Great Lakes Regional Preview
Please Note: These are predictions of what will happen at a specific tournament on a specific date. They are not seedings or rankings. We have seen all the results and made predictions based off those results. We may predict someone to win, even if they recently lost to a conference opponent, but that does not mean we did not see the results.
All week long, d3wrestle.com will be publishing previews of each of the NCAA qualifying tournaments to be held this weekend. In addition to predicting winners and identifying the top athletes at each weight, we will attempt to predict all 160 qualifiers based on the number of wildcards available for each qualifying tournament. This is the last of those previews, as most of the tournaments get going tomorrow.
Great Lakes Region – 26 qualifiers
Predicted Team Champ: Augsburg College
Top Individual: Willy Holst, Augsburg
Returning NCAA Qualifiers: Seth Flodeen (Augsburg 125, 1st NCAA), Jake Oster (Elmhurst 125, 5th NCAA), Mogi Baatar (St. John’s 133, 7th NCAA), Travis Lang (Augsburg 133, 5th NCAA), Minga Batsukh (St. John’s 141, 2007), Ben Anderson (Concordia 141), Willy Holst (Augsburg 149, 3rd NCAA), Jason Adams (Augsburg 157, 2nd NCAA), Ben Hoover (Maranatha 165, 2nd NCAA), Ben Youel (North Central 165, 4th NCAA), Matt Schrupp (St. John’s 165); Phil Moenkedick (Concordia 184), Dustin Baxter (St. John’s 184), Gabe Youel (North Central 184, 4th NCAA), Anthony Neumann (Concordia 197, 8th NCAA), Mark Corsello (Elmhurst 285, 7th NCAA)
A great performance by the Great Lakes last year resulted in 3 extra qualifiers in 2009. A strong group is back, including 11 All-Americans. Willy Holst has moved to the top of this group with two wins over last year’s NCAA champ and an undefeated D3 record. Other top returners include NCAA champ Seth Flodeen and finalists Jason Adams and Ben Hoover. 184 is the deepest weight and could see four qualifiers. Top ranked Augsburg should see their Great Lakes reign continue as d3wrestle.com is predicting seven champs and eight qualifiers for the Auggies and first year head coach Mark Matzek. Other contending teams will be Concordia-Moorhead, North Central, and St. John’s.
Weight by Weight (predicted qualifiers in bold)
125 Prediction: Jake Oster, Elmhurst
Top Challengers: Seth Flodeen, Augsburg; Joe Norton, North Central; Daron Hohbein, Concordia; Chad Henle, St. John’s
133 Prediction: Travis Lang, Augsburg
Top Challengers: Mogi Baatar, St. John’s; Ryan Timmerman, St. Olaf
141 Prediction: Tony Valek, Augsburg
Top Challengers: Minga Batsukh, St. John’s; Ben Anderson, Concordia
149 Prediction: Willy Holst, Augsburg
Top Challengers: Jason Fitzenreider, North Central; Charlie Curran, Elmhurst; Joey Massman, Concordia University; Justin Berns, Concordia Moorhead
157 Prediction: Jason Adams, Augsburg
Top Challengers: Matt Baarson, St. John’s; Lane Lunde, Concordia; Joel VandeBoom, MSOE
165 Prediction: Ben Youel, North Central
Top Challengers: Ben Hoover, Maranatha; Greg Horn, Elmhurst; Brandon Bahr, Augsburg; Matt Schrupp, St. John’s
174 Prediction: Zach Molitor, Augsburg
Top Challengers: Troy Carlson, Chicago; Greg Schroeder, North Central
184 Prediction: Gabe Youel, North Central
Top Challengers: Phil Moenkedick, Concordia; Dustin Baxter, St. John’s; Toby Boltz, Wheaton
197 Prediction: Jared Massey, Augsburg
Top Challengers: Anthony Neumann, Concordia; Tony Willaert, St. John’s; Vinnie Sapienza, North Central
285 Prediction: Andy Witzel, Augsburg
Top Challengers: Mark Corsello, Elmhurst; Adam Sutter, Lakeland