Final Brackets | Team Scores

Awards
Outstanding Wrestler: Riley Lefever, Wabash

Most Falls in the Least Time: Ryan O’Boyle, McDaniel (3 falls)

Coach of the Year: Bryan Brunk, Messiah

Assistant Coach of the Year: Craig Hogan, Messiah

Rookie Coach of the Yearl: Ryan Birt, Millikin

NCAA Season Awards
Most Falls: AJ Kowal, Stevens

Most Tech Falls: Jeff Palmeri, Brockport

Most Dominant: Riley Lefever, Wabash

Elite 90: Daniel Del Gallo, Southern Maine

Saturday Schedule (all times Central)
10 a.m. Championships semifinals and consolation quarterfinals
Consolation semifinals
Consolation place matches for 3rd, 5th and 7th places

6:30 p.m. Parade of All-Americans
7 p.m. Finals

d3wrestle.com Championships Homepage

Live Results

Saturday Live Video

Friday Schedule (all times Central)
10:15 a.m. Opening Ceremonies
11 a.m. Preliminary Rounds One and Two, Consolation First

6 p.m. Championships Quarterfinals, Consolation Second and Third Rounds

d3wrestle.com Championships Homepage

Live Results

Friday Live Video

Pre-tournament brackets

2015 Champion: Donny Longendyke, Augsburg

2016 Field

Donny Longendyke won the championship at 285 lbs. last year and picked up right where he left off this year. He has not had a close match with a DIII opponent this year and is currently second in the Most Dominant standings. He has an excellent chance to win his second title and take home the Most Dominant award as well. He has not, however, wrestled any of the rest of the top three this year. Both two time All-American Zachary Roseberry and Wartburg’s Lance Evans are also undefeated against Division III opponents this year. Additionally, the 6th place finisher Maresh of Alma and 8th place finisher Herman of Luther are in the weight as well.

A name to watch is James Buss of Millikin. Buss was last seen wrestling for Loras in 2014 where he denied Chad Johnson his third straight NCAA Championship. Buss missed last season but came back partway through this year. He won the Wheaton tournament but lost to Herman in the Central region semifinals. Two other seeds to keep an eye on are Paul Triandafilou of Gettysburg and Kyle Foster of Roger Williams. Foster qualified last year but was unable to compete. Triandafilou was the regional runner-up as a freshman and won his first 21 matches in a row to start his career.

2015 Champion: Joe Giaramita, Cortland

2016 Field

A pair of undefeated (in DIII) wrestlers headline the 197 lbs. weight class. David Welch of Roger Williams is looking to close out his career on top. He was 7th at 184 in 2014 and lost in the round of 12 last season. This year he has wins over Joe Giaramita, the defending champion, and Gerard Roman, one of the other returning All-Americans. Freshman Angus Arthur is also undefeated for the first year Adrian program. He has a strong high school pedigree and has yet to be defeated in college. Giaramita should not be overlooked, however. He won the weight last year out of the 4th seed, upsetting two time finalist Shane Siefert in the championship match.

Matt Seabold of Central placed 8th last year to close out the returning All-Americans. His only loss on the year was in the regional quarterfinal which he avenged in the 3rd place match. The only national qualifier he wrestled this year is Watson of Loras. Jamie Jakes of Alma is up two weights from last year and was an NCAA qualifier at 174 a few seasons ago. Michael Swider of Wheaton is the son of the Wheaton football coach and has only lost to Jakes and Arthur in half a season of work. Kyle Koser of Messiah was in the top ten of the rankings. He was upset in the regional by Maclellan, with whom he has split this season.

2015 Champion Riley Lefever

2016 Field

This weight has a serious amount of top level talent. Riley Lefever is a two time NCAA Champion at 184 lbs. who has never lost to a DIII opponent. He won the Eastern Michigan Open and defeated 2015 DI All-American Kenny Courts along the way. He also leads the NCAA Most Dominant Standings heading into the event. Christopher Chorzepa of Williams is a two time All-American who is undefeated so far this year and finished 4th last season. Josh Thomson of Messiah is undefeated in DIII and is a three time All-American who has finished 3rd twice and 4th once. AJ Kowal of Stevens is making his first trip to the tournament but is also undefeated at 184 and leads the Division in falls. This group has four of the top six spots in falls and four of the top five in dominance.

Jeff Palmeri of Brockport is the only returning qualifier at this weight not yet mentioned. He finished third in the Mideast. Carlos Toribio of Ithaca qualified at 174 in 2014 but missed out last season. Also worth highlighting at this weight is Ron Tassoni of Washington & Lee. The Generals last put a wrestler in the NCAA Championships in 2001, so the senior broke a long drought in getting to this event. The weight looks to be fairly wide open after the top four, and a good sized chunk of the field has the potential to get on the podium.

2015 Champion: Conner Lefever

2016 Field

While only two of last year’s All-Americans return at this weight, a full third of the bracket has previously been an All-American at another weight or in a different year. Ryan Harrington is the highest returner at the weight with his fourth place finish a year ago. He finished second to Eric DeVos of Wartburg in the regional. DeVos began his college career as a 141 for the Penn Quakers, made a stop at Iowa at 157, and now sits in the top spot at 174 for Wartburg. His only DIII loss this year was to Farmer of Wabash back in November. The only other returning All-American at the weight is Garrett Chase of Baldwin Wallace who finished seventh.

There are four returning All-Americans from other weights or years. Lou Puca of Cortland is a two time All-American at 174, but he missed last year with an injury. He is the only one of the four who has placed at 174. The other three are all 165 All-Americans. Tyler Schneider of La Crosse was the NCAA runner-up at 165 last year, while Ethan Farmer was 7th in the same weight. Finally, Stephen Aiello of Wheaton was 7th at 165 in 2014 but went 0-2 last year and has 12 losses to DIII opponents this season. Of the wrestlers who are not returning All-Americans, Swarr of Messiah, Sibblies of Centenary, and Ressler of Roger Williams were all NCAA qualifiers last year.

2015 Champion: Farai Sewera, Coe

2016 Field

Farai Sewera of Coe survived a field that saw half the seeds fail to place, and he exceeded his #2 seed to win the championship. He has put together another very good season with no DIII losses and a regional championship over the eventual second seed at this tournament. He has not wrestled that many matches, and he sits at an overall record of 19-1. He defeated Wartburg’s Nick Michael in overtime, and Michael could be his stiffest test if he plans to repeat. Michael was in a battle with last year’s #1 seed Andrew Steiert for the starting spot at Wartburg, but a late season injury settled the matter, and Michael hopes to see Sewera again in the finals.

Nolan Barger of Lycoming is the next highest returner at this weight after a third place finish in Hershey. He was undefeated on the year until losing to Messiah’s Hojnacki in the Mideast final. If he returns to form in Iowa, he cannot be counted out. West champion Hensel of Augsburg should also not be overlooked. He notched four falls on his way to a 5th place finish last year, providing a nice chunk of team points that helped Augsburg to an upset win in the team standings. Despite several losses to wrestlers in the field, Hensel should not be overlooked by anyone in the tournament.

2015 Champion: Nick Carr, Washington & Jefferson

2015 Field

The top two contenders at this weight both come from the Northeast, and both have had a lot of success at the national level. Bobby Dierna of Cortland is back from a year off to go for his first title. He has finished 3rd and 2nd and hopes to continue the progression to the top of the podium. In the regional final, he defeated three time All-American Jorge Lopez of Williams. The will come in as the top two seeds and could meet again in the national final. Lopez had a number of close matches at the regional but has proven to have the ability to perform when it matters. Two other All-Americans return at this weight as well in Antonio Mancella of TCNJ and Drew Wagenhoffer of Wartburg.

Third ranked Logan Meister of Ferrum is hoping to become the first All-American for his school. He was their first NCAA qualifier, in their first season of competition, two seasons ago at 141, but he did not compete last season. He defeated All-American Mancella in the regional final and his only loss this year was to Lopez at the York tournament. Beltz of Thiel is a bit of mystery, as he transferred from DII Seton Hill to the Tomcats for the second semester and pinned Cannon of Messiah in the Mideast semis before doing the same to Racanelli of Wilkes in the final. Nick Bova of Wabash has had an excellent season, dropping just two matches on the year (one each to Tardy and Wagenhoffer). He went on to beat Tardy twice and win the Midwest Region. He also pinned Beltz in early February.

2015 Champion: Kenny Martin, Wartburg

2016 Field

Kenny Martin came from the 4th seed to win the championship last year, and he will need to pull off a similar feat this year to repeat as champion. He has three losses this year in his one semester of competition, and he has avenged two of them against wrestlers who are in the bracket. He has proven to have the ability to win this tournament, and Knights will hope he can help them secure another team title. The top two seeds this year are the same two guys as last year with Derek Arnold of Ursinus and Dan Mirman of Johns Hopkins each looking for his first trip to the finals. Both lost in the semis last year, and neither has lost to a DIII opponent this season. Blake Santi makes his first trip to the championships for Elmhurst. His only loss this year is to Mirman, and he is hoping to add an NCAA All-American award to the one he won a few years ago in the NJCAA.

149 is a deep weight with a good amount of talent sprinkled throughout the bracket. Gray and Kennedy have wins over Martin this year, and nine of the ten ranked wrestlers made it to the tournament. Vela of Whitewater is dangerous and has pinning ability. Gaccione pinned #2 ranked Lopez (157) before dropping to 149 toward the end of the year. Del Gallo is making his second trip to the NCAA championships for Southern Maine and won the Elite 89 award last season to go along with this year’s 35 wins. Lansberry is in the midst of his third straight season with 30+ wins and is making his first trip to the tournament.

2015 Champion: Cary Palmer, Hunter

2016 Field

Drew Van Anrooy came agonizingly close to a championship last season but fell just short. This year, he is undefeated but with just 20 matches to his name. In a weight with only two returning All-Americans from last year, he is a clear, if not overwhelming favorite. Van Anrooy came to Luther after wrestling at Oregon State and has been everything the Norse expected him to be in his two years in Iowa. His top challengers are a pair of All-Americans from prior seasons. Nathaniel Behnke of Eau Claire and Jimmy Nehls of Elmhurst have each placed 5th in the past (Nehls in 2014 at 133 and Behnke in 2013 at 141), and both have had outstanding seasons. Nehls transferred from Whitewater to find a spot in the lineup, and the decision has paid off. Behnke has a new coach this year in former d3wrestle.com Coach of the Year Tim Fader, and Fader has a track record of getting his guys to perform in the postseason.

Layten Binion finished 6th last year but was potentially on the outside looking in at 141 with three ranked individuals in his region ahead of him. Of those three, only Nehls made it through, and Binion secured another trip to the championships where he is the only other returning placewinner from last year besides Van Anrooy. Jeremy Border of Mount Union finished 3rd at 133 in 2014 and qualified at the same weight last year but defaulted out of the tournament before wrestling a match. He was the runner up in the Mideast to Justin Kihn of Heidelberg. Another wrestler to watch is Chris Williams of Millikin, one of two wrestlers to qualify for his team in their first season back on the mats since 2008.

2015 Champion: Matthew Grossmann, Wilkes

2016 Field

The regional took its toll again, as half of the top ten lost to lower ranked opponents. Nathan Pike of NYU was the top ranked wrestler and highest returning placewinner, but he lost to 2014 All-American Ryan O’Boyle of McDaniel in a tight match. Jesse Gunter, a two time All-American for Baldwin Wallace at 125, was upset in the regional but came back to get third. Of the top contenders, Connor Campo was able to make it through the regionals unscathed and has only a loss in December to Gunter on his record. He finished 8th last year and is the only other returning All-American at the weight other than Pike. Ryan O’Boyle may be rounding into shape at just the right time. He was pinned by Pike and lost to Hoogheem (who didn’t place at the regional) earlier in the season. If he has righted the ship, he has proven to have the ability to win at this level and will be looking to end his career on the highest note possible.

Another senior wrestling well at the right time is Tyler Keane of Springfield. Keane’s best prior finish was 5th at the regional last year, but he is now the regional champ who avenged his only DIII loss (to Israel) and has a pair of common opponent victories over Pike in Israel, who split with Pike, and Calderone of DII LIU-Post. Perhaps the most interesting regional results, however, came in the Midwest, where two of the qualifiers did not wrestle a single match at 133 before the tournament. Devin Broukal of Wabash actually began the season at 149. His last match at 149 was a win over defending 149 champion Kenny Martin of Wartburg, but he then descended to 141 before getting all the way to 133 at the regional where he placed 3rd. The winner of the region, Romeo Riley of Alma, beat the 6th ranked Dustin Weinmann of La Crosse in his first action at 133. It is hard to predict results for either of these wrestlers as they look to hold a low weight for one more tournament.

2015 Champion: Mike Fuenffinger, Augsburg

2016 Field

After losing in the finals each of the past two seasons, Lucas Malmberg of Messiah is hoping to finally take that last step up to the top of the podium and secure a first NCAA championship. He has dominated the rest of the field this season, with his only DIII loss coming when Chicago’s Richter, who failed to qualify, headlocked him at Wheaton. Before that match his last DIII loss to someone other than Fuenffinger came over two years ago. He appears to be pretty far ahead of the rest of the pack and is the only returning All-American to boot. A number of wrestlers can lay claim to being the second best wrestler on paper, but all have taken losses along the way. Olea lost to West region 3rd place finisher Goman, and Weinmann has lost to Denny twice late in the year. It is hard to imagine the final place order matching very well with the seeds.

Almost anyone in this bracket should be feeling like he has a chance to get on the podium. The number of upsets at the regionals shows that. The #2 ranked wrestler before the regionals (Fleck of Wilkes), failed to qualify, while numbers 3 (Weinmann), 4 (Vosters), 7 (Kaishian), 8 (Murray), and 9 (Pestano) all lost to lower ranked opponents but still made it into the tournament. Two possibly overlooked wrestlers in this weight include Bobby Jordan of Johnson & Wales and Jacob Spearman of Washington & Jefferson. Jordan won the Northeast Regional and only has one loss on the year to his teammate. Spearman is a prior NCAA qualifier who had some hiccups earlier in the year but seems to have gotten going at the right time to beat Fleck 7-0 at the regional and only lose 4-2 to Malmberg.

The 2016 d3wrestle.com Picks Contest is here. The rules are different this year, so read closely. The prize will be an item from the d3wrestle.com store. Here is a link to the brackets

1. You are to choose 10 wrestlers, one from each weight class.
2. You are to choose a maximum of one wrestler for each seed and a minimum of two unseeded wrestlers.
3. You may replace any seeded wrestler with an unseeded wrestler. e.g., if you want to pick an extra unseeded wrestler instead of the 8th (or other) seed at a weight, that is permissible, as long as you only choose one or zero wrestlers for a seeded spot.
4. Your score is the combined team points scored by your ten wrestlers. A list of scores will be provided after the tournament.
5. Post your team as a comment to this post before 11:59pm Eastern on Thursday, March 10th. The format is as follows: Seed, Weight, Name, School. Place each wrestler on a separate line in order of seed. Make sure the email address attached to your post is real so I can contact the winner.
6. Ties will be broken by whoever has the most champs, then runners-up, and so on.

2016 NCAA Championships Brackets

Monday 6pm: Brackets Released on NCAA.com

Tuesday: Previews of 125, 133, 141

Wednesday: Previews of 149, 157, 165, 174

Thursday: Previews of 184, 197, 285

Friday: Wrestling begins at 11:00AM Central

Here are the wrestlers in the 2016 NCAA Championships who have been All-Americans at some point in the past. Please leave a comment if someone was missed.

125
Lucas Malmberg, Messiah, 2nd in 2014 & 2015

133
Jesse Gunter, Baldwin Wallace, 4th in 2015, 3rd in 2014 (both at 125)
Nathan Pike, NYU, 6th in 2015
Connor Campo, Wartburg, 7th in 2015
Ryan O’Boyle, McDaniel, 4th in 2014

141
Drew Van Anrooy, Luther, 2nd in 2015
Layten Binion, North Central, 6th in 2015
Jeremy Border, Mount Union, 3rd in 2014 (at 133)
Nathaniel Behnke, Eau Claire, 5th in 2013
Jimmy Nehls, Elmhurst, 5th in 2014 (at 133 for Whitewater)

149
Kenny Martin, Wartburg, 1st in 2015
Derek Arnold, Ursinus, 4th in 2015
Dan Mirman, John Carroll, 6th in 2015, 6th in 2014

157
Jorge Lopez, Williams, 3rd in 2015, 3rd in 2014, 6th in 2013 (at 149)
Bobby Dierna, Cortland, 2nd in 2014, 3rd in 2013 (both at 149)
Drew Wagenhoffer, Wartburg, 5th in 2015, 6th in 2012 (at 149)
Antonio Mancella, TCNJ, 8th in 2015

165
Farai Sewera, Coe, 1st in 2015
Nolan Barger, Lycoming, 3rd in 2015
Eric Hensel, Augsburg, 5th in 2015

174
Tyler Schneider, La Crosse, 2nd in 2015 (at 165)
Ethan Farmer, Wabash, 7th in 2015 (at 165)
Ryan Harrington, Coe, 4th in 2015
Garrett Chase, Baldwin Wallace, 7th in 2015
Stephen Aiello, Wheaton, 7th in 2014 (at 165)
Lou Puca, Cortland, 7th in 2014, 6th in 2013

184
Riley Lefever, Wabash, 1st in 2015, 1st in 2014
Christopher Chorzepa, Williams, 4th in 2015, 3rd in 2014
Josh Thomson, Messiah, 3rd in 2015 (at 174), 4th in 2014, 3rd in 2013

197
Joe Giaramita, Cortland, 1st in 2015, 6th in 2014, 8th in 2012 (at 285)
Gerard Roman, Wartburg, 6th in 2015
Matt Seabold, Central, 8th in 2015
David Welch, Roger Williams, 7th in 2014

285
Donald Longendyke, Augsburg, 1st in 2015
James Buss, Millikin, 1st in 2014, 4th in 2013 (both at Loras)
Zachary Roseberry, Delaware Valley, 3rd in 2015, 4th in 2014
Trevor Maresh, Alma, 6th in 2015
Conner Herman, Luther, 8th in 2015

List of Qualifiers Including Hometown

Map of Qualifiers Color Coded by Regional

View 2016 NCAA Division III Qualifiers in a full screen map

Qualifiers by Home State

Northeast Regional (Roger Williams) – Brackets
East Regional (Washington & Lee) – Results
Mideast Regional (Lycoming) – Results
Midwest Regional (Wabash) – Brackets
Central Regional (Loras) – Brackets
West Regional (Augsburg) – Brackets