The NCAA Rules Committee made significant changes to overtime for the 2021-2022 season.

Two changes of interest to us are the following:

1. If at the end of any overtime round the scored is tied, the wrestler with one second or more of riding time advantage will be declared the winner (Rule 3.16.4). Previously, the one second rule was applied only after the first overtime round.

2. The first Sudden Victory period (SV-1) is two minutes in length. Previously, SV-1 was one minute.

As we considered implementing these changes in Takedown, the following question arose: what if a wrestler accumulates 60 seconds or more of riding time advantage in the first overtime around and, at the end of both tiebreaker periods, awarding the riding time point caused the score to be tied? Would the one second rule also apply and the wrestler with the riding time advantage point declared the winner?

The scoring for such a situation appears below:

We discussed this situation with the NCAA rules editor who agreed that it needed clarification which was subsequently published in the NCAA Wrestling Case Book, A.R. 3-11.

Generalizing from that interpretation:

• In any overtime round in which a riding time point is awarded, Rule 3.16.4 does not apply.

• In any overtime round in which a riding time point is awarded, the riding time clocks are reset to zero before proceeding, if necessary, to the next overtime round.

• Each wrestler can earn a maximum of one riding time point in overtime.

This is a “corner case” for sure and isn’t expected to occur very often. But, it will happen at some point and it’s good to know how to properly score the situation.