2024 NCAA Preview: 149 lbs.
Support d3wrestle.com with a one-time donation
PayPal One Time Gift | Venmo @AndyVogel | give $10 or more to get Jon Gremmel’s guide to the event
Returning 2023 All-Americans in Bold
| Northeast 1 | Nate Fitt | Coast Guard |
| Northeast 2 | Zach Soda | New England |
| Northeast 3 | Colby Frost | Southern Maine |
| Mideast 1 | Michael Conklin | TCNJ |
| Mideast 2 | Mike Glynn | RIT |
| Mideast 3 | Matthew Beyer | Ithaca |
| Southeast 1 | Taylor Smith | Washington & Jefferson |
| Southeast 2 | Evan Lindner | Washington & Lee |
| Southeast 3 | Jesse Alvarado | Averett |
| Central 1 | Michael Petrella | Baldwin Wallace |
| Central 2 | Max Honiss | Albion |
| Central 3 | Daniel Uribe | Wabash |
| Lower Midwest 1 | Eric Kinkaid | Loras |
| Lower Midwest 2 | Charlie Dojan | Wartburg |
| Lower Midwest 3 | Ty Koedam | Coe |
| Upper Midwest 1 | Tyler Goebel | UW-La Crosse |
| Upper Midwest 2 | Zach Sato | UW-Eau Claire |
| Upper Midwest 3 | Charlie Stuhl | Augsburg |
Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace is a two time finalist and returning champion who has just four career losses to go with 100+ wins. He was undefeated last year and this year so far and is a close second in the NCAA Most Dominant Standings. He is 38-0 with 36 bonus point wins. His father Paul was the first ever wrestling national champion for Baldwin Wallace. He is a huge favorite in a weight class that only has two returning 2023 All-Americans. The other is last year’s 8th place finisher Charlie Stuhl of Augsburg. His only DIII losses are to the wrestlers who placed above him at the region, and he has wins over both finalists from the Lower Midwest.
Even though there are just two returning 2023 All-Americans, there is a lot of national experience in the weight. Michael Conklin was a 2022 placewinner here while Zach Sato and Colby Frost qualified in 2022. None of the three qualified last year, but they have returned to the bracket in 2024. Daniel Uribe, Matthew Beyer, and Tyler Goebel were here at 149 last year, and Eric Kinkaid and Nate Fitt both qualified at 141 last season. That makes ten entries at this weight with national tournament experience.
Zach Soda joins his teammate Berdiyorov as transfer qualifiers for New England College. Soda spent two years at Edinboro before returning to his native New England and finishing as a regional runner-up. Another transfer in the mix here is Charlie Dojan of Wartburg. He was 14-2 last season behind national runner-up Javen Estrada. He has a pair of wins over Kinkaid of Loras but lost to him in the regional final. The third place finisher in the Lower Midwest was Ty Koedam of Coe. He has double digit losses and no wins against anyone in the field, but he did earn his spot here by beating Wheaton champ Axel Hernandez of Buena Vista twice at the regional.
Washington & Jefferson freshman Taylor Smith has had an outstanding debut season. His high school results were good but not necessarily predictive of a 43-4 season and a regional championship. He split with Mike Glynn of RIT (losing the last match), and his only other win against a qualifier was the regional final against Even Linder of Washington & Lee. He did, however, win against an eventual DII qualifier in his very first match for the Presidents. Smith joins Koedam as the only freshmen qualifiers at 149. Also worth noting here is Max Honiss of Albion. He went from 16-20 last year to a national qualifier this year.