National Collegiate Wrestling Association

National Collegiate Wrestling Association
Abbreviation NCWA
Formation 1997 (1997)
Legal status Association
Headquarters Dallas, Texas
Region served
United States of America and Canada
Membership
162 (schools, conferences or other associations)
Executive Director
Jim Giunta
Main organ
Executive Committee
Website NCWA official website

The National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) is a nonprofit association of 162 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organize the wrestling programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It is led by founder and executive director Jim Giunta headquartered in Dallas, Texas and built to help the promotion of collegiate wrestling.

Many teams were formerly NCAA programs displaced by Title IX legislation and/or are preparing to join the NCAA, NAIA, or NJCAA. Teams in transition to a higher division not eligible for the NCAA postseason also compete in the NCWA. Notable wrestling programs to have started or competed in the NCWA and are now in other associations include: California Baptist University, Lindenwood University, Notre Dame College, Shorter University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

History

A post-secondary athletic association built to help the promotion of collegiate wrestling, the NCWA was founded in 1997 as a 501c3 non-profit by the current executive director, Jim Giunta, after resigning as executive director of the Texas Interscholastic Wrestling Association (TIWA). At its founding the association had 13 member teams, but today the NCWA is composed of over 150 wrestling teams and clubs from across the United States and Canada. Many of these programs were formerly NCAA scholarship programs which were affected by Title IX legislation, which has resulted in many colleges being forced to give up their wrestling programs in the name of gender equality. The variety of institutions competing in the NCWA is wide and unrestricted as junior colleges, trade schools and post-secondary prep institutions compete in the same national championship as four-year colleges and universities.

Notable current teams

While the NCWA currently has over 100 schools in competition, a few programs have distinguished themselves as top-tier programs.

Institution Year Entered NCWA Conference Wrestler Accomplishments National Championships Notes
Alfred State College 2013 Northeast
  • 3 All-Americans
  • 12th at 2014 Division I National Championships
Started transition from NJCAA to NAIA, beginning 2013 and finalizing 2018[1][2]
Emmanuel College 2015 Southeast
  • 12 National Qualifiers
  • 5th at 2016 National Duals
Started program in 2015 and set to join NCAA Division II in 2016[3]
Fresno State University 2014 West Coast
  • 4 National Qualifiers
  • 33rd at 2015 Division II National Championships
Re-started program in 2014 and set to join NCAA Division I in 2017[4]
Grand Valley State University 2000 Great Lakes
  • 113 All-Americans
  • 21 National Champions
  • 5x National Championships titles (2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008)
  • 2009 National Dual Meet Champions
  • 13 top-five finishes at National Championships
Wrestling program had competed in NCAA D-I, D-II, D-III, and NAIA until 1992
Henry Ford College 2013 Great Lakes
  • 13 National Qualifiers
  • 31st at 2014 Division II National Championships
  • 27th at 2015 Division II National Championships
Started program in 2013 and set to join NJCAA in 2016[5]
Liberty University 2011 Mid-Atlantic
  • 22 All-Americans
  • 4 National Champions
  • 3 top-three finishes at National Championships
  • 2012 & 2015 National Dual Meet Champions
  • 2015 National Champions
Competed as a NCAA D-I program prior to joining the NCWA in 2011
Marion Military Institute 2003 Southeast
  • 36 All-Americans
  • 4 National Champions
  • 2010 National Dual Meet Champions

Coached by Jim and Dave Hazewinkle, both of which were Olympic wrestlers for the United States of America in 1968 and 1972 in Greco-Roman wrestling[6]

Middle Tennessee State University 1999 Mid-Atlantic
  • 18 All-Americans
  • 2015 NCWA National Championships Runner-up
  • 2 top 10 NCWA National Championship finishes
  • 3 top 8 NCWA National Duals finishes

Coached by Steven Smith

The Apprentice School 2000 Mid-Atlantic
  • 82 All-Americans
  • 10 National Champions
  • 2009 National Champions

Coached by Bruce Shumaker, former Edinboro wrestler who wrestled in two U.S. Open Trials[7]

University of Central Florida 2003 Southeast
  • 85 All-Americans
  • 11 National Champions
  • 3x National Championships titles (2004, 2005, 2010)
  • 8 Southeast Conference championships
  • 14 top-ten finishes at National Championships
  • 2015 National Duals Champions
  • 2015 NCAA Division I National Qualifier Santiago Martinez was a 2x National Champion for University of Central Florida
  • 2015 US Open Trials Champion Geordan Speiller wrestles for University of Central Florida

Notable former teams

While the NCWA currently has over 100 schools in competition, it has also been home to many programs that transitioned from one association to another or that originated as an NCWA program and later changed associations.

Institution Year Entered NCWA Previous Association Year Left NCWA Next Association Notes
Belmont Abbey College 1998 Started in NCWA 2006 NCAA Division II
  • #22 at 1999 National Championships
  • #23 at 2000 National Championships
  • #7 at 2001 National Championships
  • #21 at 2002 National Championships
  • #10 at 2003 National Championships
  • #12 at 2004 National Championships
  • 5 All-Americans
California Baptist University 2010 NAIA 2013 NCAA Division II
  • 2011 National Dual Meet Champions
  • 2011 Division I National Champions
  • #2 at 2012 Division I National Championships
  • 2013 Division I National Champions
  • 23 All-Americans
  • 6 National Champions
  • 1st team to win both the National Duals and National Championships in the same season
Darton State College 2006 Started in NCWA 2008 NJCAA
  • #50 at 2006 National Championships
  • #7 at 2007 National Championships
  • #16 at 2008 National Championships
  • 5 All-Americans
Grand Canyon University 2013 NCAA Division II 2014 NCAA Division I
  • 2014 National Dual Meet Champions
  • 2014 Division I National Champions
  • 10 All-Americans
  • 4 National Champions
Lindenwood University 2011 NAIA 2013 NCAA Division II
  • #2 at 2012 National Dual Meet Championships
  • #4 at 2012 Division I National Championships
  • 2013 National Dual Meet Champions
  • #2 at 2013 Division I National Championships
  • 13 All-Americans
  • 3 National Champions
Lindenwood University - Belleville 2011 Started in NCWA 2013 NAIA
  • #5 at 2012 National Dual Meet Championships
  • #10 at 2012 Division I National Championships
  • #7 at 2013 National Dual Meet Championships
  • #7 at 2013 Division I National Championships
  • 9 All-Americans
  • 2 National Champions
McKendree University 2011 NAIA 2013 NCAA Division II
  • #9 at 2012 Division I National Championships
  • #2 at 2013 Division I National Championships
  • 10 All-Americans
  • 2 National Champions
Minot State University 2011 NAIA 2012 NCAA Division II
  • #30 at 2012 Division I National Championships
Newman University 2007 NAIA 2008 NCAA Division II
  • #17 at 2007 National Championships
  • #2 at 2008 National Championships
  • 11 All-Americans
  • 1 National Champion
Notre Dame College 2012 NAIA 2013 NCAA Division II
  • 2012 Division I National Champions
  • 12 All-Americans
  • 3 National Champions
Saint Andrews University 2011 NCAA Division II 2012 NAIA
  • #24 at 2012 Division I National Championships
  • 2 All-Americans
Shorter University 2013 NAIA 2014 NCAA D-II
  • #2 at 2014 Collegiate Cup Duals
  • #3 at 2014 National Championships
  • 6 All-Americans
  • 2 National Champions
Southern Virginia 2000 Started in the NCWA 2014 NCAA D-III
  • 3 All-Americans
  • 1 National Champion
Simon Fraser University 2011 NAIA 2012 NCAA Division II
  • #5 at 2012 Division I National Championships
  • 6 All-Americans
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 2009 NCAA Division II 2012 NCAA Division I
  • #20 at 2009 National Championships
  • #3 at 2010 National Championships
  • #4 at 2011 Division I National Championships
  • #7 at 2012 Division I National Championships
  • 17 All-Americans
  • 3 National Champions
University of Southern Colorado 2002 Program restarted in the NCWA 2008 NCAA Division II
  • #4 at 2002 National Championships
  • #11 at 2003 National Championships
  • 4 All-Americans
  • 2 National Champions
Valley Forge Military Academy and College 1998 Started in NCWA 2009 NJCAA
  • #10 at 1998 National Championships
  • #13 at 1999 National Championships
  • #24 at 2000 National Championships
  • #17 at 2001 National Championships
  • #35 at 2005 National Championships
  • #54 at 2006 National Championships
  • #19 at 2007 National Championships
  • #57 at 2008 National Championships
  • 4 All-American
  • 3 National Champions

Advantages

Florida
Louisiana

Similarities with NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA

Differences with NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA

As mentioned before, the NCWA allows many types of funding to its wrestling programs that might not be allowed by the NCAA. This can allow the wrestling team to grow at its own rate.

235 lb weight class

The NCWA is the only association with collegiate wrestling to offer an 11th weight class: 235 lbs. There are a number of benefits from this:

National Championship Series

Starting in the 2013–2014 season, the National Championships in March and the Collegiate Cup Duals (previously known as the National Dual Meet Championship) directly related to each other in a team's point total. A team's finish at the Collegiate Cup Duals transferred to additional points being awarded at the National Championships.

The National Wrestling Coaches Association (or "NWCA") have a National Duals tournament for NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, NJCAA, and NCWA teams, but all do not tie into their respective National Championships point totals. Penn State University (NCAA D-I) won four straight National Championships from 2011 to 2014 – without ever competing in the NCAA D-I entry of the National Duals. The NCWA's National Championship Series is the first of any of the college divisions to have a true champion that is indicative of both its team's as well as its individuals' success.

Structure

The NCWA is divided into nine regional conferences and two divisions. Division I programs are athletic department funded or have met the NCWA's D-I criteria. Many of the Division I programs also offer athletic scholarships. Division II teams are broken into categories; Emerging Programs, that are developing into Division I teams, and Clubs that operate on campuses where there are established NCAA/NCAA/NJCAA Teams; few Division II schools are of the latter circumstance. Schools whose wrestling teams are competing in the NCWA during their school's transitional period are placed into Division I.

In August 2010, the current two-division system was passed at that year's Vision Forum and implemented for the 2011 National Championships. Since then, California Baptist University has won two of the three Division I Championships while no team has won more than one Division II Championship.

Conferences

Conference Year Founded States/region Automatic Qualifiers per weight class Notable teams
Great Lakes 2012 6
  • Grand Valley State University
Great Plains 2012 3
  • United States Air Force Prep
  • Wayne State University
  • Colorado State University
Mid-Atlantic 2004 6
  • Liberty University
  • Middle Tennessee State University
  • The Apprentice School
Mid-East 2010 6
  • Penn State - DuBois
  • University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Northeast 2003
  • Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont
  • Northeast
5
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • United States Military Academy Prep
  • United States Naval Academy Prep
Northwest 2004-2009, 2012 3
  • Central Washington University
  • Washington State University
  • Grays Harbor College
  • Montana Western University
Southeast 2003
  • Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi
  • Southeast
6
  • Emmanuel College
  • Florida Gulf Coast University
  • Marion Military Institute
  • University of Central Florida
  • University of South Florida
Southwest 2003 2
  • University of Texas
West Coast 2008 2
  • University of Southern California

Former Conferences

Former Conference Years Active Region Notes
North Central Conference 2003-2012 Mid-west, northern, central, northwestern Split into Great Lake and Great Plains conferences due to large size
Northeastern Conference 1997-2003 Northeast, northern, Atlantic Renamed "Northeast Conference"
Northern Conference 1998-2002 Mid-west, Northern Renamed "North Central Conference"

Wrestling clubs in the NCWA: Iowa State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech.

National Events

The NCWA sponsors five national events:

  1. National Collegiate Wrestling Championships
  2. The Women's Collegiate Wrestling Championships
  3. The NCWA National Duals
  4. The Champions Challenge
  5. The Vision Forum

Vision Forum

Every year, the NCWA's Vision Forum convenes during the wrestling off-season in the summer and is held at about the same location as and set a few days before the National Wrestling Coaches Association Convention. The Vision Forum focuses on the NCWA rule changes, policies, and procedures from the previous season and if any modifications need to be made or new topics need to be discussed.

Some important changes/events that have come from the Vision Forum:

Champions Challenge

From 2010-2011, the Champions Challenge was formed by the NAIA and NCWA to bring more highlight matches to the wrestling community by pitting NAIA All-Stars against NCWA All-Stars at each weight class in a dual meet (except for 235 lbs since the NAIA does not recognize that weight class in competition). The All-Stars were usually the highest returning All-American at each weight class barring injury; the coaching staffs were one or two coaches for each school represented in the dual. The NCAA Division II is slated to join in the next event.

2010 result: NAIA 39, NCWA 3 (NAIA 1-0)

2011 result: NAIA 23, NCWA 15 (NAIA 2-0)

Champions and Championships

NCWA National Championships Team Champions [9]

Since the NCWA was formed, there has been an annual National Championships post-season tournament. Until 2007, the top 6 finishers at each weight class received All-American status; starting in 2007 and continuing currently, the top 8 place-winners are recognized as All-Americans. Here, individuals are recognized for their outstanding individual achievement. They can earn team points (unless they are the non-scorer on their team) by advancing through the tournament, scoring bonus points in matches, and placing in the top 8. Teams accumulate points from all of their scoring wrestlers. The National Championships have traditionally been held in the middle of March.

NCWA National Dual Meet Championship

In its thirteenth season, the NCWA hosted its first National Dual Meet Championships. Whereas the National Championships focuses more on individual success and teams can depend on one or a few exceptional wrestlers, the National Duals highlights teams with solid line-ups and good wrestlers at each weight class. It is common for teams that win or place highly in the National Duals to do so at the National Championships later. The National Duals usually take place in late January before the National Championships.

Prior to the 2015 National Duals no team has won the Duals more than once. The 2013 Duals made history as the finals were the first re-match between the previous year's finalists - Liberty University, who won in 2012, and Lindenwood University wrestled each other again with Lindenwood exacting revenge and winning it in 2013. in 2015 Liberty University became the first team to win the National Duals twice.

Starting in the 2013-2014 season, two changes took place: 1) the National Dual Meet Championship was now renamed as the Collegiate Cup Duals and 2) a team's finish at the Collegiate Cup Duals would earn it a certain amount of team points at the National Championships and aid them in winning it. Two major reasons for this change were to 1) encourage more teams to want to wrestle in the Collegiate Cup Duals and, 2) while still recognizing up to two different champions at the two different tournaments, one team could be determined as the best true overall team and individual wrestling champion that year.

612 Project

The 612 Project is a community outreach program created by the NCWA for its wrestlers, coaches, officials, volunteers, and staff to help the city hosting the NCWA National Duals. NCWA wrestling programs serve food to those in need and hold canned and non-perishable food drives. They later donate those goods, as well as clothes (especially jackets), to one of the city's organizations.

The name "612 Project" comes from the Biblical quote Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12 from the New Testament:

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

The first 612 Project took place at the 2012 National Duals in Dalton, Georgia and repeated for the 2013 and 2014 events which were also held in Dalton. It is scheduled to continue at the 2015 Collegiate Cup Duals in Dalton again.

NCWWA Women's College Wrestling Championships

The first Women's Collegiate Wrestling Championships took place in Lakeland, Florida in 2008. The NCWA sponsored this event under their new banner organization, the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Association (NCWWA). To date, the NCWA is still the only collegiate association in the United States to officially recognize women's collegiate wrestling. Whereas before matches were done using freestyle rules, as was the norm with associations like the WCWA, the NCWWA uses collegiate/folkstyle rules like in the NCWA, NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA. The NCWA sponsored the first women's collegiate national championship in Lakeland, Florida in March 2008, where nine women's teams were represented. The NCWA continues to sponsor women's collegiate wrestling.[56]

The top 3 wrestlers in each weight class are recognized as All-Americans.

The Women's College Wrestling Championships has been dominated by northern and northwestern teams. Bo Icalia has won all but the inaugural Championships - he was the head coach of Yakima Valley Community College for the 2010 and 2011 seasons and has been the head coach of Southwestern Oregon Community College since 2011. Jasmine Grant of the University of South Florida is the NCWWA's first and only 4x All-American (2011-2014) so far.

Collegiate Cup Duals

At the 2013 Vision Forum, the NCWA approved a new National Championships Series to crown a true National Team Champion. The National Dual Meet Championship will be renamed the Collegiate Cup Duals. Each annual winner of the Collegiate Cup will take home the Collegiate Cup trophy. Teams that place in that tournament will earn an additional amount of team points at the start of National Championships tournament later in the season.

The team that wins the Collegiate Cup will earn 24 team points at the start of that year's National Invitation Tournament. The runner-up will receive 23, third-place 22, and so forth until the 23rd-place team receives 2 points. All other teams that participated, but did not place in the top 23 will receive 1 point.

See also

Notes

  1. http://www.oleantimesherald.com/editorial/alfred-state-bidding-for-div-iii-status/article_b95ebf48-2d7f-11e1-a6e7-001871e3ce6c.html
  2. http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/D3_2016-17_Provisional-Reclassifying-Exploratory-Chart_20160211.pdf?division=d3
  3. http://goeclions.com/information/General_EC_News/MenWrestling
  4. http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2016/March/01/Fresno-State-to-add-wrestling
  5. https://athletics.hfcc.edu/announcements/hfc-add-volleyball-wrestling-2016
  6. http://www.mmitigers.com/sports/wrest/coaches/index
  7. http://www.collegewrestling.org/news?news_id=275
  8. http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2015/April/28/Go-Greco-Initiative-launched
  9. http://www.ncwa.net/nationals/index.php?page=tournamentnotes.php
  10. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  11. http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxv/3.27.98/sports/wrestlers.html
  12. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  13. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  14. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  15. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  16. http://www.wrestlingusa.com/003%20wusa%20web%20root/Issues/may15/9-NCWAChampionships.pdf
  17. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  18. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  19. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  20. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  21. http://www.themat.com/events/NCWAChampionships.pdf
  22. http://centralfloridawrestling.net/content/Misc/teamscores.pdf
  23. http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=20002
  24. http://studentclubs.winona.edu/wsuwrestling/PDFs/2009NCWA_National_Tournament.pdf
  25. http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=21704
  26. http://centralfloridawrestling.net/content/Misc/2010%20Nationals%20Team%20Scores.pdf
  27. http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=23330
  28. http://centralfloridawrestling.net/content/Misc/NCWA_2011_Brackets.pdf
  29. http://www.nwmissouri.edu/media/news/2011/03/14wrestling.htm
  30. http://wrestlingreport.com/current_news/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=35597
  31. http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=24826
  32. http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2012/03/25/sports/nh5268584.txt
  33. http://awn.theopenmat.com/2012/03/ncwa-championships-wichita-state-wins-div-ii-title/
  34. http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=WRESTLINGCLUB&p=/news1/3_13_12/
  35. http://www.themat.com/article.php?ArticleID=26218
  36. http://article.wn.com/view/2013/03/17/CalBaptist_wins_second_NCWA_National_title_in_three_years_le/#/related_news
  37. http://centralfloridawrestling.net/content/Misc/TeamScores%202013.pdf
  38. http://wrestling.scripts.mit.edu/www/?p=634
  39. http://centralfloridawrestling.net/content/Misc/TeamScores%202013.pdf
  40. http://www.ncwa.net/news?news_id=1397
  41. http://www.ncwa.net/news?news_id=1397
  42. http://ncwa.net/news?news_id=1525
  43. http://ncwa.net/news?news_id=1525
  44. https://ncwa.net/news/2016/complete-results-of-finals-rounds-at-ncwa-championships
  45. https://ncwa.net/news/2016/complete-results-of-finals-rounds-at-ncwa-championships
  46. http://www.nationalduals.org/college.html
  47. http://www.nationalduals.org/college.html
  48. http://www.ncwa.net/news?news_id=918
  49. http://themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=24627
  50. http://daltondailycitizen.com/sports/x1296872934/Something-gained-Flames-win-title-at-NCWA-National-Duals
  51. http://www.ncwa.net/news?news_id=1217
  52. http://www.lindenwoodlions.com/news/2013/1/19/WREST_0119130858.aspx
  53. http://www.ncwa.net/news?news_id=1352
  54. http://www.liberty.edu/online/liberty-news/?MID=145215
  55. https://ncwa.net/news/2016/ucf-wins-first-national-duals-title-defeats-grand-valley-state
  56. National Collegiate Wrestling Association (2008-09-01). "2008-09 NCWA Wrestling Plan" (PDF). NCWA. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  57. http://www.ncwwa.net/news?news_id=13
  58. http://www.yakimaherald.com/sports
  59. http://www.goboxers.com/news/2012/3/12/WWREST_0312121801.aspx?path=wwrestling
  60. http://www.ncwwa.net/news?news_id=26
  61. http://www.ncwa.net/news?news_id=1397
  62. http://news.theopenmat.com/college-wrestling-news/liberty-wins-2015-ncwa-national-championships/57034
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