2016 Central Regional Preview
2016 Central Regional
Sunday, February 28
Five Flags Center – Dubuque, Iowa
Teams
Augustana, Buena Vista, Central, Coe, Cornell, Dubuque, Huntingdon, Loras, Luther, Millikin, Simpson, University of the Ozarks, Wartburg
Top Ten Ranked Individuals – 2015 All-Americans in bold
125 – #9 Pestano (Central), #10 Olea (Wartburg)
133 – #3 Campo (Wartburg), #7 Scheffert (Luther)
141 – #1 Van Anrooy (Luther), #7 Onoo (Wartburg), #10 Williams (Millikin)
149 – #6 Martin (Wartburg), #8 Gray (Luther)
157 – #4 Wagenhoffer (Wartburg)
165 – #1 Sewera (Coe), #3 Michael (Wartburg)
174 – #1 DeVos (Wartburg), #2 Harrington (Coe)
184 – #8 Kreiter (Luther), #9 Levsen (Wartburg)
197 – #3 Roman (Wartburg), #4 Seabold (Central)
285 – #4 Evans (Wartburg), #6 Buss (Millikin), #9 Herman (Luther)
Top 30 Teams (d3wrestle.com list)
#1 Wartburg
#6 Luther
#11 Coe
#22 Central
In 2015, Wartburg’s hopes of winning a fifth consecutive title were dashed by a surprising performance from rival Augsburg. This year, the Knights appear to be comfortably ahead of the pack and on their way to another national and regional championship. The team has four returning All-Americans and a top ten ranked wrestler in every weight. Luther has five top ten ranked wrestlers of their own including a pair of returning All-Americans in Van Anrooy (2nd at 141) and Herman (8th at 285). #11 Coe is led by returning NCAA Champion Farai Sewera at 165 and returning 4th place finisher Ryan Harrington at 174.
The region features two returning NCAA Champions. Sewera is back to defend his 165 lbs. title and holds the top spot at the weight. Kenny Martin of Wartburg was the champ at 149 lbs. last year, but he is just 6th in the rankings right now after dropping three matches in his half a season of work since his return to the lineup for the second semester. Another pair of wrestlers are ranked #1 in this region. Drew Van Anrooy wrestled a marathon overtime match in the finals a year ago but came up just short. This year he is undefeated in somewhat limited action. He should reach 20 wins this weekend. Eric DeVos of Wartburg is new to the team after stops at Penn and Iowa and has earned the top spot at 174 with wins over Harrington and a few other All-Americans.
Millkin brought their team back for the 2015-2016 season after discontinuing the sport in 2008 and new coach Ryan Birt wasted no time building a competitive squad. They have two ranked individuals including James Buss who was last seen winning the 2014 NCAA heavyweight title for Loras. He returned to the mat in January and has gone 12-0 with a championship at the Pete Willson Invitational. In his last NCAA tournament appearance, Buss stopped Augsburg’s Chad Johnson from winning a third championship. There is another defending 285 champ from Augsburg in the way of a 2nd title for Buss, and we will get to see if he is up to the challenge.