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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)

2013 Champion: Kyle Kwiat, Ohio Northern

2014 Field (with rankings)

Landon Williams of Wartburg can score points in bunches, as his 12 tech falls can attest. Last year, he finished in 4th place at 165 after winning the championship at that weight in 2012. This season, he has moved up to 174 and has not lost a single Division III match. He has wins over #4 Puca and #8 Lefever while winning three times against #3 Ball with the last being an impressive 13-2 major decision in the Central finals. #2 Dan Schiferl of Oshkosh is part of a potent 1-2 punch for the Titans with 2x champion Nazar Kulchytskyy at 157. Schiferl has one DIII loss that he avenged at the regional when he defeated #7 James Roach of St. Olaf. He has been defeated in the round of 12 in each of the past two championships, so this is his chance to finally get on the podium. #3 Ethan Ball of Coe has had a solid season with all four of his DIII losses coming to Wartburg wrestlers. He has wins over #4 Puca, a 2013 All-American, and Cornell’s Hamm. #6 Zotollo of TCNJ is the highest returning finisher at the weight with a fourth place finish in 2013. He has lost to Toribio, Sibblies, and #5 Plummer, but avenged the loss the Sibblies in the East Regional.

Jamie Jakes of Alma is the first qualifier for the Scots since the program was reinstated in 2011. Head Coach Todd Hibbs rebuilt the Olivet program and is working on doing the same at the other DIII Michigan school that was without wrestling from 1984-2011. Also of note at this weight is Colin Lenhardt of Johnson & Wales. Lenhardt wrestled all of last year at 184, placing 6th in the nation. He was also at 184 for almost all of this year before making a late drop to 174. He medically forfeited the regional final, so it will be interesting to see his form at a new weight at the NCAA Championships.

Read my article “Ten storylines heading into Division III Championships” in the first issue of The Open Mat Magazine. You can get a free three day trial at the link below.

The Open Mat Magazine Free Trial

2013 Champion: Joe Rau, Elmhurst

2014 Field (with rankings)

The rest of this weight is a mess, but the top spot is pretty obvious, at least before the NCAA Championships. Riley Lefever of Wabash has gone 37-0 in a fantastic debut season. He defeated #5 Holm of Olivet and #7 DeVilbiss of Luther multiple times during the season and also defeated Harrison of Concordia-Moorhead and Balderas of Elmhurst, who is #9 at 197. After Lefever, nobody has gotten through this group of 184 wrestlers without a loss. #2 Broderick lost to #4 Welch but nobody else. Both of them defeated #8 Thomson of Messiah, the 3rd place finisher at this weight last year. Thomson beat #5 Holm. #6 Deupree stopped Welch in the Northeast final after two previous losses to the Roger Williams wrestler. #3 Twohey split with #6 Holm, losing the last in the Midwest final, but beat Thomson. As you can see, the seeding here is pretty complicated.

What is not complicated is the great tournament #10 David Dibenedetto of Washington & Jefferson wrestled to even get here. He started the year at 174 and was successful, but not dominant at either weight. However, he got hot at the right time and beat last year’s 3rd and 4th place NCAA finishers at this weight in the regional before avenging an earlier loss to Fine of Waynesburg to win the Mideast Regional. Dibenedetto isn’t the only guy at this weight who started the year at 174. Ryan Dormann of Stevens is a three time qualifier at 174 who started this year hoping to make it four times. He moved up during the season and will look for his first All-American award after a second place finish in the East.

2013 Champion: Mike Benefiel, Elmhurst

2014 Field (with rankings)

Alex Coolidge of Cornell enters as the favorite after a runner up finish in 2013 and a win at the Central Regional, but he will definitely be challenged. He has split matches this year with #2 Shane Siefert of Whitewater who finished 4th in this weight last season. Coolidge also split with #4 Soriano of Wartburg, but as with Siefert, he won the most recent matchup to earn the #1 spot. Siefert has only that one loss to Coolidge on his DIII record this year, so he will be a definite contender for the title. #3 Joe Giaramita was 8th at 285 in 2012, but he has dropped to 197 this year and also has just one DIII loss to Parcel of Roger Williams, who he split with this season. #7 Karns and #8 Hechsel finished in 6th and 7th place, respectively, last year, and each will be looking for a second trip to the podium.

#5 Jacob Lowry of Thiel is the only undefeated wrestler in this weight, though the only wrestlers in the field he has faced are the two from his own region. He at least beat both of those guys, while Jake Reuteler of Eau Claire has not defeated any of the wrestlers in the field and has lost the the three he has faced. Two of the unranked wrestlers are making repeat appearances in the tournament, as Shane Parcel of Roger Williams qualified at 184 last season and Ryan Michaelis returns at 197. Michaelis seems like the better chance to place coming off his win over Hechsel, who spent a short time at #1 in the NWCA rankings,  in the regional semifinals.

2013 Champion: Chad Johnson, Augsburg

2014 Field (with rankings)

As has been stated elsewhere on this site, 2x defending champion Chad Johnson of Augsburg has not lost to a Division III opponent since 2011. He has been in control of this weight class since there and shows little sign of dropping a match in Cedar Rapids. He has already wrestled and defeated the #2, #4, #5, #6, and #10 heavyweights this year. The unenviable task of attempting to knock him off the top of the podium is led by #2 Ryan Fank of Wartburg. Fank was 7th last year, but his only DIII loss so far this season has been to Johnson. He beat #3 James Buss of Loras, last year’s 4th place finisher, twice already this season. Anthony Edgren of Whitewater was 5th last season, thought he split with Minske of La Crosse, with Minske taking the most recent matchup in the Midwest finals.

The Northeast Regional provides two of the better stories in this tournament. Winner Kyle McGuire of Trinity came into the region unseeded and beat each of the top three seeds on his way to the championship and a trip to Iowa. The third place finisher in the region, Ricky Caruso of Bridgewater State, lost his starting spot to a D1 transfer in 2012 and  missed all of 2013 with an injury but came back strong to win 40 matches this year and make his first trip to the tournament.

Number of Teams Represented: 65

d3wrestle.com top ten wrestlers who entered the regional and failed to qualify: 11

2013 All-Americans who failed to qualify: 8

Three returning NCAA Champions won their region (Anderson, Kulchytskyy, Johnson); one failed to qualify (Biscaha)

Trophy Contenders (5 or more qualifiers)