Eight undefeated wrestlers named Hodge Trophy finalists

Despite the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Wrestling Championships, it is once again time to select the top wrestler in the collegiate ranks as voting will soon begin for the 2020 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy.

Eight Division I wrestlers, who finished the season undefeated going into the NCAAs, have been named as finalists for the award, which is presented each year by ASICS and called by many the “Heisman Trophy of wrestling”.

This year’s finalists are (alphabetically) West Virginia sophomore Noah Adams (197), Northwestern junior Ryan Deakin (157), Princeton sophomore Pat Glory (125), Stanford freshman Shane Griffith (165), Iowa junior Spencer Lee (125), Ohio State senior Kollin Moore (197), Minnesota sophomore Gable Steveson (Hwt) and Cornell senior Charles Tucker (133).

Official ballots for the Hodge Trophy Voting Committee made up of past all past Hodge winners, a retired college coach from each region, and national media members will begin on Monday, March 23. The ballot will include a breakdown of each wrestler’s record from this past season.

In addition, the official Fan Vote for the 2020 Hodge will also begin at 12:00 pm CST on March 23 on www.WIN-magazine.com. The Fan Vote winner will receive an additional two first-place votes. In past years, voting has swelled to as many as 140,000 unique votes in a given year as it is a public way to celebrate the dominant seasons of college wrestling’s top individuals.

The award is named after the great Dan Hodge, who was a three-time NCAA champ (1955-57) at the University of Oklahoma. Hodge was 46-0 with 36 pins and never allowed a takedown in his college career.

Primary criteria for the award are a wrestler’s record, number of pins, dominance and quality of competition. Past credentials, sportsmanship/citizenship and heart are used as secondary criteria in years where two finalists stats are nearly equal.

The 2020 Hodge winner will be announced at 12 pm CST on Monday, March 30.

For a complete list of past winners and the award stories, click here. https://www.win-magazine.com/win-awards/hodge-trophy/