Wartburg Preview

Wartburg College Knights
Co-Head Coach: Jim Miller, Eric Keller
Years at School as head coach: 21st season for Miller
Career Record at school: Miller: 350-33-4
Assistant Coaches: Chris Ortner, Chris Smith, Jason Zastrow

2010-2011 Dual Meet Record: 21-1 (1st IIAC, 1st NCAA)
2010-2011 National Qualifiers and All-Americans: Mark Kist (3rd/125), Tommy Morocha (4th/133), Matt Kelly (141), Jacob Groth (6th/149), Carrington Banks (4th/157), Adam Weber (165), Bradley Banks (2nd/174), Dylan Azinger (184), Byron Tate (1st/197), John Helgerson (1st/197)
Returning Qualifiers and All-Americans: 133 Tommy Mirocha (4th), 174 Bradley Banks (2nd), 184 Dylan Azinger (6th, 174 ’10), 197 Byron Tate (1st 2011 & 2010)

Top returning starters:
133 Tommy Mirocha, 4th NCAA
174 Bradley Banks, 2nd NCAA
184 Dylan Azinger, 2x NQ, 6th ’10
197 Byron Tate, 2x NCAA Champ, Midlands Runner-up

Top incoming wrestlers:
Drew Wagenhoffer (141-49) New Jersey Champ
Kodie Silvestri (149-57) 3rd Jr College 0210 Nassau

Season outlook:
Usually, a national championship team experiences a lot of turnover as the experienced seniors who won the title move on and are replaced by new faces. That has happened to some degree at Wartburg, but they still have four returning All-Americans who will give them a good chance to repeat. The best of these is Byron Tate at 197, a 2x NCAA champ and Midlands runner-up who might be the best wrestler in DIII this season. Bradley Banks surprised many by coming from the 8th seed all the way to the finals, and he also returns. All-Americans Tommy Mirocha and Dylan Azinger also return. Filling six lineup spots will be tough, but the depth of the program shines through as Gilberto Camacho is back at 125 after a year off, though he was 26-3 in 2010. Kremer was 22-6 behind Mirocha and he moves up to 141. Newcomer Kodi Silvestri was a JUCO All-American who had a win over 2x runner-up Stierly of Ithaca. He will be at either 149 or 157. There is no reason to think this team could not win another NCAA championship, but the new starters will have to come up big for the Knights.