Northern Iowa checks in at No. 1 in NWCA Mid-Major Division I Poll

Manheim, Pennsylvania – The National Wrestling Coaches Association released its first Mid-Major Top 20 of the season on Wednesday. Formulated in 2017, the Mid-Major Top 20 concentrates on the programs that fall outside of the traditional “Power 5” conferences.

COVID-19 played a significant role in this year’s college sports season, with wrestling being impacted without the participation of seven schools that would qualify for inclusion in the Mid-Major Top 20. The six wrestling Ivy League schools – Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Penn and Princeton along with the lone Division III school sponsoring Division I wrestling, Franklin & Marshall, did not compete this season.

Northern Iowa, one of the nation’s top non-Power 5 wrestling programs historically, comes in atop of the poll, followed by the U.S. Naval Academy and first-year head coach Cary Kolat. Traditional Mid-American Conference power Central Michigan is third, followed by Campbell at four and Rider fifth.

While the Big 12 is a Power 5 conference, a number of its affiliate members are considered Mid-Majors and seven of them are in the Top 20. The EIWA has six schools in the rankings, followed by the MAC and SoCon with three each.

Methodology: The NWCA Division I Mid-Major Wrestling Coaches Poll is voted on by coaches representing teams from non-Power 5 conferences. Each first-place vote is worth 20 points, 19 points for a second-place vote, 18 for a third-place vote and so on through to one point for a 20th-place vote. The poll is based on dual meet results. Teams who are not competing this season are not included in the voting process.

NWCA Division I Mid-Major Wrestling Coaches Poll
February 17, 2021

Rank	School	Record	Points	Conf.	All-Sports Conf.
1	Northern Iowa (4)	(4-4)	98	Big 12	Missouri Valley
2	Navy (1)	(5-1)	96	EIWA	Patriot League
3	Central Michigan	(5-2)	82	MAC	MAC
4	Campbell	(8-1)	81	SoCon	Big South
5	Rider	(4-1)	78	MAC	Metro Atlantic
6	Wyoming	(3-3)	72	Big 12	Mountain West
7	North Dakota State	(7-3)	63	Big 12	Summit
8	Northern Colorado	(4-2)	61	Big 12	Big Sky
9	Binghamton	(3-1)	57	EIWA	America East
10	Appalachian State	(7-2)	56	SoCon	Sun Belt
11	Lehigh	(3-4)	53	EIWA	Patriot League
12	Army West Point	(2-3)	46	EIWA	Patriot League
13	Northern Illinois	(6-3)	44	MAC	MAC
14	South Dakota State	(5-6)	42	Big 12	Summit
15	Chattanooga	(8-4)	22	SoCon	SoCon
16	Drexel	(2-1)	22	EIWA	Colonial
17	Air Force	(2-5)	21	Big 12	Mountain West
18	Hofstra	(2-1)	20	EIWA	Colonial
19	Utah Valley	(2-4)	12	Big 12	WAC
20	Cal Poly	(2-3)	11	Pac-12	Big West

Others Receiving Votes: Buffalo 6, Edinboro 5, Kent State 1, Lock Haven 1