NWCA, National Duals Selection Committee announces Mid-Major Top 20 Poll with Cornell at No. 1

Manheim, Pennsylvania -- The National Wrestling Coaches Association and the National Duals Selection Committee has announced the formation of a Mid-Major Top 20 college wrestling poll. The first NWCA/NDS Mid-Major Top 20, released on Thursday, will concentrate on programs outside the traditional Power 5 conferences.


Cornell of the Ivy League is the top mid-major wrestling program in the nation, while EIWA rival Lehigh comes in ranked second. Lehigh competes in the Patriot League as its primary all-sports conference. The rest of the top five features Northern Iowa and Central Michigan from Mid-American Conference and South Dakota State, an affiliate of the Big 12 but an all-sports member of the Summit League. Northern Iowa is an all-sports member of the Missouri Valley Conference.


“We’ve seen college programs use mid-major polls in men’s and women’s basketball as another way to promote those sports to their fans and local media,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “We feel this can be an adequate measure of performance for teams that don’t have the benefits of being in a Power 5 Conference.”


Appalachian State, North Dakota State and Edinboro, all ranked in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll, come in ranked sixth through eighth. Rider and Drexel round out the top 10. Edinboro is the only school with a Division II athletics program represented. The Fighting Scots have competed in Division I wrestling since the 1980s.


All-Sports members of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC are not eligible for consideration. This poll is also conducted independently of the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll. Inquiries may be sent to Pat Tocci at ptocci@nwca.cc.

Rank	School	Record	Conference	All-Sports Conf.
1	Cornell	7-2	EIWA	Ivy
2	Lehigh	8-2	EIWA	Patriot
3	Northern Iowa	7-2	MAC	Missouri Valley
4	Central Michigan	3-2	MAC	MAC
5	South Dakota State	8-3	Big 12	Summit
6	Appalachian State	11-2	SoCon	Sun Belt
7	North Dakota State	9-4	Big 12	Summit
8	Edinboro	6-4	EWL	PSAC (Division II)
9	Rider	7-1	EWL	MAAC
10	Drexel	8-5	EIWA	Colonial
11	American	3-4	EIWA	Patriot
12	Army West Point	6-3	EIWA	Patriot
13	Princeton	5-6	EIWA	Ivy
14	Buffalo	7-4	MAC	MAC
15	Bucknell	5-4	EIWA	Patriot
16	Navy	7-1	EIWA	Patriot
17	Ohio	6-4	MAC	MAC
18	Campbell	5-6	SoCon	Big South
19	Wyoming	3-5	Big 12	Mountain West
20	Utah Valley	4-2	Big 12	WAC