2016 NCAA Brackets

• Champion seed breakdown: Five top seeds and one each of #2, #3, #5, #7, and unseeded
• 52 pins and 8 tech falls in the tournament
• 43 teams had at least one All-American
• 52 out of 58 teams scored team points
• Two wrestlers (Stageberg, 125, Concordia; Cook, 184, La Crosse) slid from the semis to 6th place
• One wrestler (Warner, 141, York) lost a pigtail and still placed
• 16 wrestlers lost their first match and still placed

  • 125	Denny	Whitewater	4th
    133	Weinmann	La Crosse	3rd
    133	Campo	Wartburg	7th
    141	Warner	York	5th
    141	Giblin	Rhode Island	8th
    149	Gaccione	JWU	8th
    157	Cannon	Messiah	4th
    157	Bova	Wabash	8th
    165	Hojnacki	Messiah	6th
    165	Velez	Ithaca	7th
    174	Sibblies	Centenary	6th
    174	Beaman	St. Olaf	7th
    174	Hamann	TCNJ	8th
    184	Conrad	Rhode Island	7th
    197	Watson	Loras	8th
    285	Wright	Messiah	6th

• Nine #1 seeds placed (Arnold, 149, Ursinus)
• Seven #2 seeds placed (Jordan, 125, JWU; Puca, 174, Cortland; Chorzepa, 184, Williams)
• All ten #3 seeds placed
• Nine #4 seeds placed (Herring, 165, TCNJ)
• Only one wrestler was pinned in both of his matches (Martin, 141, Cornell)
• Ben Swarr (Messiah, 174) beat the #1, #2, and #3 seeds at his weight
• Riley Lefever (Wabash, 184) was the only wrestler to score bonus points in every match
• Logan Meister (Ferrum, 157) became the first All-American from his school
• Nathan Pike (NYU, 133) became the first finalist from his school
• David Welch (Roger Williams, 197) became the first champion from his school

Place the results of your picks in the comments.

Here are two links to help you calculate your team’s performance. First is a list of the team points scored by each wrestler, organized by weight class. If a wrestler does not appear, he did not score at the 2016 NCAA Championships.

Second is a list of all game entries. There was some difficulty going back and seeing comments after the most recent 9 entries, so I have included a list of all entries that came in before the deadline.

Add up the team points scored by your wrestlers and place a full accounting in the comments below. List your team again, and put the points each wrestler scored at the end of the line. Then put a total at the top or bottom of the post. Make sure you use the same name and email address that you used to enter the contest so that I can contact the winner.

2016 NCAA Championships Team Points

2016 d3wrestle.com Picks Game Entries

Region Performance

Four Year Totals 2013-2016 (since the regional system was in place)

2016 All-Americans (unseeded in italics; 24 total)

125 – Lucas Malmberg, Messiah major decision CJ Pestano, Central 14-6

This one was all Malmberg from the opening whistle, as the Messiah wrestler scored in the open ten seconds and never looked back. He was the wire-to-wire favorite since November and showed it this weekend in getting his first title in his third trip to the finals.

133 – Devin Broukal, Wabash decision Nathan Pike, Wabash 8-5

Broukal came in unseeded since he spent almost the whole year at higher weights. It was a back and forth match that Broukal was able to break open with a few late tilts against a wrestler who is dangerous in the bottom position.

141 – Drew Van Anrooy, Luther decision Jimmy Nehls, Elmhurst 10-2

Van Anrooy wrestled some tight matches to get to the finals but was able to get a quick takedown early and build up a decent amount of riding time. Leading 3-2, Van Anrooy was able to counter a late takedown attempt from Nehls for a takedown and back points of his own with the riding time point providing the final margin.

149 – Kenny Martin, Wartburg decision Trevor Engle, Cornell 7-5

The defending champ Martin got things started with a huge double leg against the unseeded Engle. Engle kept coming the whole time, but Martin’s talent won out, and he was always able to answer with a takedown when he needed it. Martin finished off the repeat to become the only champion out of Wartburg’s five finalists.

157 – Bobby Dierna, Cortland decision Drew Wagenhoffer, Wartburg 7-5

After finishing 3rd and 2nd in his first two trips to the tournament, Dierna came in as the top seed and did not disappoint. Wagenhoffer was a game opponent, but Dierna’s athleticism was impossible to overcome. Dierna countered a final peek out attempt as time expired to give Cortland a champion.

165 – Logan Hermsen, Stevens Point decision Nick Michael, Wartburg 5-3 SV

Michael scored the opening takedown and held a lead for most of the match. Hermsen’s scrambling ability and defense kept the margin small, and as time wound down, Hermsen took his first shot on a low single and scored to force overtime. In the sudden victory period, another low single from Hermsen gave the 5th seed a championship.

174 – Ben Swarr, Messiah decision Eric Devos, Warburg 3-1

In a match more exciting than the score might indicate, both wrestlers took turns fighting off attacks and getting close to scoring. As the clock headed toward zero, Swarr took a left handed shot, switched off to a double, and took Devos to mat. He held him flat for the last ten or so seconds to secure the victory.

184 – Riley Lefever, Wabash major decision Josh Thomson, Messiah

Lefever capped off an impressive tournament with a dominant victory in the finals. He was able to score first and then stuff a few good shots from Thomson. He combined heavy head pressure with attacks below the knee to build a lead, and used big mat returns to stay on top. Lefever finished his junior season as a three time champ and has never lost to a DIII opponent.

197 – David Welch, Roger Williams decision Gerard Roman, Wartburg 5-4

Welch had to come from behind two matches in a row to win his title. In the semis, a very late takedown gave him a 3-2, and the same was true here. The top seed was down early but managed to secure the winning takedown late in the third period to become the first ever champ from Roger Williams.

285 – Zachary Roseberry, Delaware Valley decision Donny Longendyke, Augsburg 5-4

On paper, Roseberry seemed like a big underdog to the defending champion, but his leg attacks proved to be the difference. These were two heavyweights who came to wrestle, and Roseberry took advantage of Longendyke’s upright stance to get in on his legs multiple times and score. Roseberry picked neutral in the third and was never on bottom in the match. A stalling point as time ran out narrowed the gap, but the junior from Delaware Valley became a three time All-American and first time champ.

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.