
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 | Sampson Wilkins | Castleton |
Northeast 2 | Trent Furman | NYU |
Northeast 3 | Ryan DeVivo | Johnson & Wales |
Mideast 1 | Sean Malenfant | Alfred State |
Mideast 2 | Jack Ryan | Oneonta |
Mideast 3 | Max Borton | Ursinus |
Southeast 1 | George Moseley | Averett |
Southeast 2 | Joel Martsinovsky | Stevens |
Southeast 3 | Ryder Slayton | Messiah |
Central 1 | Charles Baczek | Wabash |
Central 2 | Gavin Layman | Ohio Northern |
Central 3 | Dylan Wellbaum | Adrian |
Lower Midwest 1 | Kasey Ross | Wartburg |
Lower Midwest 2 | Cael McLaren | Cornell |
Lower Midwest 3 | Cole Cervantes | North Central |
Upper Midwest 1 | Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann | Augsburg |
Upper Midwest 2 | Marcus Orlandoni | UW-La Crosse |
Upper Midwest 3 | Niall Schoenfelder | UW-Eau Claire |
Just two 2023 All-Americans return at this weight in 4th place finisher Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann and 7th placer Charles Baczek. Schwanebeck-Ostermann has not been seriously challenged by a DIII opponent this year and holds onto his #1 ranking heading into the tournament. Baczek is undefeated and has had a similarly smooth ride through the season so far. Outside of those two, ranking this weight has been a challenge all year as wrestlers take turns picking up big wins. The #3 ranked wrestler in the February 22 rankings, Sampson Wilkins of Castleton, did beat Baczek in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament.
Wilkins won the Northeast region to return to the tournament for the second time. He has just two losses this year, one of which he turned around by beating JWU’s DeVivo in the regional semifinals. He has wins over a full third of the entries at this weight. Cael McLaren, one of the six, has had a great back half of the season, picking up a somewhat unexpected Wheaton title and beating a few wrestlers he had lost to earlier on the way to a regional runner-up finish. The winner of that region, Kasey Ross of Wartburg, lost to Baczek and Schwanebeck-Ostermann but has beaten every other DIII opponent so far.
Trent Furman of NYU was a 2022 NCAA qualifier way down at 157 lbs. and now is back in the tournament three weight classes up. He even wrestled 157 just last year. Sean Malenfant of Alfred State pinned Furman this year and joins teammate Zach Levey (133) as the first ever NCAA DIII qualifiers for his team. Dylan Wellbaum of Adrian and Gavin Layman of Ohio Northern are returning to the tournament this season, though Wellbaum had qualified each of the past two years up at 197.
Malenfant beat Jack Ryan of Oneonta in the regional finals as Ryan makes a second trip to the championships. His only other loss this season is to Wilkins. The Southeast region was a slugfest with winner George Mosely coming in as the third seed. He was a 2020 NCAA qualifier and 2021 NWCA placewiner. Joel Martsinovsky brings his oft-misspelled name to the tournament for the first time as a senior. This year was the first time he ever even wrestled in the regional tournament. Third in the region is Ryder Slayton of Messiah who had to avenge a loss from earlier in the same tournament to earn his slot here.