NCAA Rankings 2018-19

Kolod-Zilla

This was, so far, the toughest weight to figure out who to rank at number one. Matt Kolodzik, Micah Jordan, and Anthony Ashnault all have their pros and cons. Kolodzik is the highest returning finisher at the weight class. Jordan has arguably the best wins against almost no bad losses, while Ashnault also has a nigh impeccable record and is the only three-time All-American of the bunch. 

Ultimately we chose to place them in that order, with Kolodzik's NCAA run being the tiebreaker over Micah and Anthony, while Micah's wins over both Kemerer and Sorensen give him the slightest of nods over Ashnault.

The next difficult decision came with Pat Lugo, coming off redshirt and ready to don the black and gold of Iowa. He didn't have a ton of matches in 2017-18 but one of them was a win over Kolodzik, which was enough to slot him in between two All-Americans in Boo Lewallen and Justin Oliver. 

We expect to see Brock Zacherl come up from 141 and Mitch Finesilver come down from 157. Both have some impressive wins on their resume despite neither yet making the podium. We have them just inside the top 10, and both have potential to reach the fifth session of the NCAAs. 

Tommy Thorn, who is also bumping up from 141, has already wrestled on Championship Saturday morning. Thorn had a rough end to the 2018 season though and finished outside the top 20. He starts the 2019 season outside the top 10, but it would be unwise to rule out another All-American run. 

Austin O'Connor is one of the most impressive freshmen coming off redshirt, recording a win over the very tough Steve Bleise of Minnesota on his record. That and a loss to loss to Gavin Londoff (now with Lindenwood, formerly of App State) slots O'Connor in at #15, but don't be surprised if he makes some jumps throughout the year. 

Another redshirt who you may be wondering about is Brady Berge of Penn State. Berge only entered one tournament last season, notching a win over the stout Paul Klee of Sacred Heart while taking a loss to Princeton's very respectable Mike D'Angelo (who is expected to defer this year). We expect Berge to be in the top 20 soon enough, but it will have to be after he amasses more wins. 

The bottom five of the top 20 was another complete conundrum. There were at least a dozen wrestlers we felt comfortable including. If you're looking for solid bubble candidates, you can't go wrong with Davion Jeffries of Oklahoma, Khristian Olivas of Fresno State, Tanner Smith of Chattanooga, Matt Zovistoski of App State, Cole Martin of Wisconsin, and Requir Van dere Merwe of Stanford. There are more, but we'll leave it at that for now. 

Want to get in touch with the rankers? Follow Christian and Andrew on Twitter @CPyles8 and @SpeyWrestle or email: christian.pyles@flosports.tv or andrew.spey@flosports.tv