2014 East Regional Preview

2014 NCAA East Regional Wrestling Promo

2014 East Regional
Sunday, March 2, 2014
King’s College – Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – Event Website

d3wrestle.com Latest Rankings

2013 Results Team | Brackets

Teams
Centenary, Delaware Valley, Ferrum, Gettysburg, Hunter, Johns Hopkins, King’s, McDaniel, Merchant Marine Academy, Mount Saint Vincent, Muhlenberg, New York University, Scranton, Stevens Institute of Technology, The College of New Jersey, Ursinus, Washington & Lee, Wilkes, Yeshiva

Top Ten Ranked Individuals – 2013 All-Americans in bold
125 – #1 Bewak (JHU),#2 Donaldson (Ursinus)
133 – #5 O’Boyle (McDaniel)
141 – #2 Jones (NYU)
149 – #3 Hartenstine (Wilkes), #8 Polizzi (Stevens)
157 – none ranked, Krawchuk (Wilkes), Ajagbe (Delaware Valley)
165 – #1 Burdge (Centenary), #6 Desir (King’s)
174 – #6 Zotollo (TCNJ)
184 – #4 Broderick (TCNJ)
197 – #6 Karns (Delaware Valley)
285 – #8 Roseberry (Delaware Valley)

Top 30 Teams
#17 Wilkes and Delaware Valley (tie)
#22 Centenary and TCNJ (tie)
#24 Ursinus

In 2013, the East Region was one of the toughest of the six in terms of both the difficulty of qualifying for the NCAA Championships and the region’s performance at the Championships itself. There has been a bit of a drop off this season, but there is at least a top ten wrestler at every weight but one. Wilkes and Delaware Valley head the team rankings here, but Ursinus is very balanced and expects to score well at all ten weights.

The top individual at this region is probably #1 ranked Chris Burdge of Centenary at 165. He is a 3x All-American who was upset in last year’s NCAA semifinal but bounced back to finish 3rd at 157. He is undefeated this year, but is just 13-0 thanks to missing some time in the middle of the season. He should be challenged by #6 ranked Desir of King’s, as well as Mancella of TCNJ and the talented but relatively untested Carlo of Ursinus. The other top ranked individual here is 2012 All-American Paul Bewak of Johns Hopkins at 125. He has a win in his only matchup this season with #2 Donaldson of Ursinus who defeated Bewak for the first time ever in last year’s Regional semifinal. Donaldson did lose this past weekend to Mui of Merchant Marine in the Centennial final, so that’s another name to watch for in what is becoming an interesting weight class.

Another top ten wrestler to lose since the rankings came out is Polizzi of Stevens. Derek Arnold of Ursinus continued his great freshman season with a dominating win in the Centennial finals at 149 to put himself firmly in the NCAA conversation. With #3 Hartenstine of Wilkes in the mix along with Delaware Valley’s Fava just outside the top ten, 149 will leave a very good wrestler at home after Sunday’s tournament.