Midwest Preview 2012

The Case website already has an excellent weight by weight preview up on their site, so this preview will be abbreviated to include the returning qualifiers, ranked wrestlers, and some minor comments.

Midwest Regional – 12 qualifiers

Saturday, February 25, 2012 at Case
Returning Qualifiers/All-Americans:
Crown (Waynesburg, 4th, 125), Brown (Thiel, 8th, 133), Brady (Manchester, 149), Dukes (Case, 3rd, 157), Larson (3rd, 157), Myers (Olivet, 6th, 165), Tyler (Olivet, 174), Rhoads (Wabash, 8th, 184), Fedorka (Waynesburg, 285)

125 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Bidlingmaier (Olivet, 10th), Crown (Waynesburg, Contender)
All-American Crown will have to reverse an earlier loss to Bidlingmaier to make a return trip. He also split with Velez-Lara of Thiel.

133 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Brown (Thiel, 3rd)
Should be a pretty smooth ride for Brown, though he does wrestle a lot of close matches.

141 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Etzel (Washington & Jefferson, HM)
This is not a strong weight. Richmond (Olivet) and Black (Mount St. Joseph) could also contend.

149 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Brady (Manchester, 7th), Strausbaugh (Manchester, 8th), Pederson (Olivet, Contender)
A good weight with wildcard possibilities. Brady and Strausbaugh only had 4 losses each.

157 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Larson (Trine, 3rd), Mena (Olivet, Contender), Dukes (Case, Contender), Johnston (Waynesburg, HM), Fehring (Mount St. Joseph, HM)
Tough weight with some real top level talent. Is Dukes anywhere close to the last two years? Let’s hope so.

165 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Markou (Trine, Contender), Myers (Olivet, HM), Moore (Wabash, HM), DiBenedetto (Washington & Jefferson, HM), Lowry (Thiel, HM)
Deep weight. Myers was an All-American last year but has stumbled a bit in the second half. This will be a competitive weight.

174 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Tyler (Olivet, 6th), Lowry (Thiel, 174)
Tyler qualified last year, and the other Lowry has had a good freshman season. The two have yet to meet. Manning also a factor.

184 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Rhoads (Wabash, 5th), Pieper (Trine, Contender), Crawford (Olivet, HM), Graber (Manchester, HM)
Rhoads is definitely the favorite after placing last year. Pieper lost 7-6 to Rhoads early this year.

197 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Leonard (Olivet, Contender), O’Neal (Wabash, HM)
Another weaker weight. O’Neal was  the runner up last year, but Leonard beat him this year.

285 lbs.
d3wrestle.com Ranked Wrestlers: Renas (Olivet, Contender), Potts (Washington & Jefferson, HM), Fedorka (Waynesburg, HM)
Fedorka won last year, but has split with Potts. Renas has a win over Fank (Wartburg).