West Region Preview

2013-ncaa-d3-wrestling2

West Region Championship | Event Website
Augsburg College
Saturday March 2nd, 9:00AM

12 Teams – Scroll to page middle

d3wrestle.com Rankings | NWCA Team Rankings

Ranked Teams: #18 St. John’s, #20 Augsburg, #21 Concordia-Moorhead,

d3wrestle.com Top Ten Individuals (Returning AA in Bold)
125 – #6 Fuenffinger (Augsburg), #8 Ambrocio (CUW)
133 – none
141 – none
149 – #6 Sanders (CUW)
157 – none
165 – #2 Kulchytskyy (Oshkosh)
174 – #8 Schiferl (Oshkosh)
184 – #4 Hagan (St. John’s)
197 – none
285 – #1 Johnson (Augsburg), #6 Bouressa (Concordia-Moorhead)

When the regions were drawn up last spring, some pointed to the West Region as one that may be lacking in strength compared to some of the others, and the 2013 season has proven that to be the case. St. John’s is the top ranked team, coming in at #18, but they are closely followed by #20 Augsburg and #21 Concordia-Moorhead. The Johnnies are a solid team led by #4 Hagan at 184, but he is their only top ten wrestler. Surrounding him in the lineup are solid contenders Willaert and Michaelis to give St. John’s a strong upper weight core. Augsburg is down a bit from the lofty heights that have seen them win ten NCAA championships in the past two decades, but they do have the nation’s top heavyweight in defending champ Chad Johnson. Mike Fuenffinger is solidly at #6 at 125 to give the Auggies nice bookends in the lineup. Concordia has 2011 All-American Bouressa at #6 at 285 along with a good top to bottom lineup.

125 and 285 are the only weights with multiple ranked wrestlers and 285 is the only weight with multiple returning All-Americans. Bouressa has only lost to Johnson in DIII this year and should join the defending champ in a return trip to the NCAA Championships. Johnson has not been too heavily challenged this year in DIII, except in that tight 3-2 match with Bouressa. Another wrestler to watch here is Nazar Kulchytskyy at 165. He was the champ at 157 last year and has put together a great season moving up a weight to lead the NCAA DIII Most Dominant standings and having the most falls in DIII. His teammate Schiferl at 174 should also be in the mix in Cedar Rapids after just missing the podium in 2012.

Concordia University Wisconsin also has a pair of talented athletes looking to make a mark. Ambrocio was a match away from placing last year at 125, while Sanders has put together a 33-3 season as he looks to prove he is more than just a backflip video. St. Olaf does not have any ranked wrestlers, but they have a few who are right on the precipice and will be in the mix to qualify for the tournament.