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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Four University of Iowa wrestlers are ranked in the top five of the Division I Coaches Poll released by the NCAA on Friday.
Alex Marinelli is ranked second at 165. Spencer Lee and Austin DeSanto are ranked third at 125 and 133, respectively, and Jacob Warner is ranked fifth at 197. Kaleb Young cracked the top 10, coming in at No. 6 at 157. Pat Lugo and Sam Stoll were one spot outside the top 10. Lugo is 11th at 149 and Stoll is 11th at 285. All 10 Hawkeyes competing in the postseason appear in the coaches poll.
Lee is Iowa’s highest ranked wrestler in the rating percentage index (RPI). He is ranked second at 125. DeSanto is third at 133 and Marinelli is fourth at 165. To be eligible for an RPI ranking, a wrestler must have a minimum of 17 Division I matches at a given weight.
The NCAA uses RPI and coaches’ rankings when determining how many automatic qualifiers from each conference tournament advance to the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Pittsburgh on March 21-23. The NCAA awarded the Big Ten Conference 78 of the 286 automatic qualifying bids, including five at 197, six at 149, seven at 285, eight at 133, 174, and 184, and nine at 125, 141, 157, and 165.
The Big Ten hosts its qualifying tournament March 9-10 in Minneapolis. 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 44 at-large qualifiers. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
To be considered eligible for at-large selection, a wrestler must meet two or more of the standards, including .700 overall winning percentage, .700 Division I winning percentage at the weight class, Top 33 RPI (taken after the qualifying tournaments), Top 33 Coaches Ranking (Taken after the qualifying tournament), one win against a wrestler who qualified for the national tournament, qualifying event placement one below AQ.
A complete list of RPI and coaches rankings, and automatic qualifiers by conference/qualifying tournament, as available at NCAA.com.
