InterMat Wrestling released its 2021-22 NCAA Division I rankings Sept. 3. InterMat ranked the top 33 wrestlers for all 10 weight classes, with four Indiana wrestlers making the rankings.
Junior DJ Washington ranked the highest of all the Hoosiers at the No. 10 in the 174-pound weight class.Washington finished with a 10-7 record on the season and a 6-2 record in dual matches. He earned the No. 9 seed in the NCAA Championships and wrestled at the Junior World Championships in Ufa, Russia, over the summer.
Graduate student Brock Hudkins, a Northern Illinois University transfer, ranked 28th in the 125-pound weight class. His 2019-20 season was cut short due to an injury but finished 10-2. During Indiana’s conference-only schedule this past winter, Hudkins competed in two dual matches and went 0-2 before missing the rest of the season with an injury.
Junior Cayden Rooks ranked 26th in the 141-pound weight class. Last season, he posted a 7-11 record and qualified as the No. 32 ranked wrestler in the 141 pound class for the NCAA championships.
Redshirt junior Graham Rooks, Cayden’s brother, ranked 30th in the 149-pound weight class. Graham went 5-7 last season and 2-2 in dual matches. He finished in sixth place at the Big Ten championships for his weight class and qualified for the NCAA Championships as the No. 21 seed.
All four wrestlers have qualified for the NCAA Championships in the past. The Rooks brothers and Washington went to St. Louis for the 2021 championships while Hudkins qualified during his time at Northern Illinois.
Indiana wrestling finished 2-6 in its conference-only last year and tied for 10th with Northwestern in the Big Ten standings. The team had its most conference wins since the 2016-17 season.
