CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- The Ithaca College wrestling team is sending six wrestlers to this weekend's NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. As part of the pre-tournament preparation, the National Wrestling Coaches Association releases its final team ranking of the season, which is a projection of potential team points earned at the NCAAs. In this latest ranking, Ithaca stands ninth. Ithaca finished second at the NCAA Northeast Regional and won the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Championships earlier this year.

With six wrestlers qualified for the championship tournament, Ithaca trails only top-ranked Wartburg (nine wrestlers), sixth-ranked Augsburg (eight wrestlers) and the Bombers stand one place ahead of 10th-ranked Concordia-Moorhead (seven wrestlers). Six schools, including Ithaca, have six representatives at the nationals.

Ithaca's representatives include returning all-American Alex Gomez at 133 pounds, who is seeded third in the NCAA bracket this year. The Bombers' other seeded wrestler is Kristopher Schimek at 165 pounds, who is seeded third in that bracket.

At 141 pounds, Dominick Giacolone returns to the national championship tournament for the second consecutive year. Freshman Carlos Toribio has been nationally-ranked by the NWCA and d3wrestle.com this season, and he will represent Ithaca in that weight class. 125-pounder Jimmy Kaishian and 157-pounder Kevin Collins are making their first trip to the NCAAs.

March 11 Pre-Tournament Rankings By NWCA (.doc)

2014 NCAA Divison III Wrestling Championship Brackets (.pdf)