NCAA Rankings 2018-19

133 Stevan Micic

Well, this weight class got interesting in a hurry, didn't it? Seth Gross unfortunately announced he will miss the remainder of the year due to injury. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him granted a medical waiver and another year of eligibility. In match news, Micky Phillippi beat Daton Fix, Austin DeSanto beat Nick Suriano, and Rider's Anthony Cefolo beat Austin Gomez. Further down the rankings, Josh Terao beat Lehigh's Brandon Paetzell. 

The top of the list was a bear to sort out, but ultimately, many of the decisions came down to head-to-head results. Micic, by virtue of his unblemished record and last year's runnerup finish at NCAAs, allowed him to claim the top spot. However, Micic's resume is light on signature wins, so one slip up may send him down more than a couple spots.  

Phillippi did have the loss to Suriano in the finals fo the CKLV, but his head-to-head over Fix (and previous wins over Lizak and Pletcher against no other losses), was enough to give him the #2 spot. 

That gives Fix the strongest claim to the #3 position, as he has a win over Suriano and now only a loss to the second-ranked 133-pounder. The next two-spots were an extremely tough call, but we have DeSanto ahead of Suriano on account of the latest head-to-head result between the two. DeSanto does have the worse loss to Gomez, but there was no other way to reconcile last Friday's match. Suriano does have the bona fides to jump anyone ahead of them should they suffer any more defeats, and there is the February 15 dual meet with Michigan and Micic to look forward to. 

Pletcher and Lizak stay in the same order, but the aforementioned Gomez falls to #8, thanks to some cushion built up from wins over DeSanto and Roman-Bravo Young. John Erneste stays behind Gomez due to his loss to Paetzell and a lack of wins better than DeSanto. 

Tariq Wilson is still recovering from his last injury and did not wrestle last week, but he falls due to his slim resume, which includes a loss to Paul Konrath of Indiana. Erneste matches Wilson's best win of Montorie Bridges and has enough additional quality wins to give him a boost. 

Finally, Josh Terao enters the rankings thanks to his victory over EIWA rival Brandon Paetzell, who falls out of the top 20 to just on the bubble. 

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