NEWA Preview
Final NEWA Individual Rankings – February 17, 2011
New England Wrestling Association Championships – 14 qualifiers
Saturday and Sunday, February 26th and 27th, 2011 at Trinity
Returning Qualifiers/AA: Grippi (Springfield, 133, now 141), Paulish (Williams, 149, AA in ’09), Sutherland (Rhode Island, 149), Lenhardt (JWU, 174), Ward (JWU, 2nd, 184), Malo (Williams, 2nd, 197)
Wesleyan came through a topsy-turvy New England conference and landed in the top spot in the final Coaches Poll of the year. However, Springfield is the highest ranked team at #25, a few spots above #29 for Wesleyan. No other NEWA team made the final top 30, and there should be good competition for the team title at their two day championship. In the annual NEWA dual meet tournament, Wesleyan met Plymouth State in the finals, but the best team in New England is far from a settled question. Focusing on individuals, just three individuals in the tournament have been All-Americans previously. Two of them come from Williams, where Paulish was 4th in 2009, and Malo has been a runner-up each of the past two years. Ward of Johnson & Wales is the other All-American, and he was a surprise finalist last year. It should be an exciting tournament, and the unique wrestle back system employed adds a bit of drama to the proceedings. The team title may be decided by who can get the most placewinners 2-6 rather than who has the most NCAA qualifiers.
125
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Gauthier (RIC, Contender), Francis (Bridgewater, HM), Alvanos (Wesleyan, HM), Mattana (Williams, HM)
There’s no returning qualifier here, but there is clearly a sizable group of wrestler with a chance to win and attempt to get on a roll at the national tournament. Gauthier has earned the top spot with recent wins over the other contenders, and he had most of his losses early in the year. Francis started out very strong, but he has lost twice to conference foes in the last month. Mattana has lost twice to Alvanos but beaten Francis. It is going to be tough to predict this weight, and that does not even include the fact that Thomas of Springfield has wins over Mattana and Gauthier, or the fact that Huber of Plymouth State is talented and spent some time in the rankings last season. The hot wrestler is going to take this one, and 2nd place may end up left at home.
133
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Giron (Springfield, HM), Tanabe (Williams, HM)
Here is another weight class where it is not entirely clear who the favorite will be. Giron is ranked first by the coaches, but he has been defeated the fifth ranked Gerry of Coast Guard. Drappi of Rhode Island is #2, but he has lost twice to Cole of Southern Maine. Tanabe has lost to Nagata but beaten Cole. None of these wrestlers will be seeded at the NCAA tournament or given much of a chance to place, and like 125, it seems like the wrestler who has the best two days will take this, as any of six wrestlers have a realistic chance to come out on top.
141
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Antista (Williams, Contender), Goewey (USM, HM), Trasso (RIC, HM), Grippi (Springfield, HM)
Trasso and Goewey have each handed the other his most recent loss, but Antista and his 20-2 record is the leader here. Trasso is not far behind at 29-3, and he has more wins against the field so far. Those two have yet to meet, so their first encounter this season could be pretty important. Grippi is easy to overlook with his losses to both Trasso and Goewey, but he was an NCAA qualifier one weight below this last year and has just 3 losses. The NEWA Coaches rankings have Chatham listed for Springfield, but Grippi wrestled in the Pride’s last two duals, so it is hard to know what to make of this.
149
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Sutherland (RIC, Contender), Tobochnick (Wesleyan, HM)
Sutherland has just one loss this year, and it was to the defending NCAA runner-up Valek, so he gets the nod here and the pole position to earn another tip to the NcAA tournament. Paulish of Williams has been an All-American and multiple time qualifier, though he has lost to Tobochnick recently. His losses to some other non-ranked wrestlers have pushed him out of the d3wrestle.com list. Webster of JWU is 2nd in the NEWA poll, though he seems to have earned that spot primarily by beating Tobochnick. Tobochnick, for his part, has won 14 matches in a row against almost exclusively New England competition. Other contenders include McGilvray of Springfield and Oliverio of Plymouth State.
157
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Willey (Plymouth State, HM)
This is not a great weight class for the NEWA in terms of national significance, but it should be competitive. Willey is ranked #1 and the only wrestler in the d3wrestle.com Rankings. He is 18-1 but has hardly wrestled anyone outside of his own conference, making it tough for him to get noticed nationally. He has beaten all his top competitors for this weekend, however. This weight is a good example of how it can be tough to evaluate NEWA wrestlers for national ranking consideration because many of them do not wrestle much outside of the 13 team conference. Snyder of Coast Guard is the second best guy here with 29 wins. There are six wrestlers over 20 wins, along with Willey’s 18, so some good matches could be in store.
165
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Archambeau (Springfield, Contender)
Archambeau is the class of the weight here, hovering just outside the national top ten and winning the title at Messiah Petrofes. He is undfeated in New England, but it is worth noting that he defaulted in his last match on January 30th and has not competed since. Raymond of Bridgewater State is ranked 2nd in New England, though he does have two losses to Monson of Roger Williams. He does have some decent out of region wins against the likes of Dennis (W&L) and Marich (Wilkes). Monson has those two wins over Raymond but has lost to four other NEWA wrestler this season. If Archambeau answers the bell this weekend, he should be your champ.
174
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Bates (Bridgewater, Contender), Lenhardt (JWU, HM), Carter (Plymouth State, HM)
Bates was 2nd here last year but the coaches skipped him in favor of Lenhardt, but he has earned the #1 spot here and hopes to win the automatic bid and prevent the wildcard meetin from going against him two years in a row. He has not lost to anyone in New England and beat Lenhardt (again) in their only meeting this year. Carter also is in the discussion here as a result of his win over Lenhardt, but Parcel of Roger Williams has earned the #2 spot in the coaches rankings with wins over both Carter and Lenhardt to go along with his two losses to Bates. Since Lenhardt was a qualifier last year but is not favored to win, there is a chance that a wildcard could come out of this weight class.
184
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Ward (JWU, 6th)
We waited until 184, but here is the first of three NEWA wrestlers ranked in the top ten. ward was a surprise finalist after using a series of big moves to stun the #1 and #4 seeds with falls before falling to Moenkedick in a match where he very nearly pulled the same trick for a third match in a row. He is 26-2, losing once up at 197 and once to former All-American Baxter of St. John’s. He has been dominant in conference, putting up a lot of bonus point wins against the same wrestlers looking to dethrone him this weekend. He has not yet seen the #2 guy here in Ernst of Roger Williams. Lomio of Williams and Ajayi of Wesleyan are other potential placewinners at this weight.
197
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Malo (Williams, 2nd), Frazer (Bridgewater, HM)
Here is the top wrestler in New England in Malo. A two time NCAA runner-up, he will have to deal with each of the two wrestlers that beat him in the finals in La Crosse. If he is focused, he should have little trouble getting to the top of the NEWA podium again, even considering his loss to Frazer of Bridgewater State, a result that should not be expected to repeat itself. He has not been pinning at nearly the same rate as last season, but he keeps winning and lost in overtime to defending NCAA champ Tate. Spencer of Southern Maine and Mulligan of Johnson and Wales will join Frazer in trying to take Malo out, but Malo will get a wildcard even if that somehow happens.
285
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers – Cambi (RWU, 10th), Fusco (Springfield, HM), Vaughan (Trinity, HM), Conroy (Wesleyan, HM)
Cambi decided to get big over the offseason and make the move from 197 to 285, a choice that has paid off with a national ranking and status as the favorite in New England. He lost to a bumped up Malo and Etown’s Katzaman for his only DIII losses and has knocked off each of the top contenders save for Fusco, who he has not faced. Fusco has some good wins but has lost to Gagnon of Plymouth State and Foote of Williams. Vaughan is near the 285 limit, and all four of his losses are to conference foes. Conroy has won some and lost some in the conference. The only thing that is sure is that Cambi is the favorite, but places 2-6 are up for grabs.