Page 230 - 2019-20 NJCAA Handbook - May, 2020

F. Each district shall qualify no greater than 70% of the total participants within that specific district. There can only be a maximum of
nine wildcards within any district. All percentages shall be rounded down to the next lower number (ex: 39.9 wildcards = 39). Each
district, before the district seeding meeting ends, will determine whether they will be using the traditional qualifying standards or pre-
determined qualifying standards which will be final once the seeding meeting ends and no changes can be made after that. The
District Director will make a note of this and include this with the national qualifiers submitted from the district.
G. The host district for the NJCAA Tournament may add one additional wrestler for each weight class above the 70% rule.
H. In the event one of the district qualifiers cannot wrestle, then the next alternate as determined by the district involved, may be
designated as the substitute at the weight class in which the replacement is needed. In no other circumstance can a district qualifier
and/or wildcard selection be replaced.
I. Wrestlers must enter the NJCAA Wrestling Tournament by participation in a single qualifying District Tournament. Each
individual must enter at the same weight as he participated at in the qualifying tournament.
J. The methods by which each district determines how to seed and draw, in addition to awarding or not awarding points after a bye in
the championship bracket only, shall be determined by the participating colleges in that district
Section 7. Rules and Procedures
A. The NJCAA mandates that all participating colleges adhere and follow the NCAA Wrestling Rulebook and follow the NCAA Weight
Management regulations (NCAA Guidelines – Rule 8) unless stated otherwise in the NJCAA Wrestling bylaws.
B. Conduct all matches according to the rules in the NCAA Wrestling Rulebook. The consolation bracket will determine a third-place
finisher and shall include all wrestlers defeated in the first and second rounds, as well as defeated wrestlers from the championship
quarter and semifinals.
C. Official scales shall be available for at least one hour prior to each official weigh-in. Photo I.D.’s are required for weigh-ins,
Tournament Host will be responsible for providing a photo I.D.
D. Official clock, scoreboard and collegiate mats are to be provided by the Tournament Host. In addition, an official riding clock is to be
provided for each mat. In accordance with NCAA guidelines, mats shall have a wrestling area between 32 and 42 feet in diameter.
E. The eight District Champions (per weight class) shall be seeded in each bracket according to the designated seeding committee
appointed by the NJCAA Wrestling Coaches Association President (each district ranking representative or designee from each
district) and by using the guidelines outlined in Rule 3, Conduct of Meets and Tournaments, of the current NCAA Wrestling Rules. In
any and all cases where any returning All Americans from the past two years (who are current District Champions) are NOT
separated into different half brackets, the lower of the two seeded wrestlers will claim the nearest seed that will separate him from
the other returning AA. In the case of three or more returning All Americans from the past two years (who are District Champions),
the same process will be used to separate them in any quarter brackets. Once the returning All Americans (who are District
Champions) are seeded properly for separation purposes, the bracket placements of the 8 seeded wrestlers will generate a
predetermined separation/placement for the remaining automatic qualifiers using a computer program approved by the NJCAA
Wrestling Committee. In any bracket with a pigtail, all wrestlers shall have the opportunity to draw for a bye. The priority for
assigning wildcard positions will start with the effort to balance the bracket in terms of the bye positions.
The step-by-step approach to the process is as follows:
1. Seed and place eight (8) District Champions according to the NCAA Rulebook and seeding committee.
2. Adjust seeds for lowest seeded returning AA in order to separate any 2 returning AA’s from any half bracket.
3. Adjust seeds for lowest seeded returning AA’s in the case of more than two returning AA’s in any quarter bracket.
4. Generate the automatic placement program of the automatic qualifiers based on the seeding placements of the District
Champions.
5. Randomly draw in the remaining wildcard qualifiers balancing out the bracket as much as possible.