UVA has eight wrestlers in contention for NCAA Championships berths

Eight UVA wrestlers were included in the first coaches ranking for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships released on Thursday.

Virginia had wrestlers ranked in eight of 10 weight classes with the NCAA Coaches Panel ranking the Top 33 wrestlers nationally in each weight.

UVA wrestlers in the Coaches Panel rankings

• 133: Louie Hayes – 7th
• 141: Brian Courtney – 14th
• 157: Justin McCoy – 17th
• 165: Jake Keating – 11th
• 174: Vic Marcelli – 28th
• 184: Michael Battista – 21st
• 197: Jay Aiello – 10th
• HWT: Quinn Miller – 20th

The weight class conference champion in each qualifying tournament will earn an automatic qualifier to the national championships. Each conference was awarded additional pre-allocations based on the five-year average (2016-20) of pre-allocations earned by the conference in each weight class.

In recent years, pre-allocations have been determined by a formula measuring Division I winning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches’ ranking.

A decrease in overall matches, and in particular non-conference matches, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee to transition to using the five-year historical average to determine pre-allocations for 2021.

For any adjustments in conference alignment over the last five years, historical pre-allocations stayed with the conference where they were earned. The competition status of schools for 2021 also did not impact the calculation of pre-allocations.

The coaches rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each conference. For ranking purposes, coaches may only consider a wrestler that has been designated as a starter at a respective weight class.

For the first ranking, wrestlers must have two Division I matches in the weight class to be considered with at least one within the last 30 days.