No. 14); Simpson (Calif.) (No. 20)

Others receiving votes: Midland (Neb.) 20.5; Briar Cliff (Iowa) 20; Brewton-Parker (Ga.) 18; Northwestern (Iowa) 17.5; Lyon (Ark.) 17; Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 13; York (Neb.) 13; Eastern Oregon 12.5; Simpson (Calif.) 12; Benedictine (Kan.) 8; Hastings (Neb.) 6.5; Doane (Neb.) 5.5; Bacone (Okla.) 5; Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) 4.5; Marian (Ind.) 4; Bethany (Kan.) 4; Truett-McConnell (Ga.) 2.5; Graceland (Iowa) 1.

Top Ranked Individuals | Individual Rankings
125 – Troy Lakin, Menlo (Calif.)
133 – Hunter Genco, Grand View (Iowa) / Mitch Pawlak, Indiana Tech
141 – Tyler Fraley, Williams Baptist
149 – Victor Hughes, Baker (Kan.)
157 – Cam Tessari, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
165 – Blake Cooper, Warner Pacific (Ore.)
174 – Lawton Benna, Grand View (Iowa)
184 – Ben Stroh, Montana State-Northern
197 – Dalton Bailey, Life (Ga.)
285 – Dean Broghammer, Grand View (Iowa)