2020 Lower Midwest Region Preview
2020 Lower Midwest Regional
Saturday & Sunday
February 29 – March 1, 2020
Five Flags Center
Live Results
Teams (18): Augustana, Buena Vista, Central, Coe, Cornell, Dubuque, Fontbonne, Huntingdon, Loras, Luther, MacMurray, Millikin, Nebraska Wesleyan, North Central, Simpson, University of the Ozarks, Wartburg, Westminster
Returning 2019 All-Americans: Eron Haynes (Nebraska Wesleyan, 125, 8th), Clint Lembeck (Loras, 141, 3rd), Brady Fritz (Wartburg, 141, 6th), Brandon Murray (Loras, 157, 4th), Bradan Birt (Millikin, 157, 6th), Eddie Smith (Loras, 165, 4th), Kyle Briggs (Wartburg, 174, 3rd), Jacob Krakow (Loras, 174, 8th), Josh Edel (Coe, 184, 8th), Taylor Mehmen (Coe, 197, 5th), Guy Patron (Loras, 197, 6th)
Returning 2019 Qualifiers (current weights listed): Kyner (Wartburg, 125), Haynes (Nebraka Wesleyan, 133), Rumph (Warburg, 133), Lembeck (Loras, 141), Fritz (Wartburg, 141), Sax (Westminster, 149), Murray (Loras, 157), Birt (Millikin, 165), Smith (Loras, 165), Briggs (Wartburg, 174, Krakow (Loras, 174), Baldridge (North Central, 184), Edel (Coe, 184), Patron (Loras, 197), Mehmen (Coe, 197), Lee (Ozarks, 285)
Wartburg and Loras are two of the top three teams in Division III, and they will slug it out for the win with 5th ranked Coe looking to jump into the top two here as well. Loras ended Wartburg’s reign of 27 straight conference titles and 220 straight conference dual wins and also finished ahead of the Knights in the 2019 NCAA Championships. Loras returns five 2019 All-Americans while Wartburg brings back two. Coe also has a pair of All-Americans back from last season. North Central, Luther, and Dubuque round out the ranked teams in the region.
While there are 11 returning 2019 All-Americans, there are no defending champions back in this region, as the region did not have an individual champion in 2019. Erickson (Coe, 157) was an All-American in 2018 who did not place last year. Radcliffe (141) qualified for Central in 2017 but just missed the tournament with 4th place regional finishes in 2018 and 2019. He will look to bookend his career with a trip back to the tournament this weekend.