Brackets

Team Scores – Wartburg wins 6th title since 1996

Outstanding Wrestler:  Josh Chelf, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Coach of the Year: John Oostendorp, Coe College

Assistant Coach of the Year: Dustin Hinschberger, Coe College

Rookie Coach of the Year: Mike Clayton, Stevens Institute of Technology

NCAA Champions:
125: Seth Flodeen, Augsburg
133: Dave Morgan, King’s (2x champ)
141: Mike Bonora, Rhode Island (First NEWA champ since 1994)
149: Jacob Naig, Wartburg
157: Aaron Wernimont, Wartburg
165: Tyler Burkle, Coe (first ever from Coe)
174: Josh Chelf, UW-Lax (2x champ)
184: Romeo Djoumessi, Wartburg (undefeated)
197: Matt Miller, Lycoming (beat defending champ in final)
285: Dan Laurent, UW-Lax (#8 seed)

Click the link for a detailed breakdown by conference, but here is how the conferences fared.

2008 AA Distribution (full breakdown by weight)

Weight Class Previews:
125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

Weight Class Preview: 125
Qualifiers by Weight

Heilman has taken on all comers this season and come out on top every time except once against Rush, who he’s beaten three times, and twice against Big Ten opponents. He wrestles an attacking style but is not afraid to be unconventional when the need arises. The senior is talented and motivated to make that #1 seed stand up in front of the home crowd. He has 8 wins against national qualifiers including #2 Rush, #4 Struthers, and #7 Baatar. His quest, along with 159 others begins tomorrow.

Rush has had a brilliant freshman season and has four losses on the year. Three of those were to Heilman and one was to Struthers. He really gets after it and has enough talent to win this weight on the right day. The IIAC really dominates here with three of the top four seeds in Heilman, Rush, and #4 Struthers. #3 belongs to the unconventional Oster. He is tough enough as is, but he is an especially difficult matchup for a first time opponent. If he gets past Cohen in the first round, he’ll then face Vallejo for the third time in his career. Oster won the Wheaton tournament and stopped 2007 NCAA runner-up and #5 seed Flodeen in the regional final.

Sheetz is the #6 seed, and he is another highly touted freshman who came into college with impressive credentials. He has split with Struthers, but lost to Flodeen and Flickinger. He did top All-American Vallejo and Miller in the regional. Baatar steps in at #7 with a win over Flickinger but losses to the 1, 2, and 5 seeds. Flickinger is another returning All-American at this weight, and he is down at #8.

Vallejo comes in unseeded, but defeated Oster here last year on his way to an All-American finish. He’ll likely get another shot at Oster if the seeds hold. Moving on in this deep weight, there are previous qualifiers like Kingsland, McInally, and Penny that didn’t get seeds.

Looking at the bracket, there is no easy road, but Vallejo is set up fairly well to repeat his placing performance of last year, as long as he is ready for another go with Oster.

Weight Class Previews:
125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

Weight Class Preview: 197
Qualifiers by Weight

Miller has so far done an admirable job defending his NCAA title of a year ago, defeating #2 Bonander twice and not losing since an early season setback to Bollig. He was 2nd to Iowa State’s Bertolino at the Harold Nichols for his other loss of the year. While he’s tough on top, Miller is also able to win on his feet. He won’t have an easy road to a 2nd title, as he could see #4 Bollig, who defeated him, in the semifinals and Bonander in the finals. Both Bonander matches went into overtime, and neither wrestler was close to a takedown in the IIAC final. Still, Miller has to be the favorite to repeat.

Bonander has only lost in D3 to Miller, and he can hold his own with the best of the competitors here. He has defeated Kramer, Fogliano, Crespo, West, and Neumann to earn his seed. #3 Hartt is 36-1 with a win over Bollig and a loss in overtime to Holforty, though he won the first matchup. He had a disappointing end to last season in the region, but he turned it on this year to win the region and garner his #3 seed. Bollig has the win over Miller to his credit and has only a single loss to Hartt as a blemish on his record. This weight class has a very tough top four, despite the presence of only 13 competitors in th weight.

Fogliano has big move potential and has a 14-1 record, losing only to Bonander. Miller is undefeated in a similarly short season, while Holforty’s big win is over Hartt while also beating Neumann and Kramer. Crespo drew one of the byes in the first round, leaving him now one win short of All-American status, something that could be decided in the rubber match between him and Kramer. Each has one win against the other, and the third match may be for a chance to compete on Saturday.

Eric Vincent has yet to face any of the other qualifiers as a result of the unique King’s Point schedule, but he is a strong athlete who has come along well in his sophomore year. Of the unseeded wrestlers, Joe West is probably in the best spot in the bracket.

Weight Class Previews:
125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

Weight Class Preview: 174
Qualifiers by Weight

Josh Chelf blew through the competition last year and is poised to do so again this season. He was 4th at the Midlands, losing only to highly ranked D1 competition. He has yet to lose in D3 this year, though last year’s finalist Vanderhyde gave him a close match earlier this year, catching him in some upper body throws and Bath wrestled him close once as well. He’s defeated Bath, Lynaugh, Vanderhyde, Kehrli, Osgoodby, and Plowman this season and is coming off a 6-0 blanking of the #2 seed.

Bath was an All-American last year and is the #2 seed. He has 7 losses, but only the two to Chelf were in D3. He’s won big in some matches, but wrestled others closer than you would expect. Vanderhyde was 2nd here last year after a great run that ended against the powerful Chelf. He has missed a lot of time with injuries, but he’s done well down the stretch as he worked to erase the memory of a 16-8 loss to Owens in January.

Van Patten and MacWhinnie are two wrestlers who have not seen a lot of the other competition due to the schedules they wrestle, but both are talented and slotted in right where they belong in the bracket. MacWhinnie has split with Osgoodby and beaten Priest and DeCristo, while Van Patten has only wrestled Priest.

Moenkedick has burst onto the scene this year as a freshman with over 30 wins and his only D3 loss is up at 184 to Zabel. He has a lot of falls this year and won the Great Lakes region in impressive fashion. Jentz is the IIAC champ who is 3-2 against Kehrli and has beaten Lynaugh, Owens, and Brown. Owens is the NEWA champ who has beaten Vanderhyde but lost to Jentz. He also topped conference foe Czarneski a few times.

After the seeded wrestlers, there are some other returning qualifiers like Plowman, Osgoodby, and Reilly as well as sleeper pick and mid year transfer Reilly who has shown his talent in a half season of work.

Weight Class Previews:
125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

Weight Class Preview: 133
Qualifiers by Weight

Adam Johnson had a slow start to his college wrestling career. As a freshman at 141, he finished 28-21. However, he made the right choice to drop to 133 the next season and was rewarded with a 7th place finish at the NCAA tournament, a finish he improved to 3rd the next year. Now, he’s the top seed at 133 coming off a huge win over Lang in the regional final. He’s a tremendous athlete with a wide array of offensive skills and some talent on top to go with it. He has also defeated Morgan by a 4-3 score in December.

Morgan can’t be overlooked as the returning NCAA champ at this weight. His sole loss is to Johnson, and he’s defeated qualifiers and conference foes Sarinelli and Gummerson twice each. Also a 2x All-American, he is compact and very difficult to score on with good offense of his own. NCAA tournament matches often come down to one takedown, and Morgan is able to make one takedown stand up. Lang is the #3 seed here who is very dangerous with only the loss to Johnson in D3. He has 18 first period falls this year and only 6 regular decisions. At #4 is Helvey, who cannot be overlooked with his 4-0 win over Johnson this season at the Desert Duals. He was pinned by Lang, but has defeated every other qualifier he’s faced. He won in overtime against Nothern in the IIAC final in a match where Nothern was all over his legs but could only finish once.

All-American Kolinski is the 5 seed with wins over Sarinelli and Nothern. He’s wrestled just 20 times this year and will not go down quietly against a higher seed. Nothern’s offense kept him in the match against Helvey and could do so this weekend

An intriguing wrestler to watch this weekend is #8 Hulegaard. He is a 3x All-American who fell to 5th in the IIAC without wrestling either finalist. He’s not in a great spot in the bracket, if the seeds hold, as a win in the first round coupled with a loss to Johnson in the quarters would leave him facing Bartlett who has a losing record, but defeated Hulegaard last time out.

Beyond the seeds, Gummerson is another dangerous wrestler who had Morgan on his back earlier this year. Bartlett is in the interesting situation where he has to win once to place if he loses first round, but twice if he wins.

Weight Class Previews:
125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285

Weight Class Preview: 149
Qualifiers by Weight

Naig has been a consistent top performer this year, losing only to D1 wrestlers and placing 2nd in the always tough Harold Nichols Open to start the year. He kept rolling from there, racking up an impressive number of falls on his way to and IIAC title. He has beaten Cook, Quist, Adams, Harrington, Kastel, Mauseth, and Smith. Cook closed the gap slightly in the IIAC finals, riding Naig out in the 3rd period, but he did not come close to turning Naig. The 2006 finalist is looking for his first title in 2008.

He’ll have his hands full, however, should he meet Holst in the final. Holst is having nearly the same type of year as Naig with a list of impressive wins including a 16-2 convincing win over Kastel in the regional final. He is also undefeated in D3 and has won a lot of matches by lopsided scores. He waited his turn at Augsburg last year, and this year he’s making it count. At #3 is the dangerous 2x All-American Spence who has big move potential at any time and he has also yet to be defeated in D3 with wins over Kastel, Harrington, and Mizer. Something has to give at this weight, as #4 LeBlanc also has yet to fall to a D3 opponent, though he has wrestled a lot of close matches this year and has yet to face another seeded wrestler at this weight. LeBlanc was 4th in 2006 before failing to place last year. He should get the job done here.

Moving on, Kastel and Harrington are at 5 and 6. Kastel has lost to the top three here but not to anyone else. He flows from one move to the next very well and puts points on the board. Harrington stays in solid position and just plain wins. Cammisa is a reach seed at #7, considering he is not a returning All-American and has not wrestled any of the other competitors at this weight. 23 of his 25 matches are against wrestlers from his conference, though he did miss some time with an injury. He’s tough on top, but untested.

The draw matters big for the unseeded wrestlers, and of them, Shank and Woszczak are set up fairly well in a tough weight.

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