125 Mike Fuenffinger, Augsburg

133 Kenny Anderson, 165 Cole Welter, 174 Landon Williams – Wartburg

141 Kaleb Loht, Messiah

149 Ryan Prater, Elmhurst

157 Nazar Kulchytskyy, Oshkosh

184 Riley Lefever, Wabash

197 Alex Coolidge, Cornell

285 James Buss, Loras

Region Stats

Places by Region

List of wrestlers who scored team points

Unseeded All-Americans (21)
125 Ambrocio, Concordia Wisconsin, 8th
133 Bergeron, Concordia Moorhead, 6th
133 Giorgio, Coast Guard, 8th
141 Banaszak, Chicago, 4th
141 Ferinde, JWU, 5th
141 Stauber, Johns Hopkins, 6th
149 Perkin, Whitewater, 5th
149 Drendel, Dubuque, 8th
157 Desilets, JWU, 5th
157 Jasinski, Ursinus, 8th
165 Foley, Springfield, 6th
165 Aiello, Wheaton, 7th
165 Crowell, Roger Williams, 8th
174 Bonaventura, Waynesburg, 2nd
174 Lenhardt, JWU, 8th
184 Chorzepa, Williams, 3rd
184 Malychewski, Pacific, 5th
184 Sheldon, Coe, 6th
197 Horner, Coe, 5th
285 Green, Trine, 5th
285 Caruso, Bridgewater State, 8th

Best Finish By Seed
1: 1st (133, 141, 157, 174, 184, 197)
2: 1st (149, 165)
3: 2nd (125, 133)
4: 1st (125, 285)
5: 2nd (165)
6: 2nd (141)
7: 3rd (149)
8: 4th (184, 285)

Number of seeded wrestlers who equaled or exceeded seed: 35
Number who failed to match seed: 45
Seeded All-Americans: 60

2014 NCAA Division III All-Americans

A recap of the 2014 NCAA Division III Championship Finals from the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

125 Mike Fuenffinger (Augsburg) major decision 12-4 over Lucas Malmberg (Messiah)
Fuenffinger had a dominant tournament with three major decisions, the last of which came in the finals. He used a lot of forward pressure to control the pace, dropping to an ankle and finishing on both legs quickly. On top, he kept smothering pressure on the Messiah freshman, forcing him to choose neutral in the second period. In the third, Malmberg had a ray of hope when he scored a quick two near fall points to start the period, but that was all he could muster, with Fuenffinger scoring the final takedown to secure the major right at the buzzer.

133 Kenny Anderson (Wartburg) decision 4-2 in sudden victory over Alex Gomez (Ithaca)
Gomez was the aggressor in the first period, but he could not secure a takedown against the 2x champ from Wartburg. After Anderson chose down to start the second, Gomez took advantage and piled up two minutes on top to get into the third period scoreless but with a commanding advantage in riding time. In between periods, it seemed like there was some indecision in the Ithaca corner about what to choose. Gomez ultimately chose bottom against Anderson, something nobody else in the tournament did. He nearly made it pay off with a reversal early in the period, but Anderson was able to reverse him back and get rid of the riding time advantage and send the match into overtime. In sudden victory, Anderson took his first real shot of the match and blew through a double leg to win his third straight title.

141 Kaleb Loht (Messiah) decision 6-3 over Matt Adcock (Whitewater)
Loht seemed to be head and shoulders above the rest of this weight class all weekend. He pressed the action, looking to close the gap, while Adcock worked from space looking for outside doubles. Near the end of the first, Adcock took a shot that Loht countered with a throwby and rideout to end the period up 2-0. He added another takedown and was in control the whole way. Adcock scored a late takedown to tighten the score, but it was too little too late as Loht ran his record to 48-1 to lead Division III in wins for the year.

149 Ryan Prater (Elmhurst) decision 4-2 over Bobby Dierna (Cortland)
Dierna got after it early, getting in on several attacks but not finding a finish. The period ended with no score as Dierna chose the bottom position. Prater made the most of his chance on top and was able to get legs in and get two points along with two minutes of riding time to end up with a 2-0 lead after two. A quick escape gave Prater a 3-0 lead that he was able to hold. A late takedown by Dierna closed the gap, but the escape and riding time were the different for Elmhurst’s fourth ever NCAA champion.

157 Nazar Kulchytskyy (Oshkosh) win by fall in 4:20 over Dimitri Boyer (Coe)
After a scare in the semis, Kulchytskyy did not let things get that close in the finals. He got to work early, scoring a takedown and working on a tilt. All tournament long, he dominated with solid positioning and an outstanding front headlock, and this was more of the same. Midway through the second period of a match he had well in hand, he was able to convert a Boyer shot into a nearside cradle and eventually worked for a fall. Kulchytskyy ended the tournament as a three time champ, the NCAA Most Dominant wrestler, and the tournament Outstanding Wrestler.

165 Cole Welter (Wartburg) decision 5-3 over Nick Carr (Washington & Jefferson)
Carr, a late season transfer for the Presidents, had surprised many by defeating the #1 seed to get to the finals. Welter was less of a surprise coming from the #2 slot. Carr was aggressive on his feet as usual, but the first period ended in a scoreless tie. Carr rode hard in the second to pick up just over a minute of riding time. Carr, recognizing his size disadvantage to the taller and bigger Welter, chose neutral to hang on to the riding time advantage. Eventually, Welter was too much and scored a couple of takedowns to take a 5-1 lead. Carr reversed Welter near the end, but Welter gave Wartburg a second champion.

174 Landon Williams (Wartburg) win by fall in 2:46 over Anthony Bonaventura (Waynesburg)
Williams was the top seed and undefeated against DIII competition. Bonaventura was unseeded, but had defeated the #2 and #3 seeds to become the most unexpected finalist of the evening. His good fortune ran out against the 2013 champion Williams. A early takedown and three sets of back points made it 8-0 very quickly for Williams. He went for one more tilt and was able to pin Bonavantura shortly before the first period expired to win his second title and end the night for the Knights as they salted away with their fourth straight title.

184 Riley Lefever (Wabash) decision 3-1 in sudden victory over Brian Broderick (TCNJ)
After the excitement of the previous match, things slowed down quite a bit in the 184 match. Neither wrestler made too many attempts, just trading escapes in each period. In overtime, Broderick took a shot near the edge that Lefever countered. As Broderick came up, Lefever dropped to a leg. Broderick looked like he was going to be able to fight it off and escape out of bounds, but Lefever stayed on it and was able to work to secure the other leg to end the match without slipping out of bounds. Lefever finished his freshman year undefeated.

197 Alex Coolidge (Cornell) decision 6-5 over Shane Siefert (Whitewater)
Siefert jumped on Coolidge and scored a takedown just 12 seconds into the match to take an early lead. A quick reversal and escape had the score 3-2 with both wrestlers on their feet and less than 30 seconds gone in the match. 3-3 heading into the third period, Siefert was the one with the reversal followed by an escape to take a 5-4 lead into the last minute of the match. Coolidge got in on Siefert’s leg with under 30 seconds to go and was able to secure the takedown. Siefert nearly escaped, but Coolidge was able to hang on for dear life and ride out the clock to take the one point win in front of the hometown crowd.

285 James Buss (Loras) decision 4-1 over Ryan Fank (Wartburg)
What a tournament for the sophomore from Loras. Buss scored the upset of the tournament in the semifinals, beating Augsburg’s Chad Johnson 7-5. Johnson was three years removed from his last DIII loss at the time. All that win did was get Buss into the finals against Fank. Fank had defeated Buss in both of their previous meetings this year, but Buss was obviously in the midst of a great run. Buss was able to convert a Fank shot into a takedown and rideout to finish the first period up 2-0. Fank scored a quick escape and the second period ended with Buss up by one. Buss chose neutral against the rangy Fank, and with not much time left, Fank took a shot that Buss was able to stop. He was nearly behind when you could see Fank visibly give up, knowing that no matter what happened in that situation, it was not his night.

Please post your team results as a comment to this post. In order to help you calculate your score, the link below will take you to a list of the team points scored by every wrestler who scored in the tournament. If a wrestler is not on the list, he scored zero team points at the tournament. List your team results using the format below, using the same name, and using the same email address as in your initial entry. I made picks before the tournament as well, so the example team below is my team.

2014 Team Points Per Wrestler

IF YOU DO NOT PRECISELY FOLLOW THE FORMAT SHOWN BELOW YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.

The format is as follows: weight, seed, last name, team, points

125, 3, Malmberg, Messiah, 17
133, unseeded, Giorgio, Coast Guard, 5.5
141, 6, Adcock, Whitewater, 15
149, 2, Prater, Elmhurst, 22
157, 1, Kulchytskyy, Oshkosh, 23
165, 4, Gibson, Whitewater, 13
174, unseeded, Lenhardt, JWU, 8
184, 8, Thomson, Messiah, 15.5
197, 5, Soriano, Wartburg, 9.5
285, 7, Edgren, Whitewater, 0
Total 128.5

All-Americans per region:

West 8
East 12
Central 14
Mideast 15
Midwest 15
Northeast 16

Here are some easy links to follow the rest of the tournament. For full coverage, click here or the link in the center of the homepage.

Live Video

Live Brackets

2013 champion: Ricardo Gomez, Ithaca

2014 Field (with rankings)

This weight has a good mix of youth and experience, but the man on top right now is #1 ranked Paul Bewak of Johns Hopkins. Bewak has a single DIII loss this season but is 6-0 against wrestlers in the field. He was a freshman All-American in 2012 and qualified last year going 0-2 with his losses to the eventual 2nd and 4th place finishers. He was in a dogfight with Corrigan of TCNJ at the regional, but got things together enough to blank Mui in the finals 7-0. The other wrestler in the running for the top seed is #2 Gilberto Camacho of Wartburg, the 3rd place finisher last year. Like Bewak, he has a single DIII loss this year to an opponent not in the field. Incidentally, #3 Malmberg of Messiah also has one DIII loss to a wrestler not in the tournament but has wins over #5 Gunter and #6 Bidlingmaier. #4 Fuenffinger of Augsburg will challenge for a #3 seed and was an All-American at this weight a year ago and a qualifier in 2012.  He lost to Camacho and beat the other two qualifiers in his region.

#8 Matthias Ellis of Brockport was an All-American last year, finishing 8th to Fuenffinger, but he was in a battle to be the starter on his own team this season. Asher Kramer was the only DIII wrestler to beat Bewak this year while Ellis lost to Bewak, but Kramer lost both of his head to head matchups with his Brockport teammate, and now Ellis is back in the tournament aiming to again get on the podium. There are a few other returning athletes at this weight including #9 Ambrocio of Concordia Wisconsin who has qualified each of his three years in college, #7 Page of Central, and #6 Bidlingmaier who returns to the field after missing out in 2013.

2013 Champion: Kenny Anderson, Wartburg

2014 Field (with rankings)

Wartburg does not get many wrestlers from Massachusetts, but the one they have now has worked out well. Kenny Anderson followed up a 2012 title at 125 lbs. with a repeat at 133 in 2013. This year, he only competed in the second semester, but he was again the Central Regional champion. He had to deal with an injury that limited him to 13 matches, including two losses to wrestlers in his region. He got back on track at the regional, however, defeating both of them on his way to the championship. One of those wrestlers failed to qualify, but the other is #2 ranked Evan Obert of Luther, a 2013 All-American looking to beat last year’s 8th place finish. #3 Gomez of Ithaca was 6th last year and has just one DIII loss to Mendoza of Wilkes. #4 O’Boyle also has a single DIII loss that he avenged in the regional semifinals. #5 Border defeated Obert this season, but has some other losses to wrestlers in the field.

The Northeast Regional is the only one with three wrestlers ranked in the current top ten. Gomez has already been mentioned, but #8 Murray has gone 23-1 in a very Northeast-heavy schedule. He does have two wins over #9 Giorgio. Giorgio was a 2012 All-American, finishing 4th as a freshman at 125, but he only has wrestled 14 times this season. Will he be able to find his way onto the podium for a second time, or will his lack of competition hurt him too much? Opelt of Cornell is one of the surprise qualifiers at this weight. He defeated the previously #2 ranked Jimmy Gotto, the 125 runner up last season, 8-1 to earn his trip to Iowa. If he continues like that, he could be a bad first round draw for a seeded wrestler.

2013 Champion: Adam Sheley, La Crosse

2014 Field (with rankings)

Messiah’s Kaleb Loht is the leader in wins for all of Division III with 43, and 11 of those wins are against wrestlers in this weight class. He is undefeated against DIII opponents and has a common opponent win over #2 Jones of NYU. Jones was 5th at 133 last year and has just a pair of non-DIII losses on his record. He won the East Regional for the second year in a row and has settled into his new weight class nicely. #3 Bistis was an All-American in 2012 but, much like Loht, was unable to overcome a late season injury to qualify for last year’s tournament. Of the rest of the top ten, only #9 Giacolone and #10 Travis were in the tournament last year, but unranked Nathaniel Behnke of Eau Claire had a great tournament and won five matches to place 5th. He won the West Regional and is looking to shake off a few regular season losses to guys in this weight and put together another great run.

Logan Meister became Ferrum’s first ever national qualifier in their first year of having a program. He had seen very little DIII competition before the regional due to Ferrum’s relative isolation from the rest of Division III, but he does have a win over Behnke this season. He overcame his 8th seed position to finish third in a very good East Regional tournament. Just five wrestlers from Maryland are in the tournament this year, but two are at this weight. Meister is from Sykesville, while Banaszak of Chicago is a Bethesda native. Both freshmen are making their first of what could be many trips to the Championships. The last All-Americans from Maryland were Matt Cross and Tim Stewart who both made the podium for Messiah in 2012.

2013 Champion: Greg Sanders, Concordia Wisconsin

2014 Field (with rankings)

Cortland’s Bobby Dierna looks to be the biggest beneficiary of the unfortunate season-ending injury to last year’s champion Greg Sanders. That said, Dierna had already taken over the top spot at 149 well before that injury. He has gone a perfect 17-0 in Division III and defeated four of the other entries at this weight along the way. The #2 spot is held down by Ryan Prater of Elmhurst. Prater is a 2007 high school graduate who, like many former DI wrestlers in Illinois, eventually found his way to Elmhurst where he is undefeated this season at 16-0 with wins over #4 Pederson, #6 Long and #10 Drendel. #3 Mark Hartenstine of Wilkes sustained an injury at the tournament last year and failed to place, but he has gone 34-0 against DIII competition this season and comes in with an eye on the title. He also was a former DI wrestler, most recently at Campbell. #9 Dale Fava is the third former Division I competitor at this weight, and he will be one to watch in the lower seeds. He has had two razor thin losses to Hartenstine this year and could be a factor in the championship race.

Three former All-Americans are lurking in the bracket, ready to make a run at another podium appearance. #6 Long of Concordia-Moorhead was 5th last year and won the West Regional. #8 Lohr of Waynesburg was 7th and was the runner-up in the Mideast. Will Keeter of Augsburg is an interesting entry. He was 3rd in the NCAA at 141 in 2012, but only wrestled the first half of the season last year. This year, he started at 157 before dropping to 149 in February. He will be looking to return to the podium, but he faces an uphill battle in what has become a very tough weight class.

2013 Champion: Devin Biscaha, Springfield

2014 Field (with rankings)

If the field at 165 breathed a sigh of relief, the 157 field had a very different feeling when Nazar Kulchytskyy came back to 157 after a year at 165 to seek his third consecutive NCAA Championship. For the second straight year, he has not lost to a DIII opponent and has just four decisions among this 37 wins. #2 Boyer only has a loss to #7 Yonkovic of Wartburg, with whom he has split a pair of matches this year. He also has a pair of wins over #3 Dewitt of Loras. Dewitt’s only DIII losses are to Boyer and one to #6 Lefever of Wabash. He also has a win over Lefever and has defeated #7 Yonkovic and #8 Tardy along with West runner-up LeDuc of Concordia-Moorhead. #4 Garrison of Mount Union put together a good second half with wins over last year’s runner-up Krawchuk, #5 Savenok, two wins and a loss to #10 Gott, and 2013 All-American Etzel. Savenok beat a pair of tough wrestlers when he topped Lefever and Tardy in consecutive matches to win the Midwest Regional, setting himself up nicely for a deep postseason run.

Three All-Americans from last year are both in this weight and unranked. The weight did not look very good when the year started, but it has gained steam as the season progressed. Krawchuk of Wilkes was the runner-up here last year, Etzel placed 6th, and Ajagbe was 8th (at 149). That is not nearly as surprising as the fate of last year’s champion at this weight. Devin Biscaha surprised everyone with his unseeded run to the championship where he defeated four seeded wrestlers to win the title. He was defeated in the consolation finals at the Northeast Regional by Everet Desilets of Johnson & Wales, the only Rhode Island native in the field this year.

2014 NCAA Division III Championships Brackets

The game is different this year than in years past. Here are the rules.

1. Each player will select ten wrestlers, one from each weight class. You may select no more than one of a seed. For example, if you select #3 seed Lucas Malmberg at 125, you may not select the #3 seed at any other weight class. Players will also select two non-seeded wrestlers for a total of ten.

2. You do not have to select a wrestler from each of the eight seeds. If you do not select a certain seed, you can replace that choice with an additional non-seeded wrestler. You still must choose a wrestler, and only one wrestler, at each weight class.

3. You must select ten wrestlers. Follow the format of the example team at the bottom of this post.

4. Your team’s score will be the combined team points scored by your ten wrestlers. You can get this information from the Trackwrestling live brackets (link to be posted later in the results entry). To find a wrestler’s team points scored, click the link at the top right labeled “Teams.” From there, you will see a list of teams. Click a team’s score to see the team points scored by each of their wrestlers in the tournament. The column labeled “Total Points” will have the information you need. Collect the points for all of your wrestlers, add them up, and post your result in the comments section of a post to appear after the conclusion of the tournament.

5. Post your team of ten wrestlers as a comment on this post. Use a real email address with your entry so you can be contacted in case you are the winner. Entries must be posted before 11:59PM Eastern time on Thursday March 13th. Good luck!

Team Posting Format Example for Entries (Weight – Name, School, Seed)
125 – Bewak, JHU, 1
133 – O’Boyle, McDaniel, 2
141 – Bistis, Cortland, 3
149 – Mirman, John Carroll, 4
157 – Lefever, Wabash, 5
165 – Sampson, Wabash, 6
174 – Roach, St. Olaf, 7
184 – Thomson, Messiah, 8
197 – Reuteler, Concordia Wisconsin, unseeded
285 – Moore, Cortland, unseeded

Here is a helpful table

2013 Champion: Nazar Kulchytskyy, Oshkosh

2014 Field (with rankings)

The wrestlers at 165 could breathe a little easier once 2x NCAA Champion Nazar Kulchytskyy dropped to 157 halfway through the year. Now, Chris Burdge of Centenary is the favorite and is undefeated this year in an abbreviated season. Even though he is just 17-0, he has wins over #3 Gibson, #8 Carlo, and #10 Crowell to go along with his three All-American awards at 157. #2 Welter of Wartburg had a head-scratcher of a match in his only loss of the year to NYU’s Messinger at the National Duals. He rebounded quickly to defeat Gibson at that same event and sits at 30-1 with wins over #5 Mizaur of Dubuque and Coe’s Sewera. Gibson was 3rd at this weight last year and his only losses in DIII are to the two wrestlers ahead of him in the rankings. #4 Schimek of Ithaca is undefeated in DIII with wins over #7 Sampson, #10 Crowell, and Springfield’s Foley. The 2x NJCAA All-American is thriving in his first year in Division III, though he has yet to see the top three guys at the weight.

An interesting competitor here is #6 Nick Carr of Washington & Jefferson. Carr started his college career as a 149 for Kent State. After a stop at Division II Seton Hill, he transferred into Washington & Jefferson for the second semester. A more natural 157, Carr moved up to 165 thanks to 2013 All-American Josh Etzel occupying that weight for the President’s. Even if he is a bit undersized, Carr is undefeated in a short season. All nine of his wins are against wrestlers from his own region, including one each against the two other qualifiers from the Mideast and one against one of last year’s qualifiers at this weight.

#8 Tony Carlo of Ursinus is not your typical freshman. The 2010 high school graduate was a New York state runner up for Monsignor Farrell in New York, but college did not happen for him right away. Instead, he was working delivering flowers for the father of current teammate and fellow qualifier Christian Psomas when that relationship helped pique his interest in Ursinus. He started school there this year and spent the season getting back into wrestling shape. That culminated with a win over #9 Desir in the regional semifinal to punch his ticket for Cedar Rapids.

2014 NCAA Division III Championships Brackets

Interesting first round matchups:

141 – possible matchup of All-Americans – if Behnke beats Travis in a preliminary match, he will have Jones

157 – preliminary round matchup of NCAA finalists Kulchytskyy vs Krawchuk

174 – regional final rematch of Puca vs Lenhardt – Lenhardt medically forfeited at the regional – both placed last year

Seeded Wrestlers with Preliminary Matches
125 – Bewak (1), Page (7)
141 – Loht (1)
157 – Kulchytskyy (1), Savenok (7)
165 – Sampson (6)
174 – Roach (7)
184 – Broderick (2), Thomson (8)
197 – Hechsel (8)
285 – Kasprick (3)