It was a wild day of wrestling at the US Cellular Center.  Two unseeded wrestlers made the semis (Paulish and Miller), while two former finalists were eliminated (Djoumessi and Vanderhyde).  Some teams also had a wrestler place for the first time in a while.  See the following list:

Etown – Tyler Erdman, first since 1996
Messiah – Craig Gin, first since 2003
Southern Main – Mike Morin, first ever
Wheaton – Toby Boltz, first since 2003
Lakeland – Adam Sutter, first since 2002

All-Americans by conference
Centennial 2/11
Empire 10/15
Great Lakes 17/26
Iowa 20/33
Metro 4/16
Midwest 8/15
New England 5/14
Ohio 2/11
Wisconsin 12/19

More to come.  Wrestling starts at 10 with semis and consolations.

Brackets

Wrestling411 Coverage – featuring live updates

Augsburg took 8 to the quarters and leads after session 1.  Biggest news so far is the fact that the top seeds at 174 and 197 failed to make it out of the first session, losing 2 quick matches.  Owens of JWU lost to Grothus of Coe and Thomason of York at 174.  Bonander of Luther fell in the first round to Holforty (again) of Eau Claire before dropping an 8-4 match to Pizarro of Wilkes.

Seeds 4, 5, 6, and 7 dropped their opening matches at 157 in the weight that least followed expectations.  All top 8 seeds at 125 advanced, though not without drama, as a few had to come from behind.  Overall, 60 out of 80 seeded wrestlers made the quarterfinals, leaving 20 upsets.

To watch for tonight are intriguing quarterfinal matchups including yet another Rush-Kist matchup at 125, Augsburg vs. Wartburg at 141, unseeded Miller and DiColo going at it for a semifinal berth at 157, returning champ Burkle of Coe trying to turn the tables on Terrell after two losses at 165, and a battle of returning All-Americans Corsello and Geesman at 285.

In the wrestlebacks, only 157 will have a matchup of seeded wrestlers right off the bat as #4 Goldstein and #5 Milks wrestle wrestle for the opportunity to take on the Adams/Martini loser in the All-American round.  Djoumessi is the top seed still in the tournament, as all the #1’s either won or were eliminated.  He will take on Barclay and then the Wilcox/Baxter loser in the All-American round.  If Djoumessi wins and Wilcox loses, we’ll have the unexpected #1 vs #2 matchup in the All-American round.

d3wrestle.com will be doing its best to provide updates throughout the tournament as it happens.  We’ll try to give more than just results, as the brackets can give you that, and we want to give a sense of what is actually happening here at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.  Stay up to date either by going to http://twitter.com/d3wrestle or keeping an eye on the right hand sidebar.  That box will always show the last ten updates as well as when they were each made.

2008 Champion: Dan Laurent (Lacrosse)
Returning All-Americans: Glenn Geesman (MIT), Kyle Bilquist (Delaware Valley), Mark Corsello (Elmhurst)

Kyle Bilquist is the top seed, but could be tested early.  His potential quarterfinal match will be with the only DIII wrestler to beat him this season in eighth seeded Andrew Witzel of Augsburg.  Also in the top half of the bracket is the third place finisher at the national tournament from a year ago; fourth seeded Glenn Geesman is a powerful wrestler who has the ability to get hot and run the table.  Geesman did have a loss at the New England tournament to the dangerous Chris Brown of Springfield.  If Brown can find a way to beat returning All American Mark Corsello (Elmhurst), we could have a pair of top half quarterfinals featuring potential bracket busting rematches.

Defending National Champion Dan Laurent of Lacrosse highlights the bottom half of the bracket.  Laurent took a couple of early losses this year, but has been wrestling very well in the second half of the season.  His experience proves that he knows what it takes to go all the way at the big show.  Other top challengers in this half of the bracket include John Helgerson and Brock Glotfelty.  Helgerson of Wartburg is the three seed and he has plenty of quality wins.  It is his first time in the starting lineup, but being a part of Wartburg’s tradition should take care of any inexperience.  McDaniels Glotfelty holds the weights best overall record with 34 wins to only 1 loss.

One other first round match features a pair of darkhorse contenders at the weight.  Seventh seeded Mitch Sander was considered one of the favorites for much of the season, however a poor showing at the Iowa conference tournament leaves him with a bit of an uphill battle.  His first round match will pit Sander against Anthony Carothers of Heidelberg.  Since becoming the starter part way into the season, the unseeded Carothers owns a number of impressive wins including beating Corsello.  Carothers could be a trap match for a seeded wrestler either in the championship or the consolation rounds.

Heavyweight is loaded with potential champions and All Americans.  With a lot of intriguing matchups any number of guys could end up in the finals as well as the placing rounds.

Seeds
1. Bilquist, Delaware Valley
2. Laurent, UW-Lacrosse
3. Helgerson, Wartburg
4. Geesman, MIT
5. Corsello, Elmhurst
6. Glotfelty, McDaniel
7. Sander, Coe
8. Witzel, Augsburg

2008 Champion: Matt Miller, Lycoming
Returning All-Americans: Rob Kramer (Coe), Alec Bonander (Luther), Josh Holforty (UW-Eau Claire), Anthony Neumann (Concordia Moorhead)

Alec Bonander has gone wire to wire in the top spot in the rankings and comes in as the top seed, one spot higher than last year.  He underperformed his seed last year, but he comes in undefeated in DIII and will be favored.  The second seed, Massey from Augsburg, has 15 falls and also hasn’t lost to a DIII opponent.  These two are obviously favored to meet in the finals, but 197 is a thick weight with a number of very talented wrestlers who could spoil the party.

Voeck of Whitewater has come on strong, winning 29 of his last 30 matches, including a WIAC title over Moore of La Crosse.  Boston University transfer Malo of Williams started the year at 184 before moving up to 197 and defeating a number of top contenders first semester before moving up to this weight for good in January.  Five seed Neumann and seven seed Kramer are returning All-Americans sandwiched around six seed Wonderlin.  Andy Moore of La Crosse has had a breakout year for the Eagles.

Indicative of the strength of the weight is the fact that All-American Holforty is unseeded.  He drew Bonander in the first round again.  Holforty won last year, so Bonander will be looking to get revenge and to get off on the right foot in his quest for a national title.  The weight is one of the biggest in the tournament, and it’s a good bet that there will be a number of upsets.

Seeds
1. Bonander, Luther
2. Massey, Augsburg
3. Voeck, UW-Whitewater
4. Malo, Williams
5. Neumann, Concordia Moorhead
6. Wonderlin, Dubuque
7. Kramer, Coe
8. Moore, UW-La Crosse

Update: Entries are now closed, and any entry left after last night’s 8pm deadline has been deleted

Here is a picks game for the 2009 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.  This year, first prize is a d3wrestle.com t-shirt (choice of Ringer, Value, or V-Neck).  In order to win the prize, the email address you enter with your picks must be real, as that is how you will be contacted should you win.

Rules:

1.  You get 5000 points and one entry per person.  Each wrestler is worth a certain number of points based on his ranking as shown in the document below.  You cannot go over 5000 when making your team but under is fine.  If you don’t spend points, you lose them.  You cannot add them back into your total score.

2.  You do not have to pick a wrestler from every weight if you do not want to.  You may may only choose a maximum of one wrestler per weight.

3.  You score points only when your wrestler places in the National tournament.  The point value you score corresponds with the price of each ranking.  ie.  #1 ranked wrestler costs 1000 pts.  1st place earns 1000 pts.; #2 rank costs 900 pts, 2nd place earns 900 points, all the way down to 8th place and 300 points.

4.  Team with the most points wins.

5. Tiebreaking criteria:
a. Most total NCAA champions on your team
b. Most total All-Americans
c. Team with most wrestlers to win at least one match
d. Tiebreaker to be determined later (if necessary)

Enter your team in the comments section of this post by 8pm Eastern on March 4th, 2009.  This is just to track your entries.  When you enter your team, please list all wrestlers in the following format: name, school, weight, points (e.g., Wonderlin, Dubuque, 197, 500) and then total your points.  It is your responsibility to compute your own score and leave that score in the comment section of a future post after the NCAA tournament.  If you would like to discuss the game, please do so in the forum, as I will ruthlessly delete all comments on this post not comprised solely of team entries.

At the conclusion of the NCAA tournament, d3wrestle.com will examine the highest scoring entry to be sure that the score is in fact correct and the team used matches the initial entry.  Then, the winner will be contacted at the email address given in order to set up delivery of the prize.

d3wrestle.com 2009 Fantasy Wrestling Game Point Sheet

2008 Champion: Romeo Djoumessi, Wartburg
Returning All-Americans: Djoumessi, Mike Wilcox (Delaware Valley), Gabe Youel (North Central), Josh Zabel (UW-La Crosse), Bryan Lenhardt (Johnson & Wales)

All four semifinalists form last year return, though the top two seeds are reversed.  Mike Wilcox pinned Romeo Djoumessi in a dual meet earlier this year to claim the top seed, and Djoumessi is coming off a knee injury that seriously abbreviated his season to just ten matches to end the year.  Both are very good and likely looking forward to meeting for a third time in the finals.  Wilcox has been very good this year with 9 falls and 11 tech falls.  He can put points on the board.  Djoumessi combines an aggressive style with great athleticism.

That said, neither can overlook the other top wrestlers in this weight.  Third seed Phil Moenkedick has handled to move up to 184 nicely and it undefeated this season at 32-0.  He has three wins over Baxter and one over Youel.  Interestingly, only 14 of his 32 wins have come against DIII competition.  Gabe Youel sputtered a bit at the regional, taking two of his three losses on the year that day.  His only other loss is to Boltz of Wheaton, a loss he avenged in each of the next two weekends.  He hopes that the regional was just a bad day and not indicative of where this tournament is headed.  He has defeated five of the other qualifiers this year.

184 is a thick weight with returning All-Americans at the 5th and 6th seeds in Zabel and Lenhardt.  Zabel has dropped matches to Youel and Wilcox this year, but not to any other DIII opponent, and could set up a rematch with Youel in the quarters and Wilcox in the semis with a good performance on Friday.  Lenhardt is 40-2, but he had to fight his way back through the convoluted wrestle backs in the New England conference to win the automatic bid at his weight.  The last two seeds were also qualifiers here last year that failed to place.

The rest of the weight includes a number of talented wrestlers who could end up as a bad draw for a seed.  Adams is 27-3, Horn is 29-2, and Kelley if 14-2.  Additionally, the weight features the only athlete in the tournament with a losing record in Barclay.  Laes from Lawrence will sadly be wrestling in what looks like the last NCAA tournament for his school, as they currently plan to drop the sport after this season.

Seeds
1. Wilcox, Delaware Valley
2. Djoumessi, Wartburg
3. Moenkedick, Concordia Moorhead
4. Youel, North Central
5. Zabel, UW-La Crosse
6. Lenhard, Johnson & Wales
7. Engelland, UW-Stevens Point
8. Baxter, St. John’s

2008 Champion: Josh Chelf, UW-La Crosse
Returning All-Americans: Jerome Owens (Johnson & Wales), Kyle Vanderhyde (Olivet), Kyle Kerhli (Cornell)

This could be one of the more anticipated weights in the tournament with a very good top three and a solid group below them.  Jerome Owens and Rocky Mantella are both undefeated, and both have defeated 2x All-American Vanderhyde in close matches this year.  Mantella and Vanderhyde could meet again in the semis just two weeks after an overtime battle at the regional.  Owens defeated Vanderhyde, but has not seen the same level of schedule as Mantell and Midlands placer Vanderhyde.

It seems like a step down from the top three, but there are some dangerous wrestlers between 4 and 8.  Kehrli was an All-American and can score in bunches on top.  Priest has not lost in Division III since the first week of the season, and has wins over a number of the other competitors.  Molitor has racked up a lot of falls this year on his way to a Great Lakes title, though he was pinned by Mantella.

Carlson and Brown round out the seeds, but a number of other athletes could have been seeded as well.  Reilly and Thomason from the Metro conference have had strong years, and Reilly had his second great Metro tournament in a row, though it remains to be seen if he can keep that momentum going through the NCAA tournament.  Schmitz and Dormann may run into each other early on, but either is also capable of pulling an upset and ruining a seed’s day.

Seeds
1. Owens, JWU
2. Mantella, Delaware Valley
3. Vanderhyde, Olivet
4. Priest, Ithaca
5. Kehrli, Cornell
6. Molitor, Augsburg
7. Carlson, Chicago
8. Brown, Dubuque

2008 Champion: Tyler Burkle, Coe
Returning All-Americans: Burkle, Justin Hanson (Wartburg), Ben Hoover (Maranatha), Ben Youel (North Central), Josh Terrell (Dubuque, 157), Justin Bonitatis (TCNJ)

Lots of returning quality at this weight, including both finalists.  Unlike the last two weights, the returning champ has fallen all the way to the 5th seed.  Burkle was undefeated last year on his way to the championship, but he has had more trouble this year, finishing 3rd in his conference and taking six losses, including three to Hanson and two to Terrell.  Hanson takes over as the top seed, getting in a full season after only 12 matches last year.  Hoover, last year’s runner-up comes in at #2, and like last year, he is wrestling well when it means the most.

Ben Youel has split with Hanson and Hoover this year, winning his last against Hanson, but losing the Great Lakes final to Hoover.  Terrell has made his name this year with two wins over Burkle against one loss, though he has lost to the seventh seeded Wozniak.  Michael Morin is one of a half dozen undefeated wrestlers in the tournament, coming in at the sixth seed.  He has wrestled mostly against his own conference, but has a win over the currently injured Zempel.

Bonitatis placed here last year and is very explosive.  His first round matchup with Dahlheimer will be quite a contrast in styles.  Renaut was the champ at the All-Academies, and he is not one to overlook, even though he has not seen much of this competition before.  Nagel of Whitewater is the last returner not to be mentioned yet, though he fell to Ferguson of La Crosse in the WIAC tournament as well as Wozniak.

Seeds
1. Hanson, Wartburg
2. Hoover, Maranatha
3. Youel, North Central
4. Terrell, Dubuque
5. Burkle, Coe
6. Morin, Southern Maine
7. Wozniak, UW-Stevens Point
8. Bonitatis, TCNJ

2008 Champion: Aaron Wernimont, Wartburg
Returning All-Americans: Wernimont, Jason Brew (Olivet), Jason Adams (Augsburg, 141), Andrew Goldstein (Gettysburg), Jesse Milks (UW-Platteville), Johanson Quist (Luther, 149)

Here is another weight where both finalists return as the top two seeds, but this time, there’s no question about who is favored to win.  Aaron Wernimont has won 76 matches in a row leading into the NCAA tournament and rolled through last year’s event.  Brew hopes to again make the final and, if necessary, turn the tables on Wernimont and win his first NCAA title.  Brew has an attacking style that puts points on the board, but Wernimont’s style features solid, mistake free wrestling.

Jason Adams was a runner-up at 141 last year, but he moves up two weight classes to see if he can repeat that performance at 157.  After a few slip ups early in the year, he’s wrestled well of late, only losing to Wernimont and DII champ Meneely since December.  Goldstein comes back at the weight where he placed 8th last year and is 24-0 in half a season’s work.  The last returning All-American at 157 is Milks, who has just a single loss to Mizer in his abbreviated season.

Hanson was in the tournament last year before bowing out with an injury.  Baarson delivered one of those early season losses to Adams, and Horwath is the second 141 lb. qualifier from last year to make the move up this weight class for 2009.  A wildcard could be returning 149 lb. All-American Johanson Quist of Luther.  He spent all year at 149 before moving up to 157 for the IIAC tournament and placing third behind Wernimont and Hanson.

Mike Martini and Zach Mizer are making return trips to the tournament in hopes of getting that first All-American honor, and could each be a matchup problem for a seeded wrestler.  Gin beat Horwath at the Empire Conference, and Luke Miller upset Mizer in the OAC final.

Seeds
1. Wernimont, Wartburg
2. Brew, Olivet
3. Adams, Augsburg
4. Goldstein, Gettysburg
5. Milks, UW-Platteville
6. Hanson, Loras
7. Baarson, St. John’s
8. Horwath, Ithaca

2008 Champion: Jacob Naig, Wartburg
Returning All-Americans: Naig, Willy Holst (Augsburg), Paul LeBlanc (Cortland), Matt Mauseth (UW-Lax)

Naig and Holst were on a collision course for the finals last year before Elliot Spence upset Holst in the semis.  This year, little has changed, though the two have switched seeds.  The anticipated matchup between the two that we missed last year has happened twice this year in dual meets, and Holst has come out on top both times to earn the top seed here.  It will be tough for any challenger to stop a third match in the finals, but the same could have been said last year.

Hoping to play the spoiler are the other two returning All-Americans Paul LeBlanc and Matt Mauseth.  Mauseth pinned LeBlanc in the consolation round of the NCAA tournament, but LeBlanc owns the third seed with an undefeated DIII record compared to 4 losses in DIII for Mauseth.  Of those, only Holst is in this weight.  Along with first time qualifier Dan Mizener of John Carroll, Centennial Conference qualifiers Kein and Twito each return for their second shot at All-American status.

Smith of Wilkes, Woszczak of Ithaca, and Cammisa of Bridgewater State return to the same weight they wrestled here last year, making a total of eight wrestlers who were in this same bracket in 2008.  Woszcak has two overtime losses to LeBlanc, Smith has a win over LeBlanc, and Cammisa is a two time qualifier.  Tyler Branham was an All-American two years ago at 141 for TCNJ, and most of the other qualifiers could surely pull an upset and make their way onto the podium.

Seeds
1. Holst, Augsburg
2. Naig, Wartburg
3. LeBlanc, Cortland
4. Mauseth, UW-Lax
5. Mizener, John Carroll
6. Kein, Muhlenberg
7. Twito, USMMA
8. Smith, Wilkes

2008 Champion: Michael Bonora, Rhode Island
Returning All-Americans: Austin Bautista, UW-Whitewater

This weight class cleared out considerably from last season, as 7 of the 8 All-Americans either graduated or changed weights.  That leaves 7th place finisher and wall to wall #1 ranked Austin Bautista as the top seed an favored to win.  He’s earned the spot with a 36-1 record and two wins over McKray this year.  McKray was highly ranked for much of last season before losing his spot to Matt Kelly late in the season.  With Kelly down to 133, McKray is back at 141 and poised to make a run deep into the tournament.  His only DIII losses are those two to Bautista, and he is fresh off an IIAC championship.

It looks like a step down from the top two to the rest of the field, and seeds 3-8 are all very close.  Baum is a two time qualifier coming of a strong conference tournament, while Batsukh is another qualifier fresh off a regional championship.  Beshada won the Centennial again and hasn’t lost in DIII since November.  DeCleene, Valek, and Smith are right behind that group, and even unseeded wrestlers like Paxos, Garber, and Loy cannot be overlooked.

Even though there are not a lot of returning All-Americans, five of the competitors were in this weight last year and Batsukh qualified in 2007.  It should be a competitve weight with a whole group of wrestlers looking to knock off one of the top two seeds and prevent a third meeting between Bautista and McKray.

Seeds
1. Bautista, UW-Whitewater
2. Zach McKray, Wartburg
3. Luke Baum, RIT
4. Minga Batsukh, St. John’s
5. James Beshada, USMMA
6. Chase DeCleene, UW-Stevens Point
7. Tony Valek, Augsburg
8. Derrick Smith, Oswego

2008 Champion: David Morgain, King’s
Returning All-Americans: Travis Lang (Augsburg), Nichalos Nothern (Cornell), Zac Bartlett (Luther), Mogi Baatar (St. John’s, 125)

The highest returning placewinner is also the top seed this year in Augsburg’s Travis Lang.  Lang is 31-1 this season, though that one loss was in the regional final to Baatar of St. John’s.  Just like Sheetz in the weight below, Lang is dangerous with his headlock that has helped him rack up 21 falls this year.  Brandon Ball of Coe has come on strong of late and won an IIAC weight class featuring three returning All-Americans.  He has split with the 3rd ranked Clemmer and gone 2-2 against #4 Kelly of Wartburg.  In both cases, Ball has won the most recent matches, but the difference between the three wrestlers is razor thin.

Moving up from 125 Baatar is another who has been wrestling well of late.  He won the Great Lakes over Lang, though Lang has beaten him twice this season, and Clemmer and Bartlett have also taken wins over Baatar.  A wildcard at 133 may be Cucciniello of Johnson & Wales.  He is 22-1 with just a loss to Kelly blemishing his record.  He has not wrestled any other contenders this year, so he could sneak up on some people.  One thing for sure is that he puts points on the scoreboard.

The only other returning qualifier is Greene of Merchant Marine Academy.  He has a win over Clemmer and could be a bad early draw for one of the seeds.  The rest of the qualifiers are all talented enough to pull an upset in a weight with good quality from top to bottom.

Seeds
1. Lang, Augsburg
2. Ball, Coe
3. Clemmer, Delaware Valley
4. Kelly, Wartburg
5. Baatar, St. John’s
6. Bartlett, Luther
7. Cucciniello, Johnson & Wales
8. Nothern, Cornell

2008 Champion: Seth Flodeen, Augsburg
Returning All-Americans: Flodeen, Clayton Rush (Coe), Jake Oster (Elmhurst), Chris Sheetz (Delaware Valley)

Both of last year’s finalists return from a match where both wrestlers were on their backs, yet the whole thing was over barely two minutes after it started.  Seth Flodeen, the champ, is back but has lost to a few of the other wrestlers in the bracket.  Clayton Rush has lost just once since his defeat in the finals last year. That loss was to the always dangerous Jake Oster of Elmhurst.  Oster, the top seeded wrestler at 125, has pinned both Rush and Flodeen this year on his way to a 23-0 record with 17 falls.  No matter the score, he is always a threat to pin.  Delaware Valley All-American Chris Sheetz can also win a match at any time with his outstanding headlock.

The weight class also features a number of talented newcomers in their first year in Division III wrestling.  Iowa State transfer Mark Kist of Wartburg has had close matches with Rush.  Pennsylvania placewinners and fellow freshmen Seth Ecker (Ithaca) and Tyler Erdman (Elizabethtown) have also had very good debut seasons, each winning their conference tournaments.  In terms of returning athletes, McInally of RIT and Hoxie of Heidelberg were also in this weight class last year.

If the seeds hold, we could see a pair of rematches in the semifinals between Oster and Flodeen at the top of the bracket and Sheetz and Rush on the bottom with the potential for #1 Oster and #2 Rush to meet up again in what would surely be an exciting final.

Seeds
1. Oster, Elmhurst
2. Rush, Coe
3. Sheetz, Delaware Valley
4. Flodeen, Augsburg
5. Ecker, Ithaca
6. McInally, RIT
7. Kist, Wartburg
8. Erdman, Etown

Click to view

Weight by weight previews will begin to appear tomorrow.  125, 133, and 141 will go up Tuesday.  149, 157, 165, and 174 will appear Wednesday.  184, 197, and 285 will go up Thursday.

Brackets and finals seeds will be up on the NCAA website after 6pm EST today.

Since a lot of people seem to be asking in the comments, here’s a little info.

As of the 2008 championshps, the seeding is done by two coaches from each conference.  Each seeding rep ranks the top 10 in each weight and a point total is generated.  Then, a conference call takes place the Sunday before the championships to discuss the seeds with the Division III wrestling committee.  After the call, the committee finalizes the seeds.  The seeds are entered and the rest of the wrestlers are drawn into the bracket.  Tentative brackets will be released on the NCAA web site at 6pm Eastern on Monday, March 2nd.

The replacement deadline for injured athletes is 12pm on March 2nd.