A trio of Montana natives are ranked in the NCAA Division I wrestling coaches' rankings, which were released Thursday.
Jarrett Degen, Parker Filius and Luke Weber are each ranked inside the top 33 of their respective weight classes. Degen, a Belgrade native in his senior year at Iowa State, is the highest-ranked Montanan at sixth in the 149-pound weight class. Filius, a Havre product now at Purdue, is 28th at 141 pounds, and Weber, a Forsyth native wrestling at North Dakota State, is 31st at 165.
Degen was a four-time Montana high school state wrestling champion while at Belgrade. He started his career at Virginia Tech but transferred to Iowa State in 2017. With the Cyclones, Degen placed seventh at the 2019 NCAA Championships to earn All-American honors. He also earned first-team All-America honors from the NWCA (National Wrestling Coaches Association) in 2020 after qualifying for the NCAA Championships, which were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Iowa State is 13th in the team rankings.
Filius was also a four-time state champion while wrestling four the Blue Ponies of Havre High. Since joining the Boilermakers in 2017, Filius has gradually climbed the depth chart and placed eighth at the Big Ten Championships in 2020 to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Purdue is ranked 17th as a team.
Weber, another four-time state high school champion in Montana, is now a senior at North Dakota State. He finished sixth at the 2019 Big 12 Championships and eighth at the 2020 Big 12 Championships.
For the complete individual rankings, click here.
Powerhouse Iowa is the No. 1 ranked team with 350 points and all 14 first-place votes. The Hawkeyes include two Montana connections: Bozeman High four-time state champion Leif Schroeder is a freshman on the Iowa roster, and Terry Brands, who coached at Montana State-Northern in 2001-02, is the Hawkeyes' associate head coach.
Michigan, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Missouri round out the top five of the team rankings. Minnesota, which is coached by Sidney native Brandon Eggum, is ranked ninth. For the complete team rankings, click here.
