Two Wolverines Move Up in NCAA Rankings

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA released its second Coaches' Panel rankings and the first NCAA RPI rankings ahead of next month's NCAA Championships.

The Coaches' rankings require that someone is the designated starter at their weight and has wrestled eight Division I matches. They must have one of those eight in the last 30 days.

UVU's Jacob Armstrong moved up three spots from 28 to 25 in this week's rankings Coaches' panel rankings and will become eligible for the RPI after next Saturday's dual against CBU. He improved to 12-5 and 3-1 in duals this year after earning victories over NDSU's Adam Cherne and Andrew Donahue of Northern Colorado. The Big 12 has been very competitive at 184 pounds, with five out of the top six in the RPI coming out of the conference. InterMat and Flo had UVU senior tabbed at No. 31 and No. 28 respectively.

197-pounder Evan Bockman is now 15-5 and 7-1 in duals. He has won six of his last seven matches. He finished 2-0 last weekend with an 11-1 major decision over Calvin Sund (Air Force), and he defeated Xavier Vasquez of Northern Colorado with a 3-2 decision. Bockman moved to No. 15 in this week's panel rankings and went to No. 11 in the RPI rankings. He also moved up two spots in the InterMat and Flo rankings to No. 14.

The RPI is calculated with three factors: winning percentage, opponent winning percentage, and opponent's opponent winning percentage. All matches must be against Division I opponents, and each wrestler needs 15 matches to be ranked.

Haiden Drury was not ranked by the Coaches in the panel rankings or the RPI, but has climbed into the InterMat and FloWrestling rankings after winning nine of his last 11 matches. He checks in this week at No. 29 and No. 32 respectively.

The NCAA will release allocations for the NCAA Championships and the next rankings on Feb. 29. The rankings are one of the criteria the NCAA selection committee uses in determining at-large berths and seeding for the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships. The full description of the selection process is available on ncaa.org. The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held on Mar. 21-23 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.