ROCHESTER, NY - Sophomore Kaidon Winters (Athens, PA/Athens Area) of the RIT wrestling team has ascended to fourth at 157 lbs. in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III Individual Rankings, released on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

Winters, who was named the Tony Wallace Award winner as Most Outstanding Wrestler of the 2018 RIT Invitational last Saturday, is off to a tremendous start in 2018-19 with an 11-0 mark, including seven victories by pin. Last weekend, he won all four of his matches, including two by pin. He knocked off Grant Sorensen of Trinity College, who is now seventh nationally, 3-2 in the semifinals and won the championship by defeating Tyler Marsh of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who is fifth nationally, 5-0.

Winters is coming off a brilliant freshman season in which he broke three-time NCAA National Champion Matt Hammill's school record for pins in a season (22), tied the RIT single-season mark for wins (42) and advanced to the NCAA National Championship Tournament.

Earlier in the season, Winters won his weight class at the Ithaca Invitational. In addition, he was named Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Wrestler of the Week on Nov. 13. He 53-10 in two seasons, with 29 victories coming by pin.

Winters is RIT's highest-ranked wrestler since Mike McInally (133 lbs.) was No. 2 in 2010-11.