NCAA Preview: 157

Weight Class Preview: 157
Qualifiers by Weight

Aaron Wernimont has been consistently at or near the top of both rankings all season long. He was eclipsed only by defending 141 champ Quincy Osborn and 2006 champ Joe Pflug, but neither of them will be in this weight class in Cedar Rapids this weekend. The top seed, Wernimont is 36-1 with his sole loss coming to Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State. He won the IIAC, defeating Hanson of Loras, but was hardly dominant in a 4-2 decision, giving up two stalling points in the third period. He is, however a serious favorite considering his 15-8 decision this season over the second seed, Jason Brew of Olivet and a 13-4 major over the #3 seed, Katz of Elmhurst.

Brew has eight losses, but only two are to D3 competition (Wernimont and Pflug). He also has defeated Katz as well as fellow qualifiers Herwig of Del Val and Milz of UW-Lax. Additionally, he was 4th at the Eastern Michigan Open, making the semifinals. He’s tough on his feet and keeps the action moving. Katz has come on strong this season after an up and down career. He’s tough to score on and has good short offense. Last year, he failed to place in the Great Lakes before putting it all together this year to go 33-6 with only 3 D3 losses (Wernimont, Brew, and Milks who he split with). Milks (29-4) is a tough sophomore who qualified last year, winning a match over All-American Spence. He has wins over Hanson, Milz, and Katz and losses to Katz and McCauley.

Further down the seeds are IIAC finalist Hanson of Loras and Metro Champ Hashimoto of NYU. Hanson has 13 losses compared to Hashimoto’s 3, but Hanson has the tougher schedule with 12 matches this year against NCAA qualifiers. Both have defeated Niedrich (Hashimoto 2x), but have very different styles, with Hanson more of a power wrestler who tries to tie his opponents up, while Hashimoto makes more leg attacks.

Lower and unseeded wrestlers who could surprise include the athletic Goldstein, Niedrich who has beaten him twice, and McCauley who has a win over Milks but faded a bit down the stretch.