Midwest Regional Preview

Midwest Regional – 11 qualifiers
Saturday, February 25th, 2011 at Wabash
Returning Qualifiers/AA: Brown (Thiel, 8th, 133), Garber (Waynesburg, 7th, 133, now 141), Strausbaugh (Wabash, 141, now 149), Tucker (Olivet, 141), Dukes (Case, 1st, 149)

With Delaware Valley taking its team title (and five allocated qualifiers) from the Midwest to the Metro, that leaves just one wildcard in play. Olivet is the team best poised to benefit from Delaware Valley’s departure, as the 9th ranked Comets are having a good season. Wabash is ranked 16th and has a pair of strong individuals in Strausbaugh and Rhoads while #27 Waynesburg is led by All-American Garber. The top wrestler in the tournament is defending NCAA champ Isaac Dukes of Case. He has held down the #1 ranking all year at 149 and was a Midlands placewinner.

125
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Crown (Waynesburg, Contender)
Crown is a heavy favorite here and has spent some time in the national top ten. He is 28-2 with his only DIII loss coming in his first competition of the year. He has yet to wrestle anyone ranked above him, but he has defeated pretty much everyone else. The next two best guys are probably Wilson from Olivet and Boyer from Wabash, but there is only one wildcard in this conference, and it is not coming from here.

133
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Brown (Thiel, 8th), Richmond (Olivet, Contender)
Brown is a two time All-American who has been able to save his best performances for the NCAA tournament. He has had a better record this year, only losing to Colagiovanni of Cortland in DIII. Like Crown at 125, he has not seen a lot of the top competition at this weight, but he has beaten pretty much whoever is in front of him and he also has the track record to back up his ranking. Richmond was a Wheaton placewinner, while Borz from Waynesburg was a January addition for the Yello Jackets and has taken half of his four losses to Brown.

141
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Tucker (Olivet, Contender), Garber (Waynesburg, HM)
Tucker was a qualifier last year and is a talented, if sometimes inconsisten wrestler. He has some good wins this year and some close losses. This might be the year he puts it all together on the right weekend and finds his place on the podium. Garber was an All-American at 133 last year and a qualifier the year before, and he has had an up and down year. He started off with some nice wins in season’s first few weeks, but he also has lost a few unexpectedly from time to time. One of those losses was to Etzel of Washington & Jefferson. Etzel has only wrestled five matches this year, but he is 5-0 and should be considered a possible entry at this weight. Payne of Wabash is a 20 match winner, but is probably a step behind the top two here.

149
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Dukes (Case, 1st), Strausbaugh (Wabash, 10th), Brady (Manchester, Contender), Lohr (Waynesburg, HM)
It is fitting that one of the stronger weights in the Region features the top wrestler in the region in Dukes. He is a tremendous athlete whose biggest win came against a top ten ranked DI wrestler in the opening round of the Midlands. He has majored Strausbaugh in both of their meetings thus far, showing the separation between him and the rest of the field. Strausbaugh has wrestled 50 matches already this year, and his best win is against three time All-American Mauseth of La Crosse. He has, however gone 2-1 against Brady this year, with Brady winning the last matchup at Wheaton. Lohr of Waynesburg has had very good freshman year, losing just three times all season, though he has not run into any of the top contenders here. Berger of W&J could also be in the mix to place in a weight class that has as good a chance as any to get the Midwest wildcard.

157
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Larson (Trine, 7th), Mena (Olivet, Contender), Fehring (Mount St. Joseph, Contender)
After a rough postseason last year that saw his freshman year end in a disqualification, Larson has grown into a very tough 157. He won the Wheaton tournament, beating a DII All-American along the way. He had a slight hiccup, however, in his last match against Olivet where Mena defeated him 4-0. Mena is 13-3, but Larson is the only notable victory to his credit, so it is hard to know what to make of that match. We will get the chance to find out this weekend, though. Fehring has 31 wins and has defeated several other d3wrestle.com ranked wrestlers, but lost 5-0 to Larson. Others to consider here are Youngs from Wabash and Miller from Thiel, and Johnston from Waynesburg.

165
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Myers (Olivet, 7th), Lowry (Thiel, Contender), Moore (Wabash)
This is another weight with some depth to it. Myers is the top guy, and has gone 22-4 this year, moving up to 165 for good in late December and taking second at Wheaton ahead of the ranked Curley of Heidelberg and Ferguson of La Crosse. He has also defeated Moore. Lowry is a good #2 here with wins over DiBenedetto of W&J, Lombardo of Waynesburg, and Pieper of Trine. DiBenedetto defeated the defending NCAA champ Renaut in a match in November but is just 18-13 on the year and has lost three in a row to guys who will be in this weight class.

174
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Markou (Trine, Contender), Tyler (Olivet, HM)
Markou has split with Tyler this year, but he has also beaten the defending NCAA champ Schmitz at Wheaton. He also has three losses to current #1 at this weight Kwiat of Ohio Northern. He is 32-8 so far and may have the rubber match with Tyler this weekend. Tyler has been inconsistent so far, splitting with Markou, losing to Graber of Manchester, but also defeating #5 ranked Pfarr of St. John’s. It seems like Tyler could win this weight class if he has a good day. Graber has not wrestled since his win over Tyler, so he is a maybe for this weekend. Roberts of Waynesburg is 21-7 and Stanley of Wabash is 21-14 to round out the weight.

184
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Rhoads (Wabash, 8th), Neal (Olivet, HM), Karwoski (Mount St. Joseph, HM)
Rhoads has put together a nice year capped off by a title at Wheaton. He is 35-14 so far. Neal also has some good wins, including one over Hagen of St. John’s who recently defeated Rhoads. Also in the HM list is Karwoski of Mount St. Joseph. His big win so far was an upset over Wheaton runner-up Marble. Marble has beaten Rhoads once but lost three times. Alber of Trine is probably the fourth guy here who will figure in the placement rounds, but with a 19-18 record, he is not a serious threat to win.

197
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Fleet (Trine, HM), Mies (Washington & Jefferson, HM), Leonard (Olivet, HM)
Fleet has to be the favorite here after two recent major decision wins over Leonard. He does, however, have an identical 26-13 record to Leonard. Fleet is experienced and has been close to qualifying before, so this could be his year. Mies is an engima. He finished December with a 5-7 record, but he has gone 10-0 since then to get consideration at this weight. He has not run into Fleet or Leonard yet, though. Jameson at 21-14 could also be a placewinner at this weight.

285
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Renas (Olivet, Contender), Forbes (Trine, Contender), Fedorka (Waynesburg, HM)
These last two weights in the Midwest do not have much in the way of national level wrestlers, but there should be some good competition to see who earns the automatic bid. Renas is one of the top guys here along with Forbes, but they have yet to see each other. Renas beat King of Manchester, but that is the only contender he has seen this year. He also has a good win over Zarate of Whitewater. Forbes is the leader in wins with 26, but he has lost to Zarate and not really won any matches to suggest he is an All-American candidate. Fedorka is 15-4 with his best win coming against Christopher of Gettysburg. King of Manchester and Harter of Case both have over 20 wins, while Clegg is 18-10 and has split with King.