IOWA CITY – Six University of Iowa wrestlers were ranked first or second in the NCAA coaches poll released Thursday by the NCAA. Spencer Lee (125), Jaydin Eierman (141) and Michael Kemerer (174) are ranked at the top of their respective weight classes, and three more Hawkeyes – Austin DeSanto (133), Alex Marinelli (165) and Jacob Warner (197) — are ranked second.
All 10 Hawkeyes are ranked. Tony Cassioppi is ranked third at 285, Kaleb Young is fourth at 157 and Max Murin is fifth at 149. Nelson Brands is ranked 13th at 184.
The NCAA also released its pre-allocations for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, hosted in St. Louis on March 18-20. The Big Ten Conference was awarded 76 of the 266 automatic qualifying bids.
The weight class conference champion in each qualifying tournament will earn an automatic berth to the national championships. The Big Ten hosts its qualifying tournament March 6-7 in University Park, Pennsylvania. Iowa is the defending tournament champion, and has won more team titles, 36, than any other conference school.
Each conference was awarded additional pre-allocations based on the five-year average (2016-20) of pre-allocations earned by the conference in each weight class. 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.
The coaches’ rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each conference. The next coaches ranking will come out in two weeks on Feb. 25.
