NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships

Association	NCAA
Sport	College wrestling
Founded	1928; 97 years ago (1928)
Division	Division I
No. of teams	76
Country	United States
Most recent champion	Penn State (13th)
Most titles	Oklahoma State (34)
Broadcaster	ESPN
Official website	NCAA.com

TheNCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships have been held since 1928. In addition to determining the national champion in each weight class, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships also determinesAll-American wrestlers for each weight. The top eight finishers in each weight class earn All-American status.^[1] The top four teams earn podium and team trophy finishes.

Since 1934, team scoring officially became a permanent feature of the NCAA Wrestling Championships.^[2] In 1928 and from 1931–1933, there was only an unofficial team title. Oklahoma A&M (nowOklahoma State) won the 1928 and 1931 unofficial titles.Indiana won the 1932 unofficial title, and in 1933,Iowa State and Oklahoma A&M were unofficial co-champions.

The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships is a double-elimination tournament for individuals competing inten weight classes. Thirty-three wrestlers in each weight class qualify through seven conference championship tournaments.^[3] Each of these conference tournaments are allocated a number of automatic qualifying slots in each weight class, and the unallocated slots are filled withat-large selections picked by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee based on certain criteria.^[4] During the championships, individual match winnersearn points based on the level and quality of the victory, which are totaled to determine the team championship standings.

TheOklahoma State Cowboys have won more NCAA team championships than any other school, with 34 titles (including 3 unofficial), the most recent being won in 2006.Ed Gallagher coached the Cowboys to their first title in 1928 and won 11 in 13 years from 1928 through 1940.Iowa has won the second most team titles with 24 NCAA titles. Under head coachDan Gable, Iowa had the longest streak of consecutive titles at nine from 1978 through 1986.Penn State has won 13 titles,Iowa State has won eight titles, andOklahoma has won seven championships. Only seven other schools have won a team title, with none of those schools having won more than three championships.^[2] Since 2011, Penn State under head coachCael Sanderson has won 12 NCAA team titles. Only the 2001Minnesota Golden Gophers and 2025Penn State Nittany Lions have finished the NCAA Tournament with an All-American at every weight class with Minnesota famously winning the team championship despite not having a single finalist.

Long held at host college campuses, since 2000 the tournament has grown exponentially in popularity and as such is now held in major cities at professional sports arenas. Central to the expansion of "March Matness" (a play onMarch Madness, the nickname for the NCAA basketball tournaments) has been television networkESPN, which broadcasts all days of the tournament live and provides additional feeds dedicated to one particular mat online.

The 2025 championship was heldMarch 20-22, 2025 in Philadelphia.

Starting in 2025–26, all currently existing NCAA men's wrestling championships will add the word "Men's" to their official titles, following the elevation of women's wrestling from theEmerging Sports for Women program to full championship status.

• Prior to 1963, only a single national championship was held for all members of the NCAA;Division II competition began in 1963, withDivision III following in 1974.

Sources^[2][1]

Oklahoma State

Iowa

Penn State

Iowa State

Oklahoma

Minnesota

Ohio State

Arizona State

Michigan State

Northern Iowa

Cornell (IA)

Indiana

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National Championships by school: 34, 24, 13, 8, 7, 3, 1

^#: No championship was held from 1943–45 due toWWII.

Sources^[2][7]

• Carter Starocci (Penn State), 2021−2025^#

^#: NCAA granted extra season of eligibility to student-athletes affected by the shortened 2020-21 season due toCOVID-19 pandemic.

Sources^[2][7]

• Pat Smith (Oklahoma State), 1990–1992, 1994
• Cael Sanderson (Iowa State), 1999–2002
• Kyle Dake (Cornell), 2010–2013
• Logan Stieber (Ohio State), 2012−2015
• Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell), 2018−2019, 2022–2023
• Aaron Brooks (Penn State), 2021−2024

• Pre-NCAA Wrestling Champion
• NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships (since 1963)
• NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships (since 1974)
• NAIA national wrestling championship (since 1958)
• U Sports (Canada)
• Intercollegiate women's wrestling champions
• List of NCAA Division I wrestling programs

• "NCAA History of D1 Wrestling Championships" atNational Collegiate Athletic Association

• NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship
• NCAA Division I championships
• Annual college sporting events in the United States
• Recurring sporting events established in 1928

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata