NCAA debuts wrestling award standings for 2019 season in pins and technical falls

Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven currently leads the NCAA Div. I in technical falls. Photo courtesy of GoLHU.com

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has released the debut standings for the 2019 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 (i.e. Division II vs. Division II). Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time.

Division I is paced in falls by Central Michigan heavyweight Matt Stencel and George Mason 165-pounder Colston DiBlasi with 12 falls. Stencel has made much quicker work of his opponents to hold the aggregate time tiebreaker by 25 minutes over DiBlasi. Kent State’s Andrew McNally is the only other Division I wrestler in double digits with 10 falls at 184 pounds.

A three-way tie with eight falls marks the Division II standings between Lake Erie’s Evan Loughman, Upper Iowa’s Justin Folley and Seton Hill’s Alan Diltz. Loughman wins the tiebreaker with an aggregate time of 17:01 at heavyweight to rank first ahead of 133-pounders Folley and Diltz.

Heavyweights lead the way in all three divisions as SUNY Oneonta’s James Bethel is the sole leader in Division III with 12 falls ahead of an eight-way logjam of wrestlers with 11 falls. Heidelberg 184-pounder Dylan Roth leads that tight group to take second place overall with an aggregate time of 17:45.

Last year’s winner for most tech falls is off to a strong start to repeat in Division I as Lock Haven’s Kyle Shoop has started this season with 10 tech falls. Oklahoma State 133-pounder Daton Fix is second with nine, while Minnesota’s 2017 NCAA finalist Ethan Lizak is third with eight.

A pair of 184-pounders pace Division II with four tech falls as Central Oklahoma’s Heath Gray holds the tiebreaker in aggregate time, 18:13 to 19:44, over Daniel Bishop of Augustana (South Dakota). UIndy heavyweight Dylan Faulkenberg leads an eight-way tie of three tech falls compiling his in just over eight minutes.

Messiah 149-pounder Stephen Maloney has earned 11 tech falls in Division III to lead by two over Heidelberg’s Jeremiah Slagle and three over Mount Union 133-pounder Jordin James.

The initial Most Dominant Wrestler standings will be released later this season to allow wrestlers to achieve the minimum amount of matches required to be eligible for the standings.

RANK	NAME	SCHOOL	WEIGHT	FALLS	TIME
Division I
1	Matt Stencel	Central Mich.	285	12	20:38
2	Colston DiBlasi	George Mason	165	12	46:09
3	Andrew McNally	Kent St.	184	10	34:43
4	Bo Nickal	Penn St.	197	9	15:25
5	Jason Nolf	Penn St.	157	9	32:52
6	Jaydin Eierman	Missouri	141	9	36:34
7	Zahid Valencia	Arizona St.	174	8	16:30
8	Eli Spencer	George Mason	197	8	22:58
9	Vincenzo Joseph	Penn St.	165	8	24:16
10	Clay Lautt	North Carolina	174	7	12:06
Division II
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Falls	Time
1	Evan Loughman	Lake Erie	285	8	17:01
2	Justin Folley	Upper Iowa	133	8	26:02
3	Alan Diltz	Seton Hill	133	8	30:23
4	Jordan Gundrum	Upper Iowa	174	6	13:37
5	Jacob Robb	Mercyhurst	285	6	16:41
6	Nicholas Mason	Tiffin	197	6	21:43
7	Faris Messai	Gannon	149	6	27:15
8	Ryan Vasbinder	McKendree	197	5	7:33
9	Shelden Struble	U Indy	165	5	12:16
10	Vince Dietz	St. Cloud St.	197	5	14:22
Division III
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Falls	Time
1	James Bethel	SUNY Oneonta	285	12	14:53
2	Dylan Roth	Heidelberg	184	11	17:45
3	Jared Mooney	Penn College	197	11	20:42
4	Joe Fusco	Springfield	285	11	24:07
5	Conner Homan	Mount Union	174	11	25:09
6	Michael McIntire	Mount Union	165	11	26:18
7	Da`mani Burns	JWU (Providence)	149	11	29:33
8	Izaake Zuckerman	NYU	165	11	32:35
9	Jarrod Setliff	Otterbein	184	11	34:26
10	Antwon Pugh	Mount Union	157	10	21:02

RANK	NAME	SCHOOL	WEIGHT	TECH FALLS	TIME
1	Kyle Shoop	Lock Haven	141	10	41:11
2	Daton Fix	Oklahoma St.	133	9	42:55
3	Ethan Lizak	Minnesota	133	8	34:37
4	Kevin Parker	Princeton	184	7	28:13
5	Cam Sykora	North Dakota St.	133	7	40:55
6	Quentin Perez	Campbell	174	6	27:36
7	Nicholas Piccininni	Oklahoma St.	125	6	28:24
8	Luke Werner	Lock Haven	125	6	36:46
9	Spencer Lee	Iowa	125	5	13:27
10	Branson Ashworth	Wyoming	165	5	22:57
Division II
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Tech Falls	Time
1	Heath Gray	Central Okla.	184	4	18:13
2	Daniel Bishop	Augustana (SD)	184	4	19:44
3	Dylan Faulkenberg	U Indy	285	3	8:16
4	Nathan Vandermeer	Findlay	174	3	11:36
5	John Siemasz	Lake Erie	149	3	11:41
6	Travis Swanson	St. Cloud St.	141	3	12:45
7	Josh Portillo	Neb.-Kearney	125	3	14:54
8	Colton Dull	Millersville	197	3	14:55
9	Chris Eddins Jr.	Pitt.-Johnstown	149	3	16:56
10	Tate Barnhardt	Mary	133	3	17:17
Division III
Rank	Name	School	Weight	Tech Falls	Time
1	Stephen Maloney	Messiah	149	11	50:21
2	Jeremiah Slagle	Heidelberg	174	9	43:14
3	Jordin James	Mount Union	133	8	34:59
4	Jay Albis	JWU (Providence)	125	7	32:26
5	Connor Calkins	RIT	285	6	22:40
6	Josiah Gehr	Messiah	125	6	30:35
7	Luke Hernandez	Mount Union	149	6	35:58
8	Cross Cannone	Wartburg	157	5	16:44
9	Evan Drill	NYU	149	5	18:49
10	Gregory Warner	York (PA)	149	5	20:12