Weight Class Preview: 141
Qualifiers by Weight

Mike Bonora is the highest returning placewinner and has not dropped from the top spot in the rankings all year.  He has not lost to a D3 opponent this year, but like a lot of New England wrestlers, has not seen many of the other competitors.  He has convincing wins over qualifiers Beshada, Rittenburg, and Horwath, but has yet to face a seeded opponent.  His track record, however, suggests he’ll be just fine this weekend.  He has defeated 3x D1 NCAA qualifier C.J. Ettelson at the Midlands in December and will be tough matchup with a compact body and attacking style.

Hall is a 3x qualifier who took last year off when Ricky LaForge made the finals for Delaware Valley.  He has no D3 losses at 141, but does have some at 149.  He has wins over Manoogian, Adams, and Grawin, and he also defeated McKray of Wartburg who was highly ranked until Kelly beat him out for the spot.  Kelly is 18-1 with his only loss at 133 to Hulegaard.  He has topped Mercer, Adams, and Grawin and has very solid defense, even when giving up his leg.

At 4 and 5, Hult and Manoogian have yet to face each other, even though their teams wrestled a dual meet.  Hult is back for one more year and has settled into 141 nicely after starting at 149.  He is difficult to score on and able to turn a lot of wrestlers.  He’s beaten Baum, Horwath, and Rittenburg.  Manoogian is a returning qualifier who has had an abbreviated season, but he does have a win over Sanchez.  Sanchez is looking for that first All-American award and has beaten Adams, Grawin, Mercer, and Bautista.

At the lower seeds and beyond, Beshada isn’t in a bad spot on the bracket to sneak in and place, while late addition Baum is in a similar situation.  If the seeds go as planned, those two could be wrestling on Friday night to see who moves on the All-America round.  The winner of that match may have to face #7 Bautista to place, however.

Weight Class Preview: 184
Qualifiers by Weight

Romeo Djoumessi comes in with zero losses and titles at Coe, Simpson, Wartburg, and the IIAC.  A tremendous athlete, he has convincing wins over each of the 2, 3, and 4 seeds.  He is one of the bigger favorites and the highest returning placewinner from last season.  Not content to coast on his athleticism, he gets after it and looks to score.

Wilcox is a junior college All-American with only a single D3 loss to Djoumessi.  Half of his 25 wins are by either fall or technical fall, and he has beat fellow qualifiers Gotreau, Barclay, and Smith.  Gabe Youel followed up an excellent freshman season with an even better sophomore one, racking up 44 wins against just four losses.  He has lost to Djoumessi and Engelland, but defeated Figgins, Zabel, and Baxter.  He could be faced with a stern test in All-American Coleman in the quarterfinals.  WIAC wrestlers Zable and Engelland are the four and five seeds.  Zabel has two wins over the freshman Engelland and 11 matches overall against qualifiers at this weight.  Engelland is part of that impressive group of UW-SP upper weights and has wins over Youel, Baxter, and Figgins in half a season of competition.  His only D3 losses are to Zabel.

Moving down the seeds, #6 Coleman wrestled a great tournament last season to take 6th, and he has wins over Fishel, Quinlan, and All-American LeBlanc.  Gotreau was an All-American at 174 last season, just missing the finals before dropping to 5th.  This year, he’s beaten Zabel and Baxter, but has lost to both of them as well as Djoumessi, Fishel, and Wilcox.  Figgins was an All-American last year, but has lost to a number of higher seeded wrestlers along the way this year like Djoumessi, Youel, and Engelland.  He has defeated Baxter, LeBlanc, and Barclay, however.

Beyond the seeds, LeBlanc was an All-American at 174 last year; Quinlan is 30-3, while Smith and Fishel are now 2x qualifiers.

Weight Class Preview: 165
Qualifiers by Weight

165 may be the deepest weight class in the tournament, which explains why it was also the biggest until Dahlheimer of Lycoming was forced to pull out.  The top seed Palmer is a formidable competitor, but he hasn’t been without some close calls this year including a last second takedown to beat Zempel of Messiah.  That said, he’s a pretty clear favorite and has been ranked #1 all year long.  He was 3rd here last year (splitting with Bradshaw) and has placed in the Midlands before.  He could, however have to face Zempel again in the quarterfinals

Burkle is undefeated in the #2 slot and is another solid competitor who is very good defensively, a trait that leads to NCAA success.  He has solid wins over four of the other entrants here, but he’ll have a tough road to the finals, just like anyone in this weight.  Russo has missed a lot of time with a injuries, but surprised some to come back for the OAC tournament where he cruised.  His only loss was 13-12 in a match where he sustained the injury but couldn’t hold on for the win.  He was 6th last year.  Hoover is a transfer to Maranatha who steamrolled the field at the Great Lakes Region, pinning the #6 seed Youel in the first period.  Hoover has a win by fall wrestling unattached at the Midlands over former D1 champ Lackey.  Youel is hard nosed and has the will to win, and he also dealt Hoover his only official loss back in November.

The higher seeds should be careful not to overlook the three time All-American Bradshaw.  He split with Palmer last year and has always shown up ready for the NCAA tournament.  Bogardus has wrestled close with Bradshaw and beaten Zempel twice.  Zempel has wrestled a monster schedule with 13 matches against national qualifiers, notably hammering Cruickshank 21-3.  Cruickshank was a qualifier at 184 last year, and had Palmer on his back in an early season dual, but he is just 18-13.

There is no easy road to the second day at 165, and there could be a lot of upsets along the way.

Weight Class Preview: 285
Qualifiers by Weight

Trevor Hiffa has been the wall-to-wall top wrestler at this weight, and he has backed it up with an undefeated D3 record, topping all three qualifiers he’s faced in convincing fashion.  None of those three (Taylor, Panizzi, and Williams) are high seeds, but the All-American sits at the top of the bracket at 26-1.  One thing that may work against Hiffa is his size.  He is a small heavyweight which allows him to move well, but he’ll have to be wary of some of the larger wrestlers like Borchers, who outweighs him by 50 pounds.  Bilquist comes in undefeated in D3 as well and has defeated Borchers and Panizzi.  He was 0-2 at the NCAA last year, but his only loss on the season is to a wrestler from Virginia Tech the first week of the season.  He is very tough to score on.

Rutledge is the highest returning placewinner, taking 3rd for Knox last season, but he recently fell in the tiebreaker to the freshman Corsello of Elmhurst, though he has two wins over the Blue Jay.  He also has a loss to Borchers’ backup.  He is, however, big and strong with the talent to take this weight class.  Corsello is the only qualifier he’s wrestled this year.  Borchers has been waiting his turn behind 4x finalist Blake Gillis for a few years, and he has made the most of his time in the spotlight, climbing the rankings and winning the IIAC over Miller of Luther.  His only D3 losses are the match that opened the nation’s eyes to Corsello and a 3-2 loss to Bilquist.  Corsello is set up nicely to place in the bracket with a bye into the quarterfinals and a first consolation match against the 22-20 Payne should he fail to top Borchers again.

The next tier down has the likes of Bowers of Heidelberg and Miller of Luther.  2x qualifier Miller was a 2006 All-American who only has 18 matches this year including a wins over qualifiers Payne and Laurent to go along with the IIAC finals loss to Borchers.  Bowers qualified last year, going 1-2 with a loss to Rutledge to be eliminated.  This year, he’s 2-1 against Laurent and beat Corsello.

The rest of the field includes NCAA falls leader Taylor of Oswego.  He has 25 of them and the top contenders will have to be careful with him.  Panizzi is a heavyweight who shoots, while Geesman is 265 and solid with 20 falls of his own, including one over Taylor.

Weight Class Preview: 157
Qualifiers by Weight

Aaron Wernimont has been consistently at or near the top of both rankings all season long. He was eclipsed only by defending 141 champ Quincy Osborn and 2006 champ Joe Pflug, but neither of them will be in this weight class in Cedar Rapids this weekend. The top seed, Wernimont is 36-1 with his sole loss coming to Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State. He won the IIAC, defeating Hanson of Loras, but was hardly dominant in a 4-2 decision, giving up two stalling points in the third period. He is, however a serious favorite considering his 15-8 decision this season over the second seed, Jason Brew of Olivet and a 13-4 major over the #3 seed, Katz of Elmhurst.

Brew has eight losses, but only two are to D3 competition (Wernimont and Pflug). He also has defeated Katz as well as fellow qualifiers Herwig of Del Val and Milz of UW-Lax. Additionally, he was 4th at the Eastern Michigan Open, making the semifinals. He’s tough on his feet and keeps the action moving. Katz has come on strong this season after an up and down career. He’s tough to score on and has good short offense. Last year, he failed to place in the Great Lakes before putting it all together this year to go 33-6 with only 3 D3 losses (Wernimont, Brew, and Milks who he split with). Milks (29-4) is a tough sophomore who qualified last year, winning a match over All-American Spence. He has wins over Hanson, Milz, and Katz and losses to Katz and McCauley.

Further down the seeds are IIAC finalist Hanson of Loras and Metro Champ Hashimoto of NYU. Hanson has 13 losses compared to Hashimoto’s 3, but Hanson has the tougher schedule with 12 matches this year against NCAA qualifiers. Both have defeated Niedrich (Hashimoto 2x), but have very different styles, with Hanson more of a power wrestler who tries to tie his opponents up, while Hashimoto makes more leg attacks.

Lower and unseeded wrestlers who could surprise include the athletic Goldstein, Niedrich who has beaten him twice, and McCauley who has a win over Milks but faded a bit down the stretch.

2008 NCAA Division III Championships Brackets

One thing to note is that Dahlheimer of Lycoming is out at 165 and has been replaced by Baum of RIT at 141.  Dahlheimer was a likely seed, while Baum is unseeded.

The seeding is being finalized, the replacement deadline is noon today, and the brackets should be available on the NCAA website after 6pm tonight.  Once they are posted, the d3wrestle.com weight class previews will begin to appear.  Don’t forget to enter the d3wrestle.com picks game (there are 42 entries as of 8:40am).  To get you ready, here is a list of the top ranked wrestlers by the NWCA and d3wrestle.com.

125: Heilman
133: NWCA-Morgan, d3wrestle-Johnson
141: Bonora
149: Naig
157: Wernimont
165: Palmer
174: Chelf
184: Djoumessi
197: Miller
285: Hiffa

Here is a picks game for the 2008 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.

Rules:

1.  You get 5000 points.  Each wrestler is worth a certain number of points based on their ranking.  You cannot go over 5000 when making your team but under is fine.

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

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 12pm Eastern on March 5th, 2008.  This is just to track your entries.  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.

d3wrestle.com 2008 NCAA Championships Fantasy Wrestling Game Point Value Sheet

# of Home States Represented: 26

States with more than 10: PA, OH, NY, IA, MN, IL, NJ, WI

Hometowns with more than one qualifier
Bloomington, MN – Gotreau (Augsburg), Holforty (UW-Eau Claire)
Cedar Falls, IA – Miller (Wartburg), Twito (USMMA)
Crystal Lake, IL – Gabe and Ben Youel (North Central)
Des Plaines, IL – Bautista (UW-Whitewater), Katz (Elmhurst)
Emmetsburg, IA – Struthers and Naig (Wartburg)
Lima, OH – Sanchez and Bowers (Heidelberg)
Morrisville, NY – Paul and Treavor LeBlanc (Cortland)
Rochester, MN – Mauseth and Zabel (UW-Lax), Lynaugh (Augsburg)
Sparta, MI – Brew and Vanderhyde (Olivet)

Greatest Win Total by Weight
125: Cohen (Williams), Struthers (Wartburg); 35
133: Johnson (North Central); 45
141: Bonora (Rhode Island); 40
149: Spence (Mount St. Joseph); 40
157: Katz (Elmhurst); 40
165: Youel (North Central); 40
174: Brown (Dubuque); 38
184: Youel (North Central); 44
197: Hartt (Lakeland); 36
285: Borchers (Wartburg); 35

Total Winning Percentage of All Competitors: 81% (4,320-1,013)

Competitors by Class (redshirt freshmen considered freshmen, etc.)
Freshmen: 25
Sophomores: 32
Juniors: 48
Seniors: 55

The d3wrestle.com 2008 NCAA Championships Page can be found in the column to the left. Information will be posted in the main window as well, but will appear there permanently and be easy to find.

By the way, there is now a search box to the left as well as up in the page banner to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for on d3wrestle.com.

Qualifiers by Weight

Qualifiers by School

Qualifiers by Qualifying Tournament 

InterMat Postseason Headquarters

Championships Host Site