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

by Jason Bryant, NWCA

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
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