2022 Mideast Region Preview

Saturday & Sunday, February 26 & 27
Elizabethtown College

Teams (20): Alfred State, Brockport, Centenary, Cortland, Elizabethtown, Elmira, Ithaca, Johns Hopkins, Keystone, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, New Jersey City, Oneonta, Oswego, Penn College, Pitt-Bradford, RIT, Scranton, TCNJ, Ursinus

NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
17. RIT
25. Johns Hopkins

Top Ten Ranked Wrestlers – February 4th Ranking
125: #10 Griffin (Ithaca)
133:
141:
149:
157: #1 Winters (RIT)
165: #3 Reyes (Johns Hopkins)
174: #7 Grygas (Oswego), #8 Henry (Cortland)
184: #6 Chukwuezi (Ithaca)
197: #9 Wallace (Ithaca)
285:

RIT and Johns Hopkins are the top two teams in the tournament rankings, but that is largely on the strength of a single individual for each squad. The College of New Jersey and Ithaca will each factor heavily in the final standings along with Cortland.

Kaidon Winters of RIT has been the top ranked wrestler at 157 most of the season and remains undefeated in Division III. He has scored bonus points in every DIII match but one and leads the nation in the Most Dominant standings. He should still be leading those standings as we head to the national tournament next month.

#3 Dominick Reyes is undefeated at 165, just like the #1 and #2 wrestlers at this weight. He is a two-time NCAA qualifier with a win over the 4th ranked wrestler at this weight. Johns Hopkins has moved to the Mideast Region this year, so he will not defend his Southeast title from 2020, but he will have a shot at a second regional championship.

Ithaca has three ranked wrestlers in Matthew Griffin at 125, Chibueze Chukwuezi at 184, and Jordan Wallace at 197. Chukwuezi and Wallace are both undefeated so far, though Wallace is just 11-0 after beginning his season in January. Chukwuezi was also a 2020 NCAA qualifier.