Wyoming wrestling is currently ranked No. 17, and the Cowboys also have eight wrestlers ranked in the nation based on their RPIs going into the National Championship tournament.
The Wyoming wrestling team will be traveling to St. Louis in the later part of March for the NCAA Wrestling Championships. The tournament is scheduled to run March 19th through the 21st.
Just recently the NCAA announced that the 9 tournaments for qualifying for the NCAA tournament will only yield 260 automatic spots, 30 less spots than last year. A wrestler’s RPI, Rating Percentage Index, the NCAA Coaches’ Panel Rankings and Division I winning percentages are all aspects of a wrestler’s performance that go into his qualification into the most important tournament of the year, the NCAA championships. For a wrestler to qualify they must at least pass two of the three tools used to calibrate a wrestlers superiority.
The wrestler with the highest ranking is none other than 125 pounder Tyler Cox at No. 10. Cox is a one time All-American honoree and a two time NCAA qualifier. With already getting a taste of the tournament twice before, Tyler Cox comes into the NCAA’s a worthy competitor for a spot on the podium.
Not far behind Cox follows 174 pounder Andy McMulley at No.11, fellow senior Shane Woods sits at the No. 11th spot as well at 197 pounds. Benjamin Stroh is ranked No.18 at 184, as well as heavy weight Tanner Harms. A little lower in the rankings redshirt freshman Archie Colgan sits at the 26th spot at 157 pounds, senior Dakota Friesth also sits at No. 26 at 165 pounds. Finishing the list of Wyoming’s ranked wrestlers is Jake Elliot ranked No. 30 at 149 pounds.
Wyoming is ranked in the top 20 for the seventh consecutive week in a row. Not only is No. 17 the highest ranking the Cowboys have received all year, but it is also the highest ranking they’ve received since January of 2013 when the team was ranked 14th. Wyoming captured the No. 17 spot by beating previously ranked No. 17 Oregon State a few weeks back.
With eight of Wyoming’s wrestlers being ranked in the top 30 of the Rating Percentage Index and Wyoming reaching their highest ranking since 2013. Wyoming will be traveling to the National Championship with potentially eight dominant wrestlers in their arsenal.
