36 to Represent AAC at NAIA Wrestling Championships
(Story provided by NAIA Sports Communications)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Qualifiers by Weight Class | Qualifiers by School | Qualifiers by Conference) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the qualifiers for the 2024 NAIA Wrestling National Championships hosted by Visit Wichita at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan. The 67th edition of the annual event will see a format change where six sessions will be held across three days. The action begins on Thursday, February 29, and concludes on Saturday, March 2.
Each conference tournament was awarded automatic bids per weight class based on the final regular-season rating, which can be seen HERE. Each conference is awarded automatic berths based on the number of wrestlers ranked in each weight class. Every conference receives a minimum of one automatic bid per weight class, which will be awarded to the tournament champions, even if the conference did not have any wrestlers ranked in the final regular-season rating. If a conference does not have an individual ranked in the final top 25, an allocation will be deducted from the original 25 to ensure that each conference is represented at each weight class at the National Championships.
After the conference tournaments concluded, a 16-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members met to select the remaining national at-large qualifiers. In total, 36 student-athletes were selected by at-large classification. The seeding and preliminary brackets will be announced on NAIA.org by 5 p.m. (CST) on Friday, February 23.
Grand View (Iowa), Southeastern (Fla.), and Life (Ga.) will travel a full roster of 12 wrestlers to the national championships while Cumberland (Tenn.), Cumberlands (Ky.), Menlo (Calif.), Ottawa (Kan.), and Providence (Mont.) will bring 11 wrestlers total.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference led all conferences with 65 individual qualifiers. The Mid-South Conference qualified 41 for second; The Heart of America Athletic Conference qualified 38 which narrowly edged out the Appalachian Athletic Conference for third.
For additional information on the 2024 NAIA Men's Wrestling National Championships, click here.