Wartburg Rolls into 2026 as the Nation’s Top Team in both the Coaches Dual and Tournament Polls
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by National Wrestling Coaches Association
Manheim, PA - The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) has released its final set of regular season Coaches Polls as the calendar turns toward 2026.
Wartburg continues to hold the top spot in both the Tournament and Dual Team Top 25 polls, followed closely by Augsburg in each ranking.
The Tournament Team Top 5 saw minor movement, as UW–La Crosse and The College of New Jersey swapped positions at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.
In the Dual Team rankings, North Central slid out of the top five, with Loras moving up from eighth to claim the No. 5 position.
The individual rankings saw notable movement at the top, with three new No. 1 wrestlers taking over their weight classes. Ethan Spacht of North Central moved into the top spot at 133, Dom Mallinder of UW-Whitewater tops 149, and at 197 Joey Petrella of Baldwin Wallace now sits No. 1. North Central and Wartburg are the only programs with two top ranked athletes in this set of rankings.
TOP RANKED INDIVIDUALS | NATIONAL RANKINGS | REGIONAL RANKINGS
125 - Christian Guzman, North Central
133 - Ethan Spacht, North Central
141 - Mark Samuel, Roanoke
149 - Dom Mallinder, UW-Whitewater
157 - Charlie Dojan, Wartburg
165 - Clayton McDonough, Luther
174 - Hunter Mays, TCNJ
184 - Ganon Smith, Elizabethtown
197 - Joey Petrella, Baldwin Wallace
285 - Mitch Williamson, Wartburg
TOURNAMENT TOP 25 | PDF DOWNLOAD
| RANK | INSTITUTION | TOTAL POINTS | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wartburg | 58.5 | 1 |
| 2 | Augsburg | 49.5 | 2 |
| 3 | UW La Crosse | 46.5 | 4 |
| 4 | TCNJ | 42 | 3 |
| 5 | North Central | 38 | 5 |
| 6 | Roanoke | 32.5 | 6 |
| 7 | UW Whitewater | 29.5 | 8 |
| 8 | Baldwin Wallace | 29 | T20 |
| 9 | Loras | 27.5 | 9 |
| 10 | Stevens | 22.5 | 7 |
| 11 | Luther | 22.5 | 10 |
| 12 | Chicago | 20 | 12 |
| 13 | Arcadia | 19 | 11 |
| 14 | Coe | 18.5 | 15 |
| 15 | Coast Guard | 17 | 14 |
| 16 | Elizabethtown | 16 | T17 |
| 17 | Johnson & Wales | 15.5 | 16 |
| 18 | Williams | 15 | T20 |
| 19 | Wabash | 15 | 13 |
| 20 | NYU | 14.5 | T17 |
| 21 | Washington & Lee | 14 | T22 |
| 22 | Central | 13.5 | 19 |
| 23 | Case Western | 12.5 | UR |
| 24 | Adrian | 12.5 | T24 |
| 25 | McDaniel | 12 | T24 |
TOURNAMENT POLL METHODOLOGY: THIS IS A TOURNAMENT POWER INDEX RANKING; THE POLL IS NOT BASED ON A TEAM'S DUAL STRENGTH. TPI POINT TOTALS ARE BROKEN DOWN BY INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS DIRECTLY CORRELATED TO PLACEMENT POINTS AT THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: 1ST=16PTS, 2ND=12PTS, 3RD=10PTS, 4TH=9PTS, 5TH=7PTS, 6TH=6PTS, 7TH=4PTS, 8TH=3PTS, 9TH=2PTS, 10TH=1PT, 11TH=.5, 12TH=.5, 13TH=.5, 14TH=.5, 15TH=.5. THE TOP POINT TOTALS WIL BE LOWER THAN THE FINAL ACTUAL NCAA TOURNAMENT POINTS BECAUSE IT DOES NOT include BONUS POINTS OR ADVANCEMENT POINTS.
DUAL TEAM TOP 25 | PDF DOWNLOAD
| Rank | INSTITUTION | RECORD | PRVS. RANK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wartburg | - | 1 |
| 2 | Augsburg | - | 2 |
| 3 | UW La Crosse | - | 3 |
| 4 | TCNJ | - | 4 |
| 5 | Loras | - | 8 |
| 6 | Roanoke | - | 6 |
| 7 | North Central | - | 5 |
| 8 | Johnson & Wales | - | 7 |
| 9 | Central | - | 10 |
| 10 | Coe | - | 11 |
| 11 | UW Eau Claire | - | 9 |
| 12 | Washington & Lee | - | 12 |
| 13 | UW Whitewater | - | 13 |
| 14 | VTSU Castleton | - | 14 |
| 15 | Baldwin Wallace | - | 18 |
| 16 | Stevens | - | 15 |
| 17 | Coast Guard | - | 16 |
| 18 | Chicago | - | 17 |
| 19 | Wabash | - | 21 |
| 20 | NYU | - | 20 |
| 21 | Case Western | - | NR |
| 22 | Messiah | - | 19 |
| 23 | Williams | - | NR |
| 24 | Ohio Northern | - | 25 |
| 25 | Ursinus | - | NR |
Ranking Committee
Region 1: Scott Legacy, VTSU Castleton & Mike Sugermeyer, Western New England
Region 2: Anthony Bonaventura, Stevens Institute & Mike Howard, Oswego
Region 3: Joseph Jamison, Ursinus & Corey Luce, NYU
Region 4: Nate Yetzer, Roanoke & Ryan Riggs, Mount Union
Region 5: Grant Zamin, North Central & Jake Fredricksen, Wabash
Region 6: Dave Mitchell, Luther & Eric Keller, Wartburg
Region 7: Tony Valek, Augsburg & Dave Malecek, UW-La Crosse
