141 Preview

2008 Champion: Michael Bonora, Rhode Island
Returning All-Americans: Austin Bautista, UW-Whitewater

This weight class cleared out considerably from last season, as 7 of the 8 All-Americans either graduated or changed weights.  That leaves 7th place finisher and wall to wall #1 ranked Austin Bautista as the top seed an favored to win.  He’s earned the spot with a 36-1 record and two wins over McKray this year.  McKray was highly ranked for much of last season before losing his spot to Matt Kelly late in the season.  With Kelly down to 133, McKray is back at 141 and poised to make a run deep into the tournament.  His only DIII losses are those two to Bautista, and he is fresh off an IIAC championship.

It looks like a step down from the top two to the rest of the field, and seeds 3-8 are all very close.  Baum is a two time qualifier coming of a strong conference tournament, while Batsukh is another qualifier fresh off a regional championship.  Beshada won the Centennial again and hasn’t lost in DIII since November.  DeCleene, Valek, and Smith are right behind that group, and even unseeded wrestlers like Paxos, Garber, and Loy cannot be overlooked.

Even though there are not a lot of returning All-Americans, five of the competitors were in this weight last year and Batsukh qualified in 2007.  It should be a competitve weight with a whole group of wrestlers looking to knock off one of the top two seeds and prevent a third meeting between Bautista and McKray.

Seeds
1. Bautista, UW-Whitewater
2. Zach McKray, Wartburg
3. Luke Baum, RIT
4. Minga Batsukh, St. John’s
5. James Beshada, USMMA
6. Chase DeCleene, UW-Stevens Point
7. Tony Valek, Augsburg
8. Derrick Smith, Oswego