Randall Building a Powerhouse at Boise State

Coach Greg Randall inherited one of the top wrestling squads in the country. He is beginning to turn it into a powerhouse.

Randall has this year’s squad ranked anywhere from #3 to #9 depending on who you talk to.

Wrestling Report has Boise State #3 with 78 points, behind #1 Cornell (103) and Penn State (89). Andrew Hochstrasser is the #2-rated wrestler at 133 pounds, Kirk Smith is also #2 at 184 pounds, junior Jason Chamberlain is #3 at 149 pounds, Adam Hall is #3 in the 157-pound classification, freshman Jake Swartz has worked his way up to #11 at 174 pounds, Levi Jones is #17 at 141 pounds while Alan Bartelli is rated #22 at 125 pounds and Matt Casperson is #24 at 197 pounds. Boise State has no wrestlers in the top 33 at 165 pounds or in the 285-pound group.

Intermat also ranks Boise State #3 with 76 points, behind only Cornell and Penn State, who each have 87.5 points. Intermat has Smith #1 and Bartelli ranked 16th, with the other rankings fairly in line with Wrestling Report.

The rankings posted on the official NCAA site have Boise State #9, trailing #1 Cornell, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Iowa.

Most wrestling rankings attempt to predict the results of the NCAA National Wrestling Championships; the NCAA site reflects votes of the nation’s wrestling coaches.

Coach Randall has led Boise State to seven Top 3 finishes at the Pac-10 Conference Championships in the last eight years. The Broncos won two straight Pac-10 titles in 2008 and 2009 and fell to Oregon State by two points last season. In 2009, Boise State was 17-3 in dual matches and shattered the all-time Pac-10 Championship scoring record with 172.5 points. Six Broncos captured individual conference titles that year: Andrew Hochstrasser at 133 pounds, Jason Chamberlain in the 149-pound classification, Tyler Sherfey at 165, Nate Lee at 174 pounds, Kirk Smith at 184 pounds and Brent Chriswell at 197 pounds. Nine wrestlers qualified for the Nationals, to tie the school record set in 2003 and matched in 2008. Three of those—Hochstrasser, Sherfey and Chriswell earned All-America honors with top-eight finishes. Boise State finished 12th in the nation in 2009, 11th last year, and Randall also led the Broncos to a 12th-place finish in 2003.

All those accomplishments aside, Randall and Boise State are attempting to finally crack the Top 10 in the nation, something Randall’s predecessor, Mike Young, did at Boise State. With new prized recruits arriving on campus each year, Randall is well on the way to building the Broncos into a national power.