Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch 2016-17 | Hawk Talk Monthly — Feb. 2017 | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch: Sammy Brooks
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Senior Thomas Gilman and redshirt freshman Michael Kemerer are ranked at the top of their class in the NCAA RPI rankings released Thursday by the NCAA.
Gilman, the top wrestler at 125 pounds, is also ranked atop the coaches’ rankings released Thursday by the NCAA. Kemerer is ranked No. 2 in the coaches’ rankings at 157.
Two more Hawkeyes are in the RPI top five. Sammy Brooks is No. 2 at 184 and Brandon Sorensen is No. 3 at 149. Brooks and Sorensen are both ranked third in the coaches’ rankings. Cory Clark, who fell short of the minimum 17 matches to qualify for the RPI rankings, is ranked fifth by the coaches at 133. Topher Carton (15th/141), Joey Gunther (16th/165) and Alex Meyer (10th/174) were also in the coaches’ top 20.
The NCAA uses RPI and coaches’ rankings when determining how many automatic qualifiers from each conference tournament advance to the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis on March 16-18. The NCAA awarded the Big Ten Conference 77 of the 281 automatic qualifying bids, including five at 285, six at 149, seven at 125, 165, and 197, and nine at 133, 141, 157, 174, and 184.
The Big Ten hosts its qualifying tournament March 4-5 in Bloomington, Indiana. It is one of eight 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 48 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 7. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; quality wins; coaches’ ranking; results against common opponents; RPI; qualifying event placement; and winning percentage.
A complete list of RPI and coaches rankings, and automatic qualifiers by conference/qualifying tournament, as available at NCAA.com.
