NCAA Men’s wrestling award standings update for February 18

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA has released updated standings for the 2026 NCAA Men’s Wrestling Awards that will be awarded in March at the respective Division I, II and III Wrestling Championships.

The inaugural NCAA Men’s 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 for the awards they must come against opponents in the same division (i.e. Division III vs. Division III). Ties in the two categories are broken based on the aggregate time.

This is the second week of standings for the Most Dominant Wrestler award, which is a 16-match minimum to qualify for the standings.

The Most Dominant Wrestler standings are calculated by adding the total number of team points awarded through match results and dividing that number by the total number of matches wrestled. Points per match are awarded as follows.

• Fall, forfeit, injury default or DQ = 6 points (-6 points for a loss)
• Tech falls = 5 points (-5 points for a loss)
• Major decision = 4 points (-4 points for a loss)
• Decision = 3 points (-3 points for a loss)

Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink continues to lead Division I with a 5.28 average and in second is Jesse Mendez of Ohio State with a 4.89 average.

Still in the lead for Division II is heavyweight Isaiah Vance with a 4.85 average. Taking second this week is Tiffin’s 165-pounder Nolan Gessler.

Division III top leaders stay the same. 157-pounder Trent Mahoney of Albright sits atop with an average of 5.72. RIT’s Josh Harkless is in second with an average of 5.68 for the heavyweight class.

Joe Curtis of Columbia passes his teammate Vincent Mueller for first in Division I with 11 falls in 17:52 on the season. Mueller is in second with 11 in 20:32. Edinboro’s 149-pounder Dominic Ferraro finds himself in the top three for the first time this season with 10 falls in 27:27.

In Division II, Wyatt Bailey of Ashland takes the lead with 16 falls.  Ethan Mitchell drops to second with 15 in 43:30. Findlay’s heavyweight Giulian Bodiu is next with 14.

184-pounder Sean Malenfant of Alfred State stays in the lead for Division III. He has earned 34 falls in 77:01. Clayton McDonough of Luther remains second with 30 in 76:26. Ursinus’s 174-pounder Anthony Cerulli stays third this at 24 in 35:29.

Heavyweight Yonger Bastida takes the lead for Division I tech falls this week. He leads over Franklin and Marshall’s 184-pounder James Conaway. Both are at 12 tech falls. Bastida beats out Conway by aggregate time, 52:40 and 69:26, respectively. Ohio State’s Ben Davino at 133-pounds stays in the top three with 11 tech falls.

David Hunsberger continues to set the pace for Division II at 12 technical falls on the season. Ashland’s 149-pounder Hayden Kuhn jumps to second this week with 10 in 54:36. Ethan Farnell slides to third with nine.

Keegan Demarest, the165-pounder of Messiah, still holds first with 29 tech falls. Avery Leonard of Oneonta State is next in line with 19 in 62:39.