BLACKSBURG – The ACC received a league-record 37 qualifier allocations for this year's NCAA Championships that will be decided on the mats at the 2019 ACC Championships held in Cassell Coliseum on March 9, the NCAA announced Friday.
Seven weight classes will see four or more wrestlers punch their tickets to this year's national tournament held in Pittsburgh. The 184-pound weight class had the most allocations with five. Here's the breakdown:
Weight – # of allocations
125 – 2
133 – 4
141 – 4
149 – 4
157 – 4
165 – 4
174 – 3
184 – 5
197 – 4
285 – 3
In its first year of playing host to the ACC Championships since 2014, Virginia Tech will look to win its third consecutive conference tournament title. Doors will open at 10 a.m. on March 9 and tickets can be purchased here or at the Cassell Coliseum ticket office. All ACC students are free with a valid school ID.
The final coaches ranking and RPI of the regular saw nine Hokies ranked. Those rankings can be found here and here.
Each qualifying tournament was awarded automatic bids per weight class based on current year data. Each wrestler was measured on the following: Division I winning percentage at the weight class; ratings percentage index (RPI); and coaches' ranking.
For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his conference tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class. Each conference was awarded a minimum of one automatic bid per weight class, which will go to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA tournament spots for each qualifying event will be awarded at the tournament based solely on place-finish.
After all of the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 44 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 12, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on March 13. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; quality wins; coaches' ranking; results against common opponents; RPI; qualifying event placement; and winning percentage
