2014 NCAA Preview: 125 lbs.
2013 champion: Ricardo Gomez, Ithaca
2014 Field (with rankings)
West 1 | (4) Fuenffinger | Augsburg |
West 2 | (9) Ambrocio | Concordia Wisconsin |
West 3 | Ferguson | Platteville |
Central 1 | (2) Camacho | Wartburg |
Central 2 | (7) Page | Central |
Central 3 | Rivera | Dubuque |
Midwest 1 | (6) Bidlingmaier | Olivet |
Midwest 2 | Poynter | Wabash |
Midwest 3 | Santos | North Central |
Mideast 1 | (3) Malmberg | Messiah |
Mideast 2 | (5) Gunter | Baldwin-Wallace |
Mideast 3 | (8) Ellis | Brockport |
East 1 | (1) Bewak | Johns Hopkins |
East 2 | (10) Mui | Merchant Marine |
East 3 | Corrigan | TCNJ |
Northeast 1 | Kempf | Cortland |
Northeast 2 | Kaishian | Ithaca |
Northeast 3 | Murray | Rhode Island |
This weight has a good mix of youth and experience, but the man on top right now is #1 ranked Paul Bewak of Johns Hopkins. Bewak has a single DIII loss this season but is 6-0 against wrestlers in the field. He was a freshman All-American in 2012 and qualified last year going 0-2 with his losses to the eventual 2nd and 4th place finishers. He was in a dogfight with Corrigan of TCNJ at the regional, but got things together enough to blank Mui in the finals 7-0. The other wrestler in the running for the top seed is #2 Gilberto Camacho of Wartburg, the 3rd place finisher last year. Like Bewak, he has a single DIII loss this year to an opponent not in the field. Incidentally, #3 Malmberg of Messiah also has one DIII loss to a wrestler not in the tournament but has wins over #5 Gunter and #6 Bidlingmaier. #4 Fuenffinger of Augsburg will challenge for a #3 seed and was an All-American at this weight a year ago and a qualifier in 2012. He lost to Camacho and beat the other two qualifiers in his region.
#8 Matthias Ellis of Brockport was an All-American last year, finishing 8th to Fuenffinger, but he was in a battle to be the starter on his own team this season. Asher Kramer was the only DIII wrestler to beat Bewak this year while Ellis lost to Bewak, but Kramer lost both of his head to head matchups with his Brockport teammate, and now Ellis is back in the tournament aiming to again get on the podium. There are a few other returning athletes at this weight including #9 Ambrocio of Concordia Wisconsin who has qualified each of his three years in college, #7 Page of Central, and #6 Bidlingmaier who returns to the field after missing out in 2013.