2014 Central Regional Preview

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2014 Central Regional
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Five Flags Center – Dubuque, Iowa

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2013 Results Team | Brackets

Teams
Augustana, Buena Vista, Central, Coe, Cornell, Dubuque, Knox, Loras, Luther, Simpson, Wartburg

Top Ten Ranked Individuals – 2013 All-Americans in bold
125 – #3 Camacho (Wartburg), #7 Wangsness (Luther), #9 Page (Central)
133 – #1 Obert (Luther), #2 Gotto (Coe), #3 Anderson (Wartburg)
141 – #4 Holmes (Loras), #9 Travis (Dubuque), #10 Schaub (Augustana)
149 – #9 Engle (Cornell)
157 – #2 Boyer (Coe), #3 Dewitt (Loras), #5 Yonkovic (Wartburg)
165 – #2 Welter  (Wartburg), #5 Mizaur (Dubuque)
174 – #1 Williams (Wartburg), #3 Ball (Coe)
184 –  #9 DeVilbiss (Luther), #10 Sheldon (Coe)
197 – #1 Coolidge (Cornell), #5 Soriano (Wartburg), #10 Lowy (Central)
285 – #2 Fank (Wartburg), #3 Buss (Loras)

Top 30 Teams
#1 Wartburg
#5 Coe
#11 Loras
#12 Luther
#14 Cornell
#27 Dubuque

The qualifier may have changed last year, but the top team remains the same. Instead of the Iowa Conference, Wartburg has moved on to dominating the Central Region. With seven ranked individuals, they will be a heavy favorite both in the region and to win their fourth consecutive NCAA Championhip. Even without the Knights, the Central would be very good, as there are five other ranked teams led by #5 Coe. The region has nine returning All-Americans; five are from Wartburg. Every weight has at least one top ten individual, and nine have more than one. If you make it to the NCAA Championships from this region, you have earned it.

133 is the best weight with three top ten individuals who are all returning All-Americans. Two time champ Kenny Anderson of Wartburg has battled injuries and some unexpected losses to #1 Obert and #2 Gotto, but should not be counted out on the big stage. Gotto was the runner-up at 125 last year, and Obert finished 8th at this weight. The other returning NCAA champion in the region is #1 Landon Williams of Wartburg at 174. Williams was 1st in 2012 and 3rd in 2013, both at 165, and he is undefeated against DIII competition.

The other weight with multiple returning All-Americans is 285 with #2 Fank and #3 Buss both in the mix. Buss was 4th and Fank was 7th last season, though Fank has the win over Buss this year and only a single loss to the defending champion Johnson in Division III competition. The top returning non-champion from last year is #1 Coolidge of Cornell. He was 2nd in the NCAA last year and has split this year with both #2 Siefert (Whitewater) and #5 Soriano (Wartburg), winning the last bout in both cases.