UNI wrestling: Big 12 allocations for NCAA Championships released

INDIANAPOLIS --- The NCAA announced allocations for the Big 12 wrestling conference on Thursday afternoon, with the league receiving the second most automatic qualifying spots in the nation for next month's national championships.

A total of 65 wrestlers, an increase of seven from a year ago, will advance after the Big 12 Championships, which will be held March 4-5 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Big Ten Conference leads the nation with 88 total automatic qualifiers.

Allocations for the Big 12 go as deep as eighth place in the 165-pound weight class, as well as 285 pounds. The top seven wrestlers at 141 pounds, 149 pounds and 157 pounds will qualify, while the weight classes at 125 pounds, 174 pounds and 197 pounds will send its top-six competitors to the NCAA. Only the top-four athletes at 184 pounds at the Big 12 Championships will earn automatic berths.

2023 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship Allocations

CONFERENCE	125	133	141	149	157	165	174	184	197	285	TOTAL
Atlantic Coast Conference	2	3	4	4	3	3	3	5	4	3	34
Big 12 Conference	6	6	7	7	7	8	6	4	6	8	65
Big Ten Conference	9	9	9	9	10	8	7	9	9	9	88
Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association	6	5	5	2	3	5	4	4	5	6	45
Mid-American Conference	2	1	2	5	4	1	4	2	1	1	23
Pacific-12 Conference	3	3	1	1	1	2	2	1	3	1	18
Southern Conference	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	12
PRE-ALLOCATIONS	29	29	29	29	29	28	28	26	29	29	285
AT-LARGE	4	5	4	4	4	5	5	7	4	4	45

HOW ALLOCATIONS WORK
Each qualifying tournament is awarded pre-allocations to the national tournament based on regular season performance by conference wrestlers through February 19. The pre-allocations were determined by using a sliding scale of the three standards while never going below the base of .700 winning percentage, top 30 coaches' ranking and top 30 RPI ranking until reaching the maximum of 29 wrestlers per weight class.

For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his conference tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class. Each conference was awarded a minimum of one automatic bid per weight class, which will go to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA championship spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at conference tournaments based solely on place-finish.

After all the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 7, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. on March 8. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.

The coaches' rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each of the seven conferences. For ranking purposes, coaches may only consider a wrestler that has been designated as a starter at a respective weight class. Wrestlers must have eight Division I matches in the weight class to be considered with at least one within the last 30 days.

The RPI is a calculation that consists of three factors: winning percentage, opponent winning percentage (strength of schedule) and opponent's opponent winning percentage (opponent's strength of schedule). Only matches against Division I opponents at the designated weight class count towards the RPI and a wrestler needs to have wrestled 15 matches to be ranked.

The coaches' ranking and RPI are two of several criteria that will be evaluated during the at-large selection and seeding process along with head-to-head competition, quality wins, conference tournament placement, results versus common opponents and win percentage.

UNI IN THE RANKINGS (NCAA/InterMat/FloWrestling)

125 | Kyle Gollhofer (NR/NR/NR)
133 | Kyle Biscoglia (16/17/18)
141 | Cael Happel (8/9/8)
149 | Colin Realbuto (14/14/13)
157 | Derek Holschlag (23/21/22)
165 | Austin Yant (18/14/23)
174 | Lance Runyon (NR/26/21)
184 | Parker Keckeisen (2/2/2)
285 | Tyrell Gordon (13/13/15)

Parker Keckeisen has the chance to become the first Panther to win three Big 12 titles. Keckeisen's second win in 2022 extended UNI's streak at 184 pounds, where a Panther has won the title every year since joining the league in 2018. It's the second longest active streak of any Big 12 school at a weight class. Oklahoma State has had a champion at 149 pounds since 2015.

The Panthers grabbed seven automatic qualifying spots at the 2022 Big 12 Championships. Heavyweight Tyrell Gordon earned an at-large spot to join Brody Teske (125 pounds), Kyle Biscoglia (133 pounds), Colin Realbuto (149 pounds), Derek Holschlag (157 pounds), Austin Yant (165 pounds), Lance Runyon (174 pounds) and Parker Keckeisen (184 pounds) at the NCAA championships. Cael Happel earned an alternate spot at 141 pounds.

UNI was second at its first Big 12 Championships in 2018 and took third the following two years. The team finished fifth in 2021 and 2022.

Panthers Medalists At 2022 Big 12 Championships
WEIGHT (SEED) #NCAA RANKING
125 | (3) #16 Brody Teske - 2nd
133 | (2) #21 Kyle Biscoglia - 2nd
149 | (5) Colin Realbuto - 3rd
157 | (7) #33 Derek Holschlag - 6th
165 | (3) #13 Austin Yant - 3rd
174 | (4) #20 Lance Runyon - 6th
184 | (1) #4 Parker Keckeisen - 1st

Six Big 12 schools are ranked in the NWCA top-20 with two more receiving votes:
5. Iowa State
7. Oklahoma State
9. Missouri
14. South Dakota State
16. UNI
18. North Dakota State
RV: West Virginia, Northern Colorado

All 10 champions from last year's Big 12 Championships are on a Big 12 roster this year.
125 - Killian Cardinale (West Virginia)
133 - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)
141 - Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado)
149 - Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State)
157 - David Carr (Iowa State) - now competing at 165 pounds
165 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)
174 - Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State)
184 - Parker Keckeisen (UNI)
197 - Stephen Buchanan - competed for Wyoming last year and now on the Oklahoma roster but has not been in the OU lineup
285 - Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force)

IMPORTANT DATES
The Big 12 will release pre-seeds on Feb. 27. The first set of brackets will be available March 1. The complete NCAA field will be announced with at-large bids March 8. The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships are scheduled for March 16-18, also to be held in Tulsa at the BOK Center.

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