2016 NCAA Champion – Bobby Dierna, Cortland
Central 1 | Logan Thomsen | Wartburg |
Central 2 | Jimmy Davis | Loras |
Central 3 | Quincy Kalkbrenner | Dubuque |
East 1 | Derek Arnold | Ursinus |
East 2 | Logan Meister | Ferrum |
East 3 | Erik Beshada | Merchant Marine |
Mideast 1 | Rocco Russo | Oswego |
Mideast 2 | Nicholas Racanelli | Wilkes |
Mideast 3 | Dempsey King | RIT |
Midwest 1 | Nick Bova | Wabash |
Midwest 2 | Keone Derain | Elmhurst |
Midwest 3 | Steve Bonsall | Chicago |
Northeast 1 | Bobby Dierna | Cortland |
Northeast 2 | Zach Joseph | Springfield |
Northeast 3 | Ty Herzog | Roger Williams |
West 1 | Cole Sladek | Concordia-Moorhead |
West 2 | Mark Choinski | Oshkosh |
West 3 | Grant Parker | Augsburg |
Four All-Americans return at this weight including the defending champion Bobby Dierna of Cortland. Dierna has now placed 3rd, 2nd, and 1st in his career as he looks for a second title. He is 17-0 after beginning wrestling in January this year, and he has scored bonus points in every match he has wrestled. The second and third seeds have had similar excellent seasons with the difference being a 5-3 win for Logan Thomsen of Wartburg over Nick Bova of Wabash back in November. Bova was 8th here last year, while 2016-2017 is Thomsen’s first shot at the starting lineup. Grant Parker of Augsburg defeated Bova in the 7th place match last year, but he comes in unseeded and will have to start off with a preliminary match on Friday.
Derek Arnold is a former All-American at a lower weight. In 2015, he was the #2 seed and finished in 4th place at 149. Last year, he was the top seed at 149 and was theĀ one of two #1 seeds who failed to place. He is the 4th seed this year and will take on returning All-American Parker in his first match. Arnold defeated 2016 6th place finisher Logan Meister of Ferrum in the East Regional finals. Meister was the first NCAA qualifier for his school in 2014 and the first All-American last year. He will be working to also become the first two time All-American for his school.