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With the regular season at its end, it's a great time to take a look at the race for the prestigious Hodge Trophy, which goes to the season's most outstanding wrestler. Here are the criteria for the Hodge Trophy.

Hodge Criteria
1) A wrestlers record
2) Number of pins
3) Dominance on the mat
4) Past credentials
5) Quality of competition
6) Sportsmanship/Citizenship
7) Heart

The rankings below are my personal opinion based on my interpretation of the Hodge criteria, specifically the first five, as sportsmanship, citizenship, and heart are tough to measure.

9. Zahid Valencia, Arizona State (174)

Record: 30-0
Bonus Point Wins: 11 falls, 3 techs, 8 majors
Bonus Point Percentage: 73%
Elite Wins: No. 2 Brian Realbuto (3-2), No. 8 Ethan Ramos (11-10), No. 8 Ethan Ramos (2-1), No. 10 Myles Amine (4-3)

Commentary: Being undefeated at this point in the year is a real feat. It would require some meltdowns from a lot of guys for Valencia to become a Hodge finalist this year, but his bonus rate is very high for a freshman. His wins aren't tremendous at this point, and he is not dominating his tough competition in the way of many of those ranked ahead of him.

8. J'den Cox, Missouri (197)

Record: 19-0
Bonus Point Wins: 3 falls, 6 techs, 5 majors
Bonus Point Percentage: 73%
Elite Wins: No. 2 Brett Pfarr (6-4), No. 3 Jared Haught (2-0), No. 4 Kollin Moore (6-4)

Commentary: Cox is having a nearly identical year to Valencia: a fair amount of bonus, an undefeated record but a lack of dominance against elite competition. He gets the nod because of his amazing past credentials (Criteria 4).

7. Isaiah Martinez, Illinois (165)

Record: 23-0
Bonus Point Wins: 5 falls, 10 techs, 4 majors
Bonus Point Percentage: 82%
Elite Wins: No. 2 Logan Massa (3-1), No. 5 Daniel Lewis (7-4), No. 4 Vincenzo Joseph (5-2), No. 6 Chad Walsh (10-6), No. 9 Anthony Valencia (10-1, Fall)

Commentary: IMAR has quite a few elite wins to his credit and a very strong bonus-point percentage. Only five falls (Criteria 2) is going to hurt him in the long run. The fact that his weight isn't full of multiple highly credentialed studs doesn't help either (Criteria 5).

6. Thomas Gilman, Iowa (125)

Record: 24-0
Bonus Point Wins: 9 falls, 7 techs, 5 majors
Bonus Point Percentage: 87%
Elite Wins: No. 2 Nick Suriano (3-2), No. 5 Tim Lambert (13-4, 6-3), No. 6 Ethan Lizak (Fall), No. 9 Sean Russell (10-1), No. 10 Nick Piccininni (12-4)

Commentary: I certainly am not bothered by Thomas Gilman's behavior, but he's the only person on the list who may get a side-eye from voters when it comes to the sportsmanship criteria. An 87-percent bonus rate is very impressive. Of his six elite wins, he's bonused four of them.

5. Kyle Snyder, Ohio State (285)

Record: 9-0
Bonus Point Wins: 4 falls, 2 techs, 3 majors
Bonus Point Percentage: 100%
Elite Wins: Nick Nevills (19-9), Tanner Hall (20-8)

Commentary: Some may think this is high; some may think it's low. Only nine matches is certainly not a lot. But if we project out titles at Big Tens and NCAAs, he could sit at around 17-0. If he has a 100-percent bonus point rate, he will be right in the discussion, because nobody else can have that.

4. Zain Retherford, Penn State (149)

Record: 18-0
Bonus Point Wins: 13 falls, 2 techs, 1 major
Bonus Point Percentage: 88%
Elite Wins: No. 2 Anthony Collica (2-1), No. 3 Brandon Sorensen (9-8), No. 5 Micah Jordan (Tech), No. 10 Laike Gardner (Fall)

Commentary: Last year's most dominant wrestler is once again in the Hodge race. He's had two squeakers against Sorensen and Collica. If he can find that bonus stride again and blow out some more elite guys, he could climb the ladder a bit more. I really feel like this PSU group of three is pretty tough to sort out. He's only faced four elite guys with only two bonus wins against them. I'm not sure if the 149 field will do Retherford any favors, especially when you consider the strength of the weight class.

3. Jason Nolf, Penn State (157)

Record: 19-0
Bonus Point Wins: 11 falls, 6 techs, 1 major
Bonus Point Percentage: 94%
Elite Wins: No. 2 Michael Kemerer (9-4), No. 3 Tyler Berger (Major), No. 7 Joe Smith (Tech), No. 9 Jake Short (Fall)

Commentary: He's got the highest bonus-point percentage in the country outside of Snyder, and he's bonused 75 percent of his elite competitors. His lone non-bonus win was a five-point win against second-ranked Michael Kremerer. What will hurt Nolf is that not many people find his weight class particularly difficult.

2. Bo Nickal, Penn State (184)

Record: 18-0
Bonus Point Wins: 13 falls, 3 majors
Bonus Point Percentage: 88%
Elite Wins: No. 3 Sammy Brooks (Fall), No. 4 Tim Dudley (10-5), No. 5 Nolan Boyd (Fall), No. 7 Myles Martin (8-2)

Commentary: Nickal's gaudy pin stats rival his teammate Retherford. What separates Nickal is that he is bonusing and blowing out his elite competition. He has pinned the No. 3 and No. 5 wrestlers in his weight class and blew out an NCAA finalist and champion. That is what separates Nickal for me. It's splitting hairs, but I think what he's been able to do so far puts him slightly ahead of everyone. Except...

1. Gabe Dean, Cornell (184)

Record: 25-0
Bonus Point Wins: 18 falls, 2 techs, 3 majors
Bonus Point Percentage: 92%
Elite Wins: No. 5 Nolan Boyd (Major, 7-2), No. 7 Myles Martin (10-5), No. 9 Zach Zavatsky (Tech)

Commentary: If Gabe continues this path, there's no chance he doesn't get the Hodge. He would literally be in first or tied in every Hodge criteria listed. It's entirely possible he won't need another pin to lead the nation in falls. Like Nickal, he's smashed elite competition with a major over his weight class' No. 5 wrestler and a tech over No. 9. What also stands out are his "close matches" aren't actually close. He won them both by five points.

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