West Virginia Wrestling Climbs in Final Rankings Before Big 12 Championships

The West Virginia Mountaineers wrestling team was able to move up one spot in the most recent NWCA rankings to No. 16 after closing out their regular season with a 21-15 win over Lock Haven. The team announced their new ranking on their X account ahead of the Big 12 Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, beginning on March 6th.

Another week of moving 🆙#HailWV pic.twitter.com/LDYDKPRaqF
— WVU Wrestling (@WVUWrestling) February 24, 2026

With the win over Lock Haven in their regular-season finale, West Virginia earned their 11th win of the season overall. It has been a career year for head coach Tim Flynn, who is in his 8th year with WVU, as the 11 wins mark the most wins in a regular season for the Mountaineers head coach and is also the most wins in program history since the 2014 season.

The team’s ranking gives them the fourth-best national ranking in the Big 12 Conference behind No. 14 Missouri, No. 4 Iowa State, and No. 3 Oklahoma State. West Virginia suffered losses to all three of those teams throughout the season, losing to Iowa State 32-7 on February 13th in Ames, Iowa, by a score of 26-13 on February 6th, and 34-3 to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Morgantown.

West Virginia Has Six Wrestlers Earning National Rankings

WVU has six wrestlers who are ranked nationally in their weight classes in the latest NCAA individual rankings from FloWrestling.

Graduate student Jett Strickenberger is ranked 11th in the 125-pound weight class.

Freshman Gunner Andrick is ranked 15th in the 133-pound weight class.

Redshirt sophomore Ty Watters is ranked 8th in the 157-pound weight class.

Redshirt junior Brody Conley came in at 19th in the 174-pound weight class.

Redshirt junior Ian Bush came in 24th in the 184-pound weight class.

Redshirt freshman Rune Lawrence is ranked 16th in the 197-pound weight class.

West Virginia is coming off a 2025 season in which they finished sixth at the Big 12 Championships, marking their highest finish at the conference championships in program history. The team finished 18th at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships, marking their second consecutive top-20 finish at the national championships since the 2004-2005 season. With six wrestlers nationally ranked at their respective weight classes, the Mountaineers have a chance to make program history in the coming weeks at both conference and national championships.

You can catch the Mountaineers in action during the Big 12 Championships taking place on March 6th and 7th. The matches will be broadcast on ESPN+. The Mountaineers will then head to Cleveland, Ohio, for the NCAA Championships, which take place from March 19th through the 21st.