Fresno State Athletics
Three Bulldogs ranked in first NCAA coaches rankings
2/11/2021 1:00:00 PM | Wrestling
Leading the way for the 'Dogs is redshirt senior DJ Lloren who ranks No. 12 at 141 pounds followed by redshirt sophomore Hunter Cruz at No. 30 at 184 pounds and freshman Haiden Drury at No. 31 at 133 pounds.
Lloren is the third-highest ranked wrestler from the Big 12 at 141 lbs., while Cruz is the sixth at 184 lbs. and Drury sits as the ninth-highest ranked wrestler in the conference at 133 lbs.
In addition, the NCAA announced the pre-allocations for the 2021 NCAA Championships on Thursday as the Big 12 learned its qualifier breakdown for each weight.
The weight class conference champion in each qualifying tournament will earn an automatic qualifier to the national championships. 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.
With the winner of each weight class being an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships, the Big 12 will earn two additional spots at 157 lbs., three apiece at 141, 174 & 184 lbs. and four apiece at 125, 133, 149, 165, 197 & Hwt. (i.e. Big 12 has two pre-allocations at 157 plus 1 AQ to account for 3 total NCAA spots at that weight).
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," said Karen Langston, senior associate athletics director at California State University, Bakersfield and chair of the wrestling committee. "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 next coaches rankings will be released on Feb. 25. After the conference tournaments have concluded, the Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining at-large qualifiers to fill out the 33-man bracket in each weight class, which will be announced March 9, while brackets and seeding will be announced on ncaa.com at 3Â p.m. PT on March 10.
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