Manheim, Pennsylvania – Cornell, fresh off a pair of top-ten wins last week, sits atop of the first Mid-Major Top 20 ranking released by the National Wrestling Coaches Association on Friday.
Cornell is one of three Ivy League teams in the Top 20. The conference alignment is based around school’s all-sports structure, and not any affiliate relationships with conferences that bear the names of the five “power conferences” (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and Pac-12).
North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, and South Dakota State, affiliate members of the Big 12, come in ranked behind Cornell. North Dakota State and South Dakota State are all-sports members of the Summit League. Northern Iowa is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. Lehigh, from the Patriot League, rounds out the top five. Patriot League schools, like the Ivy, compete within the 17-team Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, the country’s oldest wrestling conference.
Methodology: The NWCA Division I Wrestling Mid-Major Coaches Poll is voted on by one coach from Division I wrestling conferences with mid-major representation. Each first-place vote is worth 20 points, 19 points for a second-place vote, 18 for a third-place vote, and so on through to one point for a 20th-place vote. The poll is based on dual meet results.
NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll
January 13, 2023
| Rank | Team (First) | Record | Points | Conf. | All-Sports |
| 1 | Cornell (5) | (4-2) | 100 | EIWA | Ivy League |
| 2 | North Dakota State | (4-2) | 92 | Big 12 | Summit |
| 3 | Northern Iowa | (3-2) | 91 | Big 12 | Missouri Valley |
| 4 | South Dakota State | (3-2) | 83 | Big 12 | Summit |
| 5 | Lehigh | (4-5) | 79 | EIWA | Patriot |
| 6 | Appalachian State | (4-1) | 74 | SoCon | Sun Belt |
| 7 | Cal Poly | (3-4) | 71 | Pac-12 | Big West |
| 8 | Penn | (2-3) | 68 | EIWA | Ivy League |
| 9 | Northern Colorado | (7-1) | 61 | Big 12 | Big Sky |
| 10 | Campbell | (6-5) | 48 | SoCon | Big South |
| 11 | Army West Point | (2-3) | 39 | EIWA | Patriot |
| 12 | Air Force | (2-0) | 30 | Big 12 | Mountain West |
| 13 | Princeton | (0-4) | 28 | EIWA | Ivy League |
| 14 | Binghamton | (2-7) | 24 | EIWA | America East |
| 15 | Little Rock | (2-4) | 19 | Pac-12 | Ohio Valley |
| 16 | Northern Illinois | (5-3) | 17 | MAC | MAC |
| 17 | Utah Valley | (1-3) | 14 | Big 12 | WAC |
| 18 | George Mason | (8-2) | 13 | SoCon | Atlantic 10 |
| 19 (tie) | Clarion | (4-3) | 12 | MAC | PSAC |
| 19 (tie) | Drexel | (2-4) | 12 | EIWA | Colonial |
Others Receiving Votes: Chattanooga 11, Columbia 10, Rider 10, Navy 9, Buffalo 8, Ohio 7, Harvard 5, Lock Haven 5, Bucknell 4, Cleveland State 3, Hofstra 2, SIU Edwardsville 1.