The d3wrestle.com Wrestler of the Week is Kaleb Loht of Messiah. Loht won the 141 lbs. bracket at the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational for the second year in a row this past Saturday. After a first round bye, Loht scored a pair of major decisions to reach the semifinals where he defeated Layten Binion of North Central by a 6-1 score. This set up a rematch of the 2014 NCAA finals against Matt Adcock of Whitewater. Loht prevailed again over Adcock, winning by fall in the second period. Loht was named the George Olson Outstanding Wrestler at the tournament, running his record on the year to 30-0.
Loht, a senior from McClure, Pennsylvania, was the 141 lbs. NCAA champion in 2014 in his first trip to the NCAA Championships. He has been ranked #1 in the d3wrestle.com Rankings all season, and has won titles this year at the Messiah Invitational, Roger Williams Invitational, Middle Atlantic Conference Championships, and the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational. Loht has not lost to a Division III opponent since the 2012-2013 season and currently has a career record of 147-12 with 43 falls. Loht and the rest of the Falcons will host York College in a dual tonight at 7pm.
Quick Reminder: The team rankings are calculated mathematically based on the individual rankings. A team is awarded 1 point for having an Honorable Mention wrestler, 2 points for a Contender, and then 3 points for 10th, 4 points for 9th, all the way up to 12 points for 1st.
John Carroll’s Dan Mirman will try to defend his title at the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational this weekend
The following preview was provided to d3wrestle.com by the Wheaton College Wrestling staff. The Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational starts today at noon Eastern and concludes on Saturday. Unfortunately, the tournament is a little behind the times and will not have live results. Bracket updates are typically posted every few hours at the link below under 2015 Results.
On January 30-31, Wheaton College will host the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational, which is shaping up to one of the best in tournament history. Initially a private college tournament hosting NCAA DI, II, III, and NAIA institutions, the PWWI over the last 20 years transformed into a competition modeled after the NCAA tournament and has over 30 NCAA Division 3 teams and one Division 2 team. The premier DIII tournament has been running since 1938 and is only outmatched in length by the NCAA D1 Tournament.
If teams are full strength, there are several possible matchups worth getting a good seat at King Arena on Friday and Saturday. Winning by over 35 points in 2014, Whitewater will try to repeat as Team Champion but will contend with a field featuring 10 teams ranked in the top 25 in the country. UWW (2 NWCA, 2 d3wrestle.com), Messiah (9,3), Wabash (3,4), La Crosse (4,5), Mount Union (7,9), John Carroll (NR,16), Alma (12,11), Baldwin Wallace (13,16), Ohio Northern (NR,23), Olivet (26,NR) and Heidelberg (NR,28) are all entered into this year’s field.
In addition to a great team race, there are several possible matchups in every single weight class that will have national significance. Let the battle for the individual weight class championships begin….all rankings are from the latest NWCA poll and these are all probable matchups as official entry doesn’t happen until Friday. It is incredible that there could be as many as 40% of the countries ranked wrestlers and five top ranked individuals entered into the 2015 Pete Wilson Invitational. Here is a brief look at the weight classes with special note that there are 5 number one ranked individuals scheduled to wrestle at PWWI
125—The three top ranked individuals are Lucas Malmberg (2, Messiah College), Jesse Gunter (3, Baldwin Wallace), and Nick Mancini (8, Mount Union). You could also see 2014 NCAA qualifier Cole Ferguson (Platteville) as well as returning placewinners from the tournament last year in Zac Denny (Whitewater) and Ronzel Darling (Parkside). Malmberg is the returning champion at this weight class where he beat Gunter in the finals. Malmberg finished as NCAA runner-up and Gunter was 3rd in the same tournament last year.
133—This weight class features the returning Pete Willson champion and top ranked wrestler in the country at this weight, Jerermy Border (1, Mt. Union). The field is deep, and several ranked wrestlers will be looking to knock off Border. Ronny Hauser (Whitewater), Sean Ambrocio (7, Concordia, WI), Dustin Weinmann (10, LaCrosse) are having great years with Ambrocio a returning All American at 125 in 2014 and Weinmann a 2014 NCAA Qualifier. 2014 place winners Joe Her (Parkside) and Brandon Preston (Trine) could add excitement.
141—This weight class features returning Pete Willson champion, returning NCAA Champion and the top ranked wrestler in the country at this weight, Kaleb Loht (1, Messiah). Even better, we could see the NCAA championship finals rematch with NCAA runner up Matt Adcock (10, Whitewater) as an entry. 2014 NCAA qualifiers Bryant Roby (Mt. Union), Logan Meister (Ferrum-schools first ever!), and Nathaniel Behnke (Eau Claire, All-American 2013) could also be here.
149—Dan Mirman (5) from John Carroll University looks to make it back to back championships. He will face a stiff challenge from Elroy Perkin (3, Whitewater). They met twice in the NCAA tournament in 2014 with Mirman winning the quarterfinal matchup and Perkin winning the 5th place match. Also in contention for a title is Kasey Einerson (4, La Crosse) who just suffered his first loss of the season to Perkin. Nathan Segal (North Central) and Kyle Witgen (Olivet) are former PWWI place winners.
157—With the most returning All Americans, this is a very deep weight class with some quarterfinals potentially matching top ten ranked competitors. Reece Lefever (3, Wabash), Jon Garrison (5, Mt Union), Larry Cannon (8, Messiah) and Tom Gerszewski (10, Whitewater) are all nationally ranked. Lefever was 4th at the NCAA tournament while Garrison was 6th in the same bracket. Throw in Wheaton’s All-American Mark Savenok and there should be fireworks on Friday night!
165—The ranked wrestlers at 165 are Terner Gott (5, John Carroll), Matt Tuttle (6, Alma), Tyler Schneider (7, LaCrosse), and David Shapiro (9, Baldwin Wallace). In addition, this weight will have Parkside’s Nick Fishback who is ranked in Division 2 and placed high in past PWWI. Fishback may be a top seed but Gott and Tuttle have not lost in the current season and Wheaton’s Stephen Aiello was 7th at the 2014 NCAA tournament.
174—Once again, nationally ranked wrestlers could be meeting in the quarters on Friday night. Connor Lefever (2, Wabash), Josh Thomson (3, Messiah), Nick Allen (6, Olivet), Jamie Jakes (7, Alma), and Jordan Newman (9, Whitewater) are the five ranked wrestlers at this weight. Allen, Lefever, Jakes and Thomson were all 2014 NCAA Qualifiers. Thomson is a two time All-American and Jakes was Alma College’s first NCAA qualifier.
184—You have probably noticed the Lefever name in the above analysis and the third member of that family comes in as returning NCAA Champion and top ranked sophomore Riley. Riley had an amazing undefeated freshman year for Wabash and fans will enjoy his style of wrestling. Challenging for the top spot will be Richard Carlson (5, La Crosse) and Ryan Aprahamian (7, Whitewater). Former placers include Thomas Reyhons (Augustana), Richard Dowdley (Heidelberg) and Wheaton 2013 All-American Dan Olsen.
197—There are two former PWWI champions at this weight in Eric Twohey (5, La Crosse) and Shane Siefert (1, Whitewater). Twohey won the title last year at 184 and has moved up to challenge defending champion Siefert at this weight. These two may be on a collision course unless someone in the field, including Jake Reuteler (9, Concordia, WI) can slow them down.
285—Fans of the heavyweight class, the top three ranked wrestlers in the country will enter and contend for a championship. Cody Lovejoy (1, Ohio Northern) leads Division III wrestling with 17 pins this season. Also ranked in the weight are Mackenzie Green (2, Trine), Nino Majoy (3, Heidelberg) and Anthony Edgren (8, Whitewater). Lovejoy, Green and Edgren are all past All-Americans and the winner of this weight class could leave the tournament ranked first in Division III.
The d3wrestle.com Wrestler of the Week returns today, and the winner is Shane Siefert of Whitewater. Siefert notched three wins for the Warhawks, helping the team to a 3-0 record. First, the top ranked Siefert won 8-3 over fifth ranked returning All-American Eric Twohey in Whitewaters 23-9 victory over WIAC rival La Crosse. Then, over the weekend, Siefert notched a fall in Whitewater’s shutout of North Central and dominated NWCA #9 Jake Reuteler of Concordia Wisconsin 18-3 to give the Warhawks a pair of wins at the Border Brawl.
Siefert, a junior from Mundelein, Illinois, is currently 20-2 and ranked first in the latest d3wrestle.com Rankings. For his career, he is 85-16 and is a two time All-American, finishing 4th as a freshman and 2nd last season. Whitewater is currently ranked 2nd as a team in both the d3wrestle.com and NWCA Rankings. Siefert and the Warhawks head to Wheaton for the Pete Willson Invitational this Friday and Saturday to defend their team title from last season.
Last month, Millikin University announced their intention to restart their wrestling program after dropping the sport in 2008. Late last week, the Decatur, Illinois, school announced the hiring of Ryan Birt as their next head coach. Birt most recently was the Associate Head Wrestling Coach at Loras College where he was named 2014 Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year. As a wrestler, Birt was the 1999 NCAA Division III champion and 1997 runner-up for Upper Iowa University. He was also an All-IIAC performer on the football field. Millikin is the fifth school in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin with wrestling.
DECATUR, Illinois—Millikin University is pleased to announce that Ryan Birt has been named the new Big Blue head wrestling coach. Last month Millikin announced that its NCAA varsity wrestling program would return to competition in the 2015-16 academic year after being dormant since 2008. Birt will start at Millikin on January 26.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ryan Birt to Millikin to lead the resurgence of a strong Big Blue wrestling program,” said Millikin University President Dr. Patrick White. “At Loras College, Coach Birt has been a driving force in recruitment and on-the-mat success for a team that has been consistently near the top of the Iowa Conference, the premier NCAA Division III wrestling conference.”
“We are very excited to have Ryan Birt joining the Big Blue staff to lead the return of our wrestling program,” said Dr. Craig White, Millikin Director of Athletics. “Birt’s excellent knowledge of the sport and a strong coaching background will serve Millikin well as we build a competitive wrestling program.”
“I am so thankful that President White and Dr. Craig White are giving me the opportunity to lead Millikin in the sport of wrestling,” said Birt. “It seems like there is a lot of support at Millikin and Central Illinois for wrestling so I believe we can be successful immediately. I can’t wait to get to work and put Millikin on the map as one of the top D3 programs in the country. I was raised an Urbana Tiger, so I am very excited to be coming home to Central Illinois and joining the Millikin staff.”
Birt comes to Millikin with over 16 years of wrestling coaching experience at the club, high school and collegiate level. Birt is an accomplished wrestler earning an NCAA National Championship and twice earning All-American status.
Birt was most recently the Associate Head Coach at Loras College in Iowa. Birt has been on the Loras staff since 2010 where he helped the Duhawks wrestling program become a top 20 program. Last season Loras finished 14th in NCAA Division III and earlier this season the Duhawks were ranked as high as eighth in the nation. Birt was named the NCAA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2014. He has coached nine NCAA qualifiers, five NCAA All-Americans and one NCAA Champion. He helped Loras raise over $100,000 to renovate team locker rooms and a wrestling room.
Birt started his coaching career in 2000 as an assistant coach at Forest City, Iowa High School. He then moved to Gibson City Melvin Sibley High School where he became head coach in 2002. He compiled over 150 dual meet wins, three regional championships and two sectional championships while at Gibson City. Birt qualified 20 individuals for the Illinois (IHSA) State Tournament, including 11 place-winners and two state champions. In 2003 Birt was inducted into Urbana High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
“An experienced teacher and coach, Ryan Birt will understand and further Millikin’s enactment of performance learning in every aspect of our student’s experience,” said President White.
Birt wrestled and played football at Upper Iowa University. His wrestling career included a perfect 39-0 season and NCAA National Championship in 1999. He was a two-time All-American and an NCAA runner up in 1997. He was twice an Iowa Conference Champion and named the Iowa Conference’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. He was also an all-conference linebacker in football at Upper Iowa. In 2010 he was inducted into the Peacock’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Birt graduated from Upper Iowa in 2000 with degrees in Physical Education and Secondary Special Education.
This fall Millikin will become the fifth College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) institution to compete in wrestling at the NCAA Division III level.
Millikin fielded a wrestling program from 1959 to 2008 when the program was suspended. Over the years, Millikin had 47 athletes advance to the NCAA National Championships with five wrestlers earning All-American honors.
Millikin wrestlers have earned 48 CCIW individual championships and have earned All-Conference honors 170 times. Millikin had eight second-place conference team finishes, including four times in the program’s final seven years.
Helping to expedite the re-establishment of the program, an anonymous Millikin wrestling alumnus has issued a challenge to alumni and friends of Millikin, offering to match dollar for dollar all donations to Big Blue wrestling – up to $100,000.
High school wrestlers wishing to learn more about the Big Blue wrestling program and Millikin athletics should call Head Coach Ryan Birt at 217-424-6344, email him at rbirt@millikin.edu, or visit http://bit.ly/MU-wrestling to view Millikin’s new wrestling page. To make a gift in support of the program, visit https://www.millikin.edu/give or call Dave Brandon, Vice President for Alumni and Development at 217-424-6383 or email dbrandon@millikin.edu.
The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has named Jared Evans as the new Interim Head Wrestling Coach. Evans replaces Steve Wozniak who has been reassigned in the athletic department. Evans is a three time All-American for Augsburg and was part of two NCAA Champion teams. Read on for more.
Jan 26, 2015
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (blugolds.com) –The UW-Eau Claire athletics department announced today that Steve Wozniak has been reassigned and Jared Evans will be the interim head coach for the wrestling program, effective immediately.
Wozniak served as an assistant coach from 2011-13 and was the interim head coach for the 2013-14 season before being named head coach in August. His duties will be reassigned within the wrestling program.
“We appreciate Steve’s contributions to the wrestling program as the head coach and are pleased he is willing to assist the program for the remainder of the season in a new role,” said Director of Athletics Dan Schumacher.
Prior to UW-Eau Claire, Evans spent three seasons on the coaching staff for the Augsburg College wrestling program, two of those years as the assistant head coach.
A 2007 Augsburg graduate, Evans earned All-American honors three times as a 149-pound wrestler. He finished his career with a 139-37 record and was a part of Augsburg teams that won national titles in 2004-05 and 2006-07, while finishing second once and third once.
“I’m ecstatic to be a part of the UWEC wrestling program,” said Evans. “I thank Steve for giving me my first opportunity to be a part of UW-Eau Claire wrestling and happy to know that Steve will continue to help us build the program.”
The 2011-2012 season was the first to feature the current regional qualification system. The Division III teams were each placed into one of six regional tournaments with the top three finishers at each weight qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Prior to 2012, each conference/regional championship was allotted a different number of qualifiers based on a formula that accounted for performance of that conference in previous NCAA Championships. This was also the era of wildcard meetings where coaches voted on the most deserving qualifiers when the number allotted to a conference was not a multiple of ten. The past few years have seen the total number of qualifiers increase from 160 to 170 under the wildcard system and now to the current 180 under the regional system.
Region
Teams
West
11
Midwest
12
Central
13
Mideast
18
East
18
Northeast
18
Total
90
The move to the regional system was prompted primarily by the desire of the NCAA to remove historical data (i.e., results from prior seasons) from the process that determines who qualifies for the NCAA Championships in all sports. When Division I wrestling moved to its current system involving coaches rankings, RPI, and Gold and Silver Standards (explained here), that left Division III wrestling as the only championship (out of nearly 90 championships at the time) in the entirety of the NCAA still relying on historical data.
In order to completely remove historical data from the qualifying process, the regions would ideally be determined solely on a geographical basis with an even number of teams in each region. That said, it is possible to argue that some regions should have fewer teams in order to minimize travel distances. Regardless, the system put in place grouped the teams into six regions. For 2015, the three regions in the eastern half of the wrestling map are approximately 50% larger than that three regions in the western half. (These numbers reflect the fact that Yeshiva has not yet attended a regional and that Maranatha has shuttered their program, at least for this year)
There are also a few places on the map where things look a little strange. Some of this was done in order to keep some of the all-sport conferences (OAC, Centennial, IIAC) together, but it is worth pointing out.
First, there’s the East/Mideast divide pictured here. It is a little bit strange, but it makes some sense when considering that the idea was to keep some conferences together, so Centennial members McDaniel and Gettysburg stay with their conference teams that are further to the East.
It is an open question as of now whether the desire to keep conference teams grouped together will remain important as teams are added and the regions are realigned. The NCAA has indicated that the current maximum region size is 18 teams which is why the addition of Daniel Webster College to the Northeast Region this year necessitated moving Oswego into the Mideast Region. Now there are three regions at this maximum of 18. In order to hold regions at or below 18 teams without major realignment, multiple teams will have to change regions next year in order to fit Greensboro and Hampden-Sydney into regions that make geographical sense. Adrian and Millikin can likely slot in somewhere without causing major movement.
Things are also a bit mixed up in the western part of the Division III map.
There are four teams (five if Maranatha, represented by the red star, was competing this year) that are pretty far to the east and are farther to the east than at least three teams that are not in the West region.
It is expected that that regions will be evaluated and realigned after the 2015-2016 season. Here is one proposal for how to do so. These are some of the guidelines used to generate what is to follow.
1. Conferences do not have to stay together
2. Keep the same, or close to the same, number of teams in each region
3. Simple boundaries between regions are better than complicated ones
4. Current or past team quality is not considered. This is the only way to truly eliminate the use of historical data.
5. This includes all teams that have either announced new teams for next year or are in the provisional period of joining the NCAA. Some of these teams will not yet be eligible for the postseason for 2016-2017.
This results in a list of 97 teams (Yeshiva and Maranatha were excluded from this alignment but could easily be added should they return to postseason competition). With 97 teams, there are five regions with 16 teams and one with 17 teams. No team should have to cross a regional border to travel to any other team in their region. Click below to see a proposed regional map including these 97 teams.
1. It is likely that more schools will start teams between now and the 2016-2017 season. This season, there were three new teams. Next season, there will be at least four. This map only accounts for what we know now.
2. This is not necessarily the absolute best arrangement of teams. It is possible to meet the guidelines above but come up with a different, or even better, proposal.
3. At some point, keeping six regions will not make sense as there will be too many teams. If a seventh or eighth regional is added, the whole system will have to change if the tournament stays at 180 qualifiers.
With any luck, Division III wrestling will continue to grow, and this proposal, along with any others, will have to adjust to account for the growing demand for wrestling at Division III colleges.
There are also a few places on the map where things look a little strange. Some of this was done in order to keep some of the all-sport conferences (OAC, Centennial, IIAC) together, but it is worth pointing out.
