WIAC Preview
Please Note: These are predictions of what will happen at a specific tournament on a specific date. They are not seedings or rankings. d3wrestle.com has seen all the results and made predictions based off those results. We may predict someone to win, even if he 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.
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – 19 qualifiers – Sunday, February 21st at UW-Stevens Point
Predicted Team Champion: Wisconsin-La Crosse
Top Individual – Dan Laurent, UW-La Crosse, 285
Returning NCAA Qualifiers: Lloyd McKinney (La Crosse 125), Max Oldenburg (Whitewater 125), Austin Bautista (Whitewater 141), Matt Mauseth (La Crosse 149), Jesse Milks (Platteville 157), Cory Ferguson (La Crosse 165), Sam Engelland (Oshkosh 174), Michael Schmitz (La Crosse 174), Ben Engelland (Stevens Point 184), Andy Moore (La Crosse 197), Dan Laurent (La Crosse 285)
La Crosse opened up the year ranked #1, and they held that spot until the National Duals where some losses took them down to their current #6 rankings. That still makes them the cream of the WIAC crop with six returning qualifiers, four returning All-Americans, and returning national champs Matt Mauseth and Dan Laurent. Whitewater is #14 and features NWCA #1 Austin Bautista, while Stevens Point and Platteville are also in the top 30. With seven returning All-Americans, the WIAC should be able to have another strong showing at the NCAA tournament.
Predicted qualifiers in bold
125: Lloyd McKinney, La Crosse
Top Challengers: Allen Fish, Platteville; Joe Mileski, Platteville; Max Oldenburg, Whitewater; Zach Mueller, Oshkosh
133: Bebeto Yeway, La Crosse
Top Challengers: Kyle Wachholder, Whitewater; Ross George, Platteville; Jordan Kust, Stevens Point
141: Austin Bautista, Whitewater
Top Challengers: Alex Dahl, La Crosse; Andy Casper, Platteville
149: Matt Mauseth, La Crosse
Top Challengers: Andrew Johnston, Eau Claire; Kris Magrudger, Stevens Point; Jose Quintana, Oshkosh
157: Jesse Milks, Platteville
Top Challengers: Ryan Farwell, La Crosse; Corey Schmidt, Whitewater
165: Vinnie Alber, Platteville
Top Challengers: Cory Ferguson, La Crosse; Jordan Schulte, Stevens Point; Jake D’Acquisto, Whitewater
174: Michael Schmitz, La Crosse
Top Challengers: Sam Engelland, Oshkosh; Cory Zuberbier, Platteville; Dennis Reckelberg; Stevens Point
184: Ben Engelland, Stevens Point
Top Challengers: Mitch Artist, La Crosse; David Casper, Whitewater; Aaron Erickson, Oshkosh
197: Andy Moore, La Crosse
Top Challengers: Adam Latella, Whitewater; Bradley Zellner, Platteville; Brandon Jochem, Stevens Point
285: Dan Laurent, La Crosse
Top Challengers: Jon Schmidt, Whitewater; Bret Oswald, Stevens Point; Tyler Manning, Platteville