2010 Weight Class Preview: 133

Qualifiers at 133
Returning qualifiers in italics, All-Americans in bold, any year:
Mogi Baatar (St. John’s)
Paul Bjorkstrand (Augsburg)
Corey Brown (Thiel)
Tom D’Alessandro (Heidelberg)
Nathan Fitzenreider (North Central)
Nick Garber (Waynesburg)
Joe Grippi (Springfield)
Dan Herr (TCNJ)
Drew Hinschberger (Coe)
Will Livingston (Centenary)
Paul Marcello (Johns Hopkins)
Nick Nothern (Cornell)
Aljamain Sterling (Cortland)
Sean White (Wartburg)
Chad Winowich (Ithaca)
Bebeto Yewah (UW-La Crosse)

One has to go all the way down to #5 in the latest d3wrestle.com rankings to find a wrestler who was in this tournament last year, and the top returning placewinner is ranked 8th.  Nick Nothern of Cornell made it to the finals a year ago, but has suffered losses to three qualifiers and three other wrestlers who did not qualify.  He was 2nd in the IIAC and will still be a threat to place very highly.  Neither of the top two contenders for the title was at the tournament last year, as Bebeto Yewah of La Crosse did not qualify and Nathan Fitzenreider wrestled early in the year but missed the second half.  Yewah is undefeated against Division III competition and has wins over several other highly ranked wrestlers.  Fitzenreider has a single DIII loss to White back in November, but he has been on a roll since then, winning the North Central tournament, Wheaton Invitational, CCIW, and Great Lakes Region.  Paul Bjorkstrand, the runner up in that region, has been biding his time at Augsburg, and he has made the most of his opportunity this year by beating everyone except the two guys previously mentioned.  Sean White of Wartburg is another longtime reserve hoping to make his one shot count big.

Mogi Baatar of St. John’s was an All-American in 2008 before a broken hand seriously limited him at last year’s tournament.  Chad Winowich of Ithaca beat the wounded Baatar to earn his spot on the podium, and he returns as the Empire champ for a strong Ithaca team.  Corey Brown of Thiel is the last remaining All-American back at this weight, though he has spent much of this season at 141 and only wrestled two events at 133 where he split a pair of matches with Nick Garber of Waynesburg, another guy who spent most of the year at 141 before making a late drop.  A possible sleeper to watch is Centenary’s Will Livingston.  This wrestling nomad has spent time on the mat for both Virginia Tech and Ohio State before settling at Centenary this year.  He has only wrestled five times this year, but he won the Metro pretty convincingly and might be a bad first round draw for one of the seeds.

Seeds
1. Yewah
2. Fitzenreider
3. Bjorkstrand
4. White
5. Winowich
6. Baatar
7. Nothern
8. Grippi