Big 12 Lands 45 Automatic Bids to 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships; Four Mountaineers Ranked by NCAA Coaches Panel

The NCAA announced that the Big 12 Conference earned 45 pre-allocations to the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship in St. Louis, the conference office announced Wednesday, Feb. 11.

The allocations are spread amongst all 10 weight classes, with six classes earning five spots (125, 133, 149, 165, 197 and 285). The 141, 174 and 184 earned four allocations, while 157 collected three.

In recent years, pre-allocations have been determined by a formula measuring Division I winning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches’ ranking. A decrease in overall matches, and in particular non-conference matches, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee to transition to using the five-year historical average to determine pre-allocations for 2021. For any adjustments in conference alignment over the last five years, historical pre-allocations stayed with the conference where they were earned. The competition status of schools for 2021 also did not impact the calculation of pre-allocations.

“The committee knew that there wasn’t going to be enough regular-season competition to utilize the existing process where wrestlers earned pre-allocations for their conference based on regular season performance,” Karen Langston, senior associate athletics director at California State University, Bakersfield and chair of the wrestling committee said in an official NCAA release. “The option to utilize the five-year historical average was an equitable alternative, and the way it worked out has opened more at-large spots this year for deserving wrestlers who don’t qualify through their conference tournament.”

The Division I Wrestling Committee will meet to select the remaining at-large qualifiers to fill out the 33-man bracket in each weight class, which will be announced March 10, via NCAA livestream while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 4 p.m. March 11.

Big 12 Allocations by Weight Class
Weight Class      # of Pre-Allocations
125                         5
133                         5
141                         4
149                         5
157                         3
165                         5
174                         4
184                         4
197                         5
285                         5

The complete NCAA Division I Wrestling Coaches Rank – Through Matches of Feb. 7, can be seen here. Additionally, a full description of the entire selection process for the 2021 Division I Wrestling Championships is available at ncaa.org.

Ranked Mountaineer Grapplers:

125: Killian Cardinale – No. 24

133: Ryan Sullivan –  No. 19

165: Peyton Hall –  No. 21

197: Noah Adams –  No. 4

Looking forward, WVU will be back on the road next week, heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma, Sunday, Feb. 14, to take part in the Cowboy Challenge at historic Gallagher-Iba Arena. Wrestling is set to begin at noon ET. The action can be seen via ESPN+.