 | |
| Founded | 1928 |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | 76 |
| Current champions | Penn State (12) |
| Most successful team(s) | Oklahoma State (34) |
| Television broadcasters | ESPN |
| Website | NCAA.com |
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships have been held since 1928. In addition to determining the national champion in each weight class, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships also determine All-American wrestlers for each weight. The top eight finishers in each weight class earn All-American status.[1] The top four teams earn podium and team trophy finishes.
Since 1934, team scoring officially became a permanent feature of the NCAA Wrestling Championships.[2] In 1928 and from 1931–1933, there was only an unofficial team title. Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) won the 1928 and 1931 unofficial titles. Indiana won the 1932 unofficial title, and in 1933, Iowa State and Oklahoma A&M were unofficial co-champions.
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships is a double-elimination tournament for individuals competing in ten weight classes. Thirty-three wrestlers in each weight class qualify through seven conference championship tournaments.[3] Each of these conference tournaments are allocated a number of automatic qualifying slots in each weight class, and the unallocated slots are filled with at-large selections picked by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee based on certain criteria.[4] During the championships, individual match winners earn points based on the level and quality of the victory, which are totaled to determine the team championship standings.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys have won more NCAA team championships than any other school, with 34 titles (including 3 unofficial), the most recent being won in 2006. Ed Gallagher coached the Cowboys to their first title in 1928 and won 11 in 13 years from 1928 through 1940. Iowa has won the second most team titles with 24 NCAA titles. Under head coach Dan Gable, Iowa had the longest streak of consecutive titles at nine from 1978 through 1986. Penn State has won 12 titles, Iowa State has won eight titles, and Oklahoma has won seven championships. Only seven other schools have won a team title, with none of those schools having won more than three championships.[2] Since 2011, Penn State under head coach Cael Sanderson has won 11 NCAA team titles. Only the 2001 Minnesota Golden Gophers have finished the NCAA Tournament with an All-American at every weight class, and famously won the team championship despite not having a single finalist.
Long held at host college campuses, since 2000 the tournament has grown exponentially in popularity and as such is now held in major cities at professional sports arenas. Central to the expansion of "March Matness" (a play on March Madness, the nickname for the NCAA basketball tournaments) has been television network ESPN, which broadcasts all days of the tournament live and provides additional feeds dedicated to one particular mat online.
- ^ "Complete list of 2015 NCAA Wrestling All-Americans". highschoolsports.nj.com/. March 22, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ^ a b "NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship Highlights/History" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ^ "2015 NCAA Division I Championships (Brackets)" (PDF). NCAA. March 22, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ^ "2015 DI Wrestling selections". NCAA. March 11, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.