Junior Josh Patterson is ranked No. 6 in the nation and is headed to the NCAA championships for the third straight year.

Patterson won the CAA title at 184 pounds Saturday, following his 8-1 victory in the finals over Rider senior Doug Umbehauer (19-4), who is ranked No. 7 in the nation. The win improved Patterson’s record for the season to 41-4.

Patterson is familiar with many of the qualifiers at 184 pounds. He has posted a 10-2 record against the field.

“We’re not going to be caught off guard by any big, ranked program because we faced a lot of the best teams in the country,” said Binghamton wrestling coach Pat Popolizio. “We put our guys through a very, very tough, competitive schedule, and we’ve made some guys who they are, and I’m sure we’ve lost a few guys along the way. More importantly, we’ve made Josh Patterson one of the top guys in the country because of our schedule.”

Patterson’s biggest competition will come from the Big Ten, which features the top three ranked wrestlers in the weight class.

Senior Jake Herbert from Northwestern (29-0) is a three-time NCAA All-American. He was redshirted last year while training for the 2008 Olympics.

In 2007, Herbert went 32-0 and was the NCAA champion at 184 pounds. He is currently ranked first in the nation and won his third Big Ten title after defeating Iowa junior Phil Keddy (29-3), ranked No. 2 in the nation, 8-1.

Keddy was an NCAA All-American last year at 184 pounds. He has already defeated Patterson this year, posting a 4-1 win in November.

Keddy finished second in the Big Ten championships, defeating the defending NCAA champion at 184 pounds, Ohio State junior Mike Pucillo (19-1), who is No. 3 in the nation, 5-2 in the semi-finals. Pucillo is a two-time All-American.

Patterson is 4-2 versus wrestlers ranked in the top 10.

“He’s [Patterson] wrestling probably the most confident that he’s wrestled in his college career, which is a perfect time to be doing it, and he’s peaking at the right time,” Popolizio said. “He needs to use his momentum going into the national tournament. It’s a whole new tournament, so anything can happen there and he’s going there with the mindset to win a national title.”

Other top-10 wrestlers in the 184-pound weight class include sophomore Kirk Smith (36-1) of Boise State, currently ranked fourth in the nation, who is a returning NCAA All-American and won the Pac-10 Conference title this year.

Freshman Dustin Kilgore (31-3) of Kent State, the MAC champion, defeated Patterson in the finals of the Southern Scuffle in North Carolina, 10-4, and is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation.

Umbehauer, a two-time CAA champion, has already lost to Patterson twice: once this season by a score of 6-2, and then again in the CAA finals, 8-1.

Joe LeBlanc (40-6), a freshman at Wyoming may also be a tough task. He is currently ranked No. 8 in the nation. He won the West Regional at 184 pounds, but has already lost to Patterson, 10-7.

Lehigh junior David Craig (25-4), ranked No. 9 in the nation, who was pinned by Patterson in their only meeting this season. He is the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association champion.

Rounding out the top 10 is senior Vince Jones (31-6) of Nebraska; he is the Big 12 champion.

“What we’ve done all year has kind of prepared them for it [the national tournament],” said Popolizio. “The schedule we set is what prepares them for the national tournament. We’re ready for it. When the brackets come out we’ll scout who we have to wrestle and as individual matchups, we’ll be ready for them. There’s really not a whole lot we can do other than just relax and not stress out too much and be confident going into that tournament.”

Patterson has won 14 straight matches and avenged his only loss of the 2009 calendar year when he pinned Old Dominion freshman Joe Budi in the first period of their semi-final match at the CAA championships.

The NCAA wrestling championships begin Thursday, March 19 at 11 a.m. and concludes with the finals, beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 21.