NCAA Preview: 149

Weight Class Previews:
125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

Weight Class Preview: 149
Qualifiers by Weight

Naig has been a consistent top performer this year, losing only to D1 wrestlers and placing 2nd in the always tough Harold Nichols Open to start the year. He kept rolling from there, racking up an impressive number of falls on his way to and IIAC title. He has beaten Cook, Quist, Adams, Harrington, Kastel, Mauseth, and Smith. Cook closed the gap slightly in the IIAC finals, riding Naig out in the 3rd period, but he did not come close to turning Naig. The 2006 finalist is looking for his first title in 2008.

He’ll have his hands full, however, should he meet Holst in the final. Holst is having nearly the same type of year as Naig with a list of impressive wins including a 16-2 convincing win over Kastel in the regional final. He is also undefeated in D3 and has won a lot of matches by lopsided scores. He waited his turn at Augsburg last year, and this year he’s making it count. At #3 is the dangerous 2x All-American Spence who has big move potential at any time and he has also yet to be defeated in D3 with wins over Kastel, Harrington, and Mizer. Something has to give at this weight, as #4 LeBlanc also has yet to fall to a D3 opponent, though he has wrestled a lot of close matches this year and has yet to face another seeded wrestler at this weight. LeBlanc was 4th in 2006 before failing to place last year. He should get the job done here.

Moving on, Kastel and Harrington are at 5 and 6. Kastel has lost to the top three here but not to anyone else. He flows from one move to the next very well and puts points on the board. Harrington stays in solid position and just plain wins. Cammisa is a reach seed at #7, considering he is not a returning All-American and has not wrestled any of the other competitors at this weight. 23 of his 25 matches are against wrestlers from his conference, though he did miss some time with an injury. He’s tough on top, but untested.

The draw matters big for the unseeded wrestlers, and of them, Shank and Woszczak are set up fairly well in a tough weight.