WWC gets 14 spots for NCAAs

In an announcement made Thursday by the NCAA, the NCAA West Regional Tournament has been allocated 14 automatic qualifier spots for the 2010 Division I Wrestling Championships. Only members of the Western Wrestling Conference (WWC) earn bids to the NCAA Tournament at that event.

Also released by the NCAA, the WWC had 22 wrestlers named in the final Coaches’ Panel Rankings and Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2009-10 wrestling season.
The breakdown of the 14 automatic bids per weight class for the West Regional, and subsequently for the fourth-year league, were as follows: 125 pounds (2), 133 (1), 141 (3), 149 (1), 157 (1), 165 (1), 174 (2), 184 (1), 197 (1) and Heavyweight/285 (1).

Last season, the NCAA West Regional Tournament, at which all WWC institutions currently compete to qualify for nationals, was awarded 13 automatic qualifiers. The WWC was also given one additional at-large bid for a total of 14 spots.

The Western Wrestling Conference is comprised of seven schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming.

This year’s NCAA West Regional Tournament will take place March 6 in Brookings, S.D. and is hosted by South Dakota State University. The three-day, NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will be held in Omaha, Neb., March 18-20 at the Qwest Center Omaha.

Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data. Each wrestler was measured on the following: Division I winning percentage; rating percentage index (RPI); and coaches ranking. A threshold of a 0.725 winning percentage, top 28 in the RPI and top 28 in the coaches ranking was established to allocate 284 of the 330 championships field positions.

For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his qualifying tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class. Each qualifying tournament was awarded a minimum of one wrestler per weight class, which will go to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA tournament spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at the tournament based solely on place-finish.

After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 10. 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.

Following is a list of WWC wrestlers in each weight class for both the coaches’ panel rankings, as well as RPI. Lists of complete rankings and RPI are attached…

Weight Class WWC Wrestler (Institution) Coaches’ Panel RPI
125 pounds
Ben Kjar (Utah Valley), No. 9, No. 14
Michael Martinez (Wyoming), No. 10, No. 12
133 pounds
Cory VomBaur (Wyoming), No. 20, No. 14
Flint Ray (Utah Valley), No. 31, No. 22
Ryan Jauch (Northern Iowa), NR , No. 31
141 pounds
Cole VonOhlen (Air Force), No. 18, No. 9
Kenny Hashimoto (Northern Colorado), No. 22, No. 14
Ryan Adams (North Dakota State) , No. 25, No. 17
149 pounds
Trent Washington (Northern Iowa), No. 30, NR
157 pounds
Tyson Reiner (Northern Iowa), No. 29, No. 21
Justin Gaethje (Northern Colorado), No. 30, No. 14
Vincent Salminen (North Dakota State), NR, No. 24
165 pounds
Shane Onufer (Wyoming), No. 9, No. 4
Jeb Clark (Utah Valley), No. 32, NR
David Bonin (Northern Iowa), NR, No. 32
174 pounds
Jarion Beets (Northern Iowa), No. 24, No. 14
Brad Darrington (Utah Valley), No. 28, No. 26
Brock Smith (Wyoming), NR, No. 30
184 pounds
Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming), T No. 6, No. 7
197 pounds
Tyler Sorenson (South Dakota State), No. 29, No. 28
Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming), NR, No. 33
HWT (285)
Christian Brantley (Northern Iowa), No. 30, No. 33