Feb. 28, 2013
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The NCAA has announced the qualifier allocations for the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. The Big Ten is receiving 74 of the 290 automatic qualifiers for the March 21-23 NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. The 74 automatic bids matches the conference’s allocation from a year ago.
The Big Ten will receive at least six automatic qualifiers at every weight, including a conference-high nine qualifiers at 285 pounds, and a conference-low six qualifiers at 141 and 184 pounds. The top eight wrestlers at 149, 165, 174 and 197 earn automatic bids, as do the top seven wrestlers at 125, 133 and 157.
The Big Ten Championships on March 8-9 in Champaign, Ill., is one of 10 qualifying tournaments across the country. After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 40 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced March 13. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.
The NCAA also released its 2013 RPI rankings. The Hawkeyes have five wrestlers ranked in the top 10, including No. 2 Matt McDonough (125). Tony Ramos (3rd, 133), Mark Ballweg (5th, 141) and Mike Evans (4th, 174) each cracked the top five, and Derek St. John was ranked 10th at 157. Nick Moore (17th, 165), Ethen Lofthouse (14th, 184) and Bobby Telford (13th, 285) were listed among the top 20 wrestlers at their respective weights.
Qualifier allocations, final coaches’ panel and RPI rankings