Wyoming, Pittsburgh move up in latest NWCA Div. I Coaches Poll

Manheim, Pennsylvania – The new year opened with top-ranked Penn State setting a new team scoring record at the Southern Scuffle and numerous ranked teams met head-to-head, but the top 10 teams in the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll remained the same as the new poll was released on Tuesday.

Penn State (4-0) was again the unanimous No. 1, followed by Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Iowa and Missouri.

No. 2 Ohio State improved to 4-0 with a 26-10 win over No. 9 NC State on Sunday in a dual shown live on ESPN2. Over 3,700 fans were in attendance. No. 6 Michigan improved to 3-0 after a west coast swing gave them wins over Oregon State 33-8 and No. 16 Arizona State 23-12. Michigan true freshman Mason Parris made his varsity debut against returning All-American Amar Dhesi of Oregon State and came away with a victory. Dhesi was ranked No. 1 according to a handful of college wrestling individual rankings.

No. 8 Minnesota (7-1) won its Big Ten opener with a 22-15 win over visiting Rutgers on Sunday. No. 11 Nebraska (5-2) rallied from an early deficit to beat Northwestern 26-14 on Sunday. The Huskers Tyler Berger knocked off second-ranked Ryan Deakin at 157 pounds in the dual’s feature match.
No 12 Wyoming moved up a spot after they swept the Cowboy Shootout in Laramie. The Cowboys (9-3) beat No. 15 North Carolina, Army West Point and American. All four schools are coached by Oklahoma State alumni. North Carolina (7-4) went 2-1 and earned wins over American and Army West Point.

The only other ranked team in action was Pittsburgh, which improved to 6-0 after beating Oklahoma 20-17 at Tuttle High School in Tuttle, Oklahoma.

The NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll is voted on by two coaches from each Division I wrestling conference. Each first-place vote is worth 25 points, 24 points for a second-place vote, 23 for a third-place vote and so on through to one point for a 25th-place vote.

NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll – January 8, 2019

Rank	Team (First)	Record	Points	Conference	Previous
1	Penn State (16)	4-0	400	Big Ten	1
2	Ohio State	5-0	381	Big Ten	2
3	Oklahoma State	5-0	370	Big 12	3
4	Iowa	6-0	347	Big Ten	4
5	Missouri	10-0	336	MAC	5
6	Michigan	5-0	321	Big Ten	6
7	Cornell	5-1	305	EIWA	7
8	Minnesota	8-1	291	Big Ten	8
9	NC State	9-2	265	ACC	9
10	Wisconsin	6-1	256	Big Ten	10
11	Nebraska	6-2	242	Big Ten	11
12	Wyoming	9-3	215	Big 12	13
13	Virginia Tech	2-2	204	ACC	12
14	Northern Iowa	1-2	175	Big 12	14
15	North Carolina	7-4	166	ACC	15
16	Arizona State	1-4	147	Pac-12	16
17	Purdue	3-4	122	Big Ten	17
18	Pittsburgh	6-0	119	ACC	20
19	Illinois	1-1	113	Big Ten	18
20	Lock Haven	2-0	111	EWL	19
21	Iowa State	2-1	97	Big 12	21
22	Utah Valley	6-5	87	Big 12	22
23	North Dakota State	6-3	47	Big 12	20
24	Rutgers	6-2	43	Big Ten	24
25	Princeton	3-3	17	EIWA	25

 
Others Receiving Votes: Stanford 9, Old Dominion 7, Lehigh 5, Virginia 2
Dropped Out: None