WIAC Preview
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference – 18 qualifiers
Sunday, February 27th, 2011 at UW-Platteville
Returning Qualifiers/AA: Lloyd McKinney (Lax, 125), Mileski (SP, 125), Mueller (Oshkosh, 125, now 133), Yewah (Lax, 1st, 133, now 141), Mauseth (Lax, 3rd, 149), Schulte (SP, 165), Ferguson (Lax, 8th, 165), Schmitz (Lax, 1st, 174), S. Engelland (Oshkosh, 174, now 184), B. Engelland (SP, 4th, 184), Latella (Whitewater, 197)
La Crosse ran away with the regular season again and, like Wartburg, never surrendered double digits in team points to a conference opponent. Of the nine returning qualifiers in the conference, five are from La Crosse, and three of them, Yewah, Mauseth, and Schmitz, have been NCAA champions. With a host of other nationally ranked wrestlers, the Eagles are thinking they have a chance to win more than just the WIAC and make a run at the national championship that they narrowly missed last season. Whitewater and Stevens Point seem best poised to go after that second spot in the team standings. Whitewater had a much better team in the second semester than the first, and Stevens Point is their typically strong self led by All-American Ben Engelland. Oshkosh has some wrestlers who will challenge for the conference title in Sam Engelland and freshman phenom Kulchytskyy.
125
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – McKinney (Lax, 3rd), Mileski (SP, Contender), DeLuca (Oshkosh, HM), Drees (Platteville, HM)
McKinney is the lone returning qualifier at this weight, and he has had a good season, working his way into the #3 spot in the latest rankings. He has not wrestled the other contenders at this weight this season except DeLuca, but he earned the top spot via some big wins, including two over last year’s 4th place finisher Roberts of Augsburg. Mileski was one of three WIAC qualifiers at this weight last year, but he has not wrestled since January, so he may be out. If he wrestles, he is probably the #2 seed. Drees is approaching 30 wins in a nice freshman year, and DeLuca has had the chance to get in the lineup with last year’s qualifier for Oshkosh (Mueller) moving up to 133.
133
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Sheley (Lax, 6th), Fredericksen (WW, 7th), Fish (Platteville, Contender), Mueller (Oshkosh, Contender), Kust (SP, Contender)
Another strong weight in a strong conference. Sheley has stepped in at 133 after Yewah moved up and gone 23-3 with a single DIII loss. He had won over all the WIAC contenders and an impressive number of other wrestlers appearing in the d3wrestle.com rankings including all three of the IIAC’s top wrestlers. Right behind him, though, is Fredericksen. He started wrestling in January and has put together a 20-2 record, only losing to Sheley in Division III. Fish, Kust, and Mueller have traded wins back and forth this year, and this is a weight where the WIAC will surely take two and may end up taking three, depending on how the tournament goes.
141
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Yewah (Lax, 1st)
The WIAC may be able to take three at 133 since they will likely take just one here. Yewah is head and shoulders above the rest, having gone undefeated in Division III. He may be the only entry at this weight with more than 15 wins unless one of the 133 wrestlers moves up. He has earned that #1 ranking by virtue of his record and wins over several returning All-Americans like Kelly of Wartburg and Ulrich of Delaware Valley. The next best guys at this weight will likely be Peterson of Platteville and Sweeney of Stevens Point, but they are pretty far behind the returning champ.
149
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Kulchytskyy (Oshkosh, 5th), Mauseth (7th), Magruder (SP, Contender), Sarbacker (Whitewater, Contender)
Mauseth is a three time All-American and former champ, but the freshman Kulchytskyy has to be the favorite after defeating in their dual. Kulchytskyy got a late start this year after recovering from offseason knee surgery, but has had some good wins to keep him high in the rankings. One thing to watch for is the fact that he has defaulted out of the last two tournaments after winning his first few matches. If his knee can hold up, he is a threat, but it seems like that may be an open question. Mauseth has proven he can win in the postseason, though he occasionally is prone to regular season lapses. At this tough of a weight, he will have to be on his game. Magruder is a clear #3 here with a chance to slip through to the NCAA championships, and Sarbacker is a good wrestler in a tough weight.
157
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Farwell (Lax, HM), Schmidt (WW, HM)
This is a weight without much in the way of national contenders, and perhaps someone like Magruder would consider a move up. If not, Farwell and Schmidt are the top two guys here, thought they are both properly rated in the Honorable Mention category. It is a pretty good weight nationally, and the group at 157 in the WIAC has not shown that they have a great chance to place, but anything can happen once you are in the tournament. That said, only one guy at this weight should move on, and Farwell and Schmidt have yet to see each other this season to make it easier to pick a favorite.
165
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Ferguson (Lax, 9th), Schulte (SP, Contender)
The top two guys at this weight were two of the representatives from this conference at the NCAA Championships last season. Both have had good, if short seasons, as Schulte is tied for the conference lead in wins at this weight with 16. Ferguson was an All-American last year, and he holds a head to head win over Schulte this season. Schulte was two matches from placing last year and he started very strong before trading wins and losses in equal proportion the rest of the way. One of those losses was to Kesselhon of Whitewater, a wrestler with no other wins on his resume to suggest that result should have happened. It did, and could make for an interesting seeding meeting. Other wrestlers with winning records here are Konitzer of Oshkosh and Hutterer of Platteville.
174
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Schmitz (Lax, 2nd)
This is another weight with an overwhelming favorite from La Crosse. Like 141, 174 only has a single ranked wrestler, but he is a returning NCAA champ. Schmitz had a puzzling loss to Markou of Trine at Wheaton, but he bounced back to beat All-American Molitor of Augsburg for the second time this year to re-solidify his #2 ranking. Conat of Stevens Point and Dickerson of Whitewater will be shooting to either upset Schmitz or snag a wildcard spot. Conat beat Dickerson 8-1 in their only match this year.
184
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – B. Engelland (SP, 2nd), S. Engelland (Oshkosh, Contender), Artist (Lax, Contender)
Ben Engelland has earned his #2 ranking by losing only to defending champ Moenkedick, and he will be looking for yet another WIAC title. He is a two time All-American, and should be the #2 seed at this weight at the NCAA tournament should he win the conference championship. His top competition will come, interestingly, from his younger brother Sam Engelland who wrestles for Oshkosh. Sam was at 174 last year, but moves up this season. He is second here ahead of Artist of La Crosse who he beat. Both Engellands have a good chance to move on at this weight, and it will be interesting to see if they wrestle, should they both make the finals.
197
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Latella (WW, 9th), Scott (Platteville, Contender)
Latella was an NCAA qualifier at this weight last year and will be the favorite going into this Sunday’s tournament. He had a curious loss to Yeo of McDaniel early in January, but he has come back strong from that and only lost in DIII to the #5 ranked Myhrberg of Cortland. d3wrestle.com had Jochem of Stevens Point in the Contender list, but it seems like Gregory is actually the starter for the Pointers, and Latella recently defeated him in a dual. Platteville’s Scott is another contender at this weight who started the year at 184 but moved up to 197 in January and has yet to lose since the first of the year. He has not wrestled either Gregory or Latella, however.
285
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Mayer (Lax, 6th), Zarate (WW, Contender), Wozniak (SP, Contender)
Three time champ Dan Laurent may be gone, but La Crosse still has the top ranked heavyweight in the WIAC. Mayer is ranked 6th in the country and has beated Zarate and Wozniak. He may be able to take advantage of a weight that has significantly cleared out since last year and become an All-American for the first time. Zarate beat Wozniak a few weeks ago and will be #2 here.