IOWA CITY, Iowa – Six University of Iowa wrestlers are ranked in the top 10 of the NCAA coaches poll, which was released Thursday by the NCAA. Spencer Lee (125) is the Hawkeyes’ highest ranked wrestler as he enters the postseason No. 1 at 125 pounds.
Lee is one of three Hawkeyes ranked in the top three. Real Woods is the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 141 pounds, while Tony Cassioppi is ranked third at 285.
The Hawkeyes have two wrestlers – Max Murin (149) and Patrick Kennedy (165) – ranked eighth and Abe Assad is 10th at 184. Jacob Warner (197) is ranked 11th, Cobe Siebrecht (157) is 12th and Nelson Brands (174) is 15th.
The coaches’ rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each of the seven conferences.
Kennedy (7), Cassioppi (7), Murin (9), Assad (9) and Warner (21) were the only Hawkeyes listed in the Ratings Percentage Index released Thursday. Wrestler must have 15 matches against Division I opponents to be considered.
The NCAA also released its pre-allocations for the 2023 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, hosted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from March 16-18. The Big Ten Conference was awarded 88 of the 284 automatic qualifying bids.
The Big Ten hosts its qualifying tournament March 4-5 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The weight class conference champion in each qualifying tournament will earn an automatic berth to the national championships.
NCAA championship spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at conference tournaments based solely on place-finish.
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 7, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 5 p.m. (CT) on March 8. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
| Conference | 125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285 | Total |
| Atlantic Coast Conference | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 34 |
| Big 12 Conference | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 64 |
| Big Ten Conference | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 88 |
| EIWC | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 45 |
| Mid-American Conference | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 23 |
| Pacific-12 Conference | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 18 |
| Southern Conference | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Pre-Allocations | 29 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 284 |
| At-Large | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 46 |
