The qualifiers are settled, the brackets are released, and the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships are ready to start on Thursday, March 17. But are you primed for the championships?
This is a complete breakdown of stats on the 330 D1 NCAA qualifiers.
Qualifiers by Home State
To nobody’s surprise (except maybe New Jersey natives), Pennsylvania qualified the most wrestlers (45) for the 2022 NCAA Championships. Not only this, but PA also secured the most top 10 seeded wrestlers (16), including one #1 seed, Carter Starocci (Erie, PA).
Behind PA is Illinois (32), New Jersey (30), Ohio (22), California (17), and Michigan (17).
Fitting for the 2022 Detroit Championships, Michigan is the state with the most #1 seeds (2), Max Dean (Lowell, MI) and Myles Amine (Brighton, MI).
Outside of the contiguous US are three Alaskan and Hawaiian qualifiers. While Caleb Hopkins (Palmer, AK) was the lone Alaskan qualifier last year, he is joined by Evan Bockman (Anchorage, AK) this year. From Hawaii is Kysen Terukina (Ewa Beach, HI).
Also of note are two Iowa State wrestlers who both list their hometowns as locations outside of the United States: Yonger Bastida (Trinidad, Cuba) and Ramazan Attasauov (Nalchik, Russia).
Qualifiers by High School
Wrestlers from 278 high school programs make up this year’s qualifiers, which means there are schools who qualified multiple wrestlers. Blair Academy qualified the most, followed by Bergen Catholic.
Blair Academy (7): Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OKST), Ryan Miller (UPENN), Chris Cannon (NW), Michael Colaiocco (UPENN), Zach Sherman (UNC), Julian Ramirez (COR), and Nick Incontrera (UPENN)
Bergen Catholic (6): Nick Suriano (MICH), Dylan Cedeno (UVA), Joseph Zargo (WISC), Shane Griffith (STAN), Chris Foca (COR), Jacob Cardenas (COR)
Montini Catholic (3): Dylan Ragusin (MICH), Real Woods (STAN), Will Lewan (MICH)
Nazareth (3): Dashawn Farber (LHU), Sammy Sasso (OSU), Travis Stefanik (PRINC)
St. Edward (3): Allan Hart (MIZZ), Matt Kazimir (COL), Bryce Andonian (TECH)
Qualifiers by Conference
The Big Ten qualified the most wrestlers (100), including 12 “at-large” bids. They are also the only conference with more than one #1 seed; they have seven top spots.
The Big 12 qualified the second most wrestlers (68), while EIWA (51), ACC (27), and MAC (27) rounded out the top 5. The PAC-12 qualified 26 wrestlers, while the SoCon qualified 18 wrestlers; both of these conferences earned 3 “at-large” bids each.
Qualifiers by Class
The largest majority of wrestlers qualifying for the NCAA Championships are upperclassmen. In fact, nearly 40% of all qualifiers are seniors (34), redshirt seniors (64), or graduate students (31). Considering the eligibility rules that allowed for certain wrestlers to compete in their 6th and 7th years, this is not a shocking revelation.
On the opposite end, there are 44 freshman and redshirt freshmen competing. This includes 14 true freshmen. (For the purposes of this article, true freshmen are considered wrestlers who have not wrestled any official college matches attached to their college or university.)
True Freshmen: Drake Ayala (IOWA), Ryan Miller (UPENN), Josh Koderhandt (NAVY), Joey Olivieri (RUT), Carter Young (OKST), Joseph Zargo (WISC), Max Brignola (LEH), Dashawn Farber (LHU), Dean Hamiti (WISC), Julian Ramirez (COR), Nick Incontrera (UPENN), Sal Perrine (OHIO), Braxton Amos (WISC), Luke Stout (PRINC)
Schools with the Most Qualifiers
There are three schools to qualify all 10 wrestlers for the 2022 NCAA Championships: Iowa, NC State, and Northwestern.
Just barely missing the perfect mark, the following schools qualified 9 wrestlers: Cornell, Iowa State, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Penn, Penn State, and Wisconsin.
Want More Stats?
If you enjoyed these stats and want to better prepare yourself for the College Wrestling Championships, then you’ll want to check out Fanco’s Postseason Primer. This is a 50+ page guide filled with team race predictions, dark horse threats, D1 stats leaders, and bracket breakdowns.
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