NCAA Field Expanded to 180

In the monthly Division III Championships News for May, it was announced that the 2013 NCAA field will be expanded from 170 to 180 participants. Additionally, all teams will take part in one of six NCAA regions from which the top three at each weight will qualify. There will no longer be wildcards and each weight will have 18 qualifiers. This changes has been in discussion for quite awhile, and you will find below the proposed distribution of teams by region. The final alignment has not been formally announced, so this listing is preliminary and subject to change.

From the Division III Championships News – May 2012:

Wrestling

  • Update: Effective with the 2012-13 academic year, the championships format will include six NCAA-sponsored regional qualifying tournaments and 180 qualifiers selected to the championships.
  • Future Host Opportunity – Bid materials to host regional qualifying tournaments are now available. Bids must be submitted by June 4.

Proposed Regional Alignments – This alignment does not include the College of Mount St. Vincent who will begin competition this season and will likely be in either the East or Northeast Region.

West Central Midwest
Augsburg Augustana Alma
Concordia Moorhead Buena Vista Chicago
Concordia Wisconsin Central Elmhurst
Lakeland Coe Manchester
Maranatha Cornell North Central
MSOE Dubuque Olivet
Pacific Knox Trine
St. John Loras UW-La Crosse
St. Olaf Luther UW-Stevens Point
UW-Eau Claire Simpson UW-Whitewater
UW-Oshkosh Wartburg Wabash
UW-Platteville Wheaton
East Northeast Mideast
Centenary Bridgewater State Baldwin Wallace
Delaware Valley Coast Guard Brockport
Gettysburg Cortland Case
Hunter Ithaca Elizabethtown
Johns Hopkins Johnson & Wales Heidelberg
King’s Norwich John Carroll
McDaniel Oneonta Lycoming
Merchant Marine Oswego Messiah
Muhlenberg Plymouth State Mount St. Joseph
NYU Rhode Island Mount Union
Scranton Roger Williams Muskingum
Stevens Southern Maine Ohio Northern
TCNJ Springfield RIT
Ursinus Trinity Thiel
Washington & Lee Wesleyan Washington & Jefferson
Wilkes Western New England Waynesburg
Yeshiva Williams York
Mount St. Vincent WPI