LITTLE ROCK - The Little Rock wrestling team is still rising. The Trojans bump up another spot in the charts to rank 17th in the nation following the culmination of the Pac-12 dual schedule, finishing the year as the dual meet champions in the Pac-12 Conference. After coming in at no. 25 to get ranked for the first time last month before climbing to no. 20 then no. 18, Little Rock has slid up another spot in the NWCA Division I Men's Wrestling Coaches Poll, as announced by the National Wrestling Coaches Association on Tuesday.
Read the full NWCA release here.
"Looking at our season, when we remain consistent, good things happen," said head coach
Neil Erisman. "We have steadily climbed the rankings in all areas and it's because of consistency. As long as we remain on that path, we will be able to accomplish our end of the year goals."
Winning four out of five conference dual meets and coming out on top in tiebreakers, the Trojans became the Pac-12 Conference victors in duals for the 2023-24 season this past weekend. Read the full release on their achievement
here.
The Trojans took out formerly ranked #16 Oregon State, #24 Arizona State, and now #23 Cal Poly over the past three weeks of competition. Their win over Cal Poly was their widest margin of victory yet, taking the dual 21-12. Before this season, the only conference opponent that Little Rock wrestling had defeated was CSU-Bakersfield. This year, they went 4-1, dropping only one dual to Stanford. Stanford finished with a 3-2 record, falling to both Arizona State and Oregon State this weekend. While the Sun Devils also finished 4-1, their sole loss was to the Trojans, putting Little Rock on top of the Pac-12.
Little Rock wrestling appears in several national media polls as well. The team is 20th on FloWrestling's Dual team rankings and 26th on their Tournament team rankings. Little Rock also checks in at 19th on InterMat's Dual team rankings and 21st on their Tournament team rankings. In addition, the Trojans are highlighted as 16th on The Open Mat's Dual team rankings and 25th on their Tournament team rankings, while sitting 21st on both WIN Magazine's Dual team rankings and Tournament power index.
Speaking of tournaments, seven Trojans landed in the second NCAA Coaches Rankings announced on February 15, which is part of several criteria that will be evaluated by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee ahead of the NCAA Tournament in March. Before this year, the most that Little Rock wrestling had placed in one of the three NCAA Coaches Rankings every season was two.
The Trojans have one final dual left on the calendar. The team will travel to Lindenwood this Sunday, February 25 for a noon match to close the regular season.
For the latest information on Little Rock Wrestling, make sure to check out
LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockWRES on
Facebook,
Instagram, and
Twitter.
#LittleRocksTeam
