2017 Mideast Region Preview
Date – Saturday and Sunday, February 25-26, 2017
Location – York College; York, PA
Teams (19) – Baldwin-Wallace, Brockport, CWRU, Elizabethtown, Heidelberg, John Carroll, Keystone, Lycoming, Messiah, Mount Union, Muskingum, Oswego, RIT, Scranton, Thiel, Washington & Jefferson, Waynesburg, Wilkes, York
Top Ten Ranked Individuals (2016 All-Americans in bold)
125 – #1 Malmberg (Messiah), #5 Haas (Brockport), #7 Rea (Wilkes)
133 – #4 Flynn (York)
141 – #2 Grossman (Wilkes), #6 Cotton (Mt. Union)
149 – #2 Lansberry (Lycoming), #5 Peacock (Brockport)
157 – none
165 – #4 Cannon (Messiah), #5 Barger (Lycoming), #10 Seymour (Oswego)
174 – #1 Swarr (Messiah), #5 Blanco (W&J), #7 Cain (RIT)
184 – #5 Bushey (Oswego), #8 Decker (Heidelberg)
197 – #6 Engle (Brockport), #9 Koser (Messiah)
285 – none
Top 30 Teams (d3wrestle.com list)
#2 Messiah College
#12 Lycoming
#14 Brockport
#15 Wilkes
#28 Baldwin Wallace
#28 Oswego
#28 RIT
Messiah College has won the Mideast Region three years in a row, and the Falcons look to run their streak to four in 2017. Messiah boasts four wrestlers ranked in the top 10 and several others should threaten to make the trip to Lacrosse including 2016 All American Jeff Hojnacki at 157 and NCAA pins leader Hunter Harris at 133. If the Falcons have any chance to make noise at the NCAA tournament they will have to battle through a deep, talented region.
One of the deepest teams in the region is Baldwin Wallace. The Yellow Jackets have an individual ranked somewhere on the d3wrestle.com list in nearly every weight. With a peak performance they could easily put together enough team points to threaten for the team title. Brockport is a bit more top heavy as their lineup has been bolstered by DI transfers Haas (125) and Peacock (149). Those two combined with regional favorite Tristan Engle at 197 make the Golden Eagle squad a force to reckon with. Lycoming College is led by Senior All Americans Nolan Barger and Seth Lansberry; both should score a lot of point at the regionals and nationals.
Wilkes University should benefit from two 2015 All Americans who were not in the lineup last year. Matt Grossmann won a national title at 133, but did not compete last season. His results suggest that he should be in the running to challenge for regional and national gold at 141 this year. Similarly 125 lbs. Guesseppe Rea sat out last season after an All-American performance in 2015. While those two were All-Americans in 2015 but not 2016, there are two 2016 All-Americans not in the list above because they are currently outside the top ten in their respective weights. Hojnacki (Messiah) was mentioned previously, and the other is Warner (York) who lost his preliminary match in Cedar Rapids but won five matches after that to finish 5th.