National Wrestling Coaches Association dual rankings: Little change atop the latest NCAA Division I poll

Iowa State suffered its first loss of the season, while University of Iowa was idle.

Both held their spots in the latest college wrestling rankings.

The Cyclones remained at No. 3 and the Hawkeyes are fourth in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Division I dual poll released Tuesday. Iowa State closed the first half of the season with a 3-1 record, while Iowa will take a 7-2 mark into the new year. University of Northern Iowa is ranked 16th.

The Cyclones split their two duals at the Journeymen Collegiate Duals on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. They lost the showdown with No. 2 Ohio State, 21-13, but rebounded with a 26-11 victory over Lehigh, which dropped from 20th to 22nd.

“I think we competed pretty well,” said Iowa State Coach Kevin Dresser, who noted the lineup missed third-ranked 157-pounder Vinny Zerban and could have reversed an overtime loss at 184. “We had some good wins in that match up and down the line. So, there were a lot of good things there.

“…I like effort and I thought our effort was good. We’ve always got to fix things. Always got to get better, and that’s just coach stuff. We have to do that better and have to keep doing that.”

Iowa closed its first half with two dominant wins over University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (37-6) and Utah Valley (33-7) on Dec. 12.

UNI had jumped from 16th to 12th after a home win over Missouri but fell back to No. 16 with a loss to North Carolina at McLeod Center Sunday. The Tar Heels won the final bout to secure a 19-13 victory over the Panthers, which fell to 3-3.

Penn State remained atop the rankings 14 of 16 first-place votes. The Nittany Lions won two duals at the Collegiate Duals, improving to 6-0 and tying St. Cloud State with an NCAA-best 77-dual win streak. The Buckeyes (10-0) received the other two first-place votes.

Iowa returns to competition Jan. 3-4 for the Soldier Salute at Xtream Arena in Coralville. UNI’s next competition is a dual at No. 6 Nebraska on Jan. 3. Iowa State is back in action Jan. 4 at Stanford before wrestling at Arizona State on Jan. 6.

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