WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee has unveiled the pre-allocation spots, third coaches’ rankings and second RPI rankings for the upcoming NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Seven Boilermakers are ranked in the top 33 among their respective weights in the coaches’ poll.
The following table shows how Purdue’s 10 starters stack up in each set of rankings.
| WRESTLER (weight) | COACHES' RANKING | RPI RANKING |
| Ashton Jackson (125) | NR | 56 |
| Blake Boarman (133) | 33 | 40 |
| Greyson Clark (141) | 27 | 36 |
| Gavin Brown (149) | NR | 36 |
| Stoney Buell (157) | 24 | 23 |
| Joey Blaze (165) | 2 | 8 |
| Brody Baumann (174) | 19 | 25 |
| James Rowley (184) | 26 | 35 |
| Ben Vanadia (197) | 21 | 25 |
| Hayden Filipovich (285) | NR | 38 |
PRE-ALLOCATION SPOTS
The Big Ten Conference, the preeminent league for collegiate wrestling, earned 87 of 288 automatic qualifying bids for the NCAA Championships — by far the most of any conference. The Big 12 Conference has the second-most with 63, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference (39), Mid-American Conference (27) and Ivy League (23). There will also be 42 at-large selections.
The automatic qualifying spots are assigned to placewinners in each conference tournament. For example, the Big Ten has seven automatic bids at 141 pounds, and those who finish in the top seven at that weight at the Big Ten Championships will have guaranteed their spot in the national tournament.
After all conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet to select the remaining 42 at-large qualifiers. The selections will be announced March 10, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 8 p.m. ET March 11. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
Below are the Big Ten's allotments of automatic qualifiers as well as total at-large slots available nationally at each weight.
| WEIGHT (lbs) | BIG TEN | AT-LARGE |
| 125 | 9 | 5 |
| 133 | 8 | 4 |
| 141 | 7 | 4 |
| 149 | 9 | 4 |
| 157 | 8 | 4 |
| 165 | 9 | 5 |
| 174 | 10 | 4 |
| 184 | 8 | 4 |
| 197 | 10 | 4 |
| 285 | 9 | 4 |
Each qualifying tournament was awarded pre-allocations to the national tournament based on regular season performance by conference wrestlers through Feb. 23. The pre-allocations were determined using a sliding scale of the three standards — win percentage, coaches’ ranking and RPI ranking — 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 who reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his conference tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class.
THIRD COACHES’, SECOND RPI RANKINGS
The coaches’ rankings are determined by a vote of three coaches in each weight class. For ranking purposes, coaches may consider only a wrestler who 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 match within the last 30 days.
The RPI is a calculation that consists of three factors: winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage (strength of schedule) and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage (opponents’ strength of schedule). Only matches against Division I opponents at the designated weight class count toward the RPI, and a wrestler must have competed in 15 matches to be ranked. No forfeit of any kind counts toward the match minimum.
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.
A full description of the entire selection process for the 2026 Division I Wrestling Championships is available at ncaa.org.
The 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships will be hosted by Penn State in State College, Pa., at the Bryce Jordan Center from March 7-8.
The 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships take place March 19-21 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, home of the NBA’s Cavaliers.