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Seven wrestlers return at this weight and two others are up from qualifying at 165 last year, making half the bracket returning 2022 qualifiers. Tops among these is returning NCAA runner-up Mike Ross of Johnson & Wales. Ross is 10-1 in a half season of work. His one loss came to Augsburg’s Seth Goetzinger in the National Duals final when he reversed Ross to his back and picked up a late fall while trailing. He outscored his regional opponents 48-0 in three matches before forfeiting the finals. He has earned the top ranking primarily with a 6-2 win over Zane Mulder of Wartburg in the National Duals semis. He also defeated Mulder 10-8 in last year’s national semifinal.

Mulder went on to place 4th in the national tournament last year after a runner-up finish in the 2021 NWCA tournament. Now in his third season at Wartburg since transferring from Iowa State, Mulder is 22-1, losing only to Ross, and has defeated five of the other wrestlers in the bracket including Brossard, Hopkins, Arebalo, Richardson, and Goetzinger. Second in the Lower Midwest is LJ Richardson of Coe. His only win over a wrestler in the field was against the third place finisher Jacob Sherzer who has not yet defeated a qualified wrestler, though he will get a chance to remedy that shortly.

Two qualifiers return from the Southeast region. Stefan Major of Stevens finished 7th last year as the third returning All-American at the weight after Ross and Mulder. He has dropped matches to Brossard and Stricker but comes in as the Southeast champ. Alex Turley of Averett qualified at 165 last year, finished 7th at the 2021 NWCA tournament, and now has a chance to aim for the podium at 174 lbs. He has taken an untraditional route to college wrestling as a 28 year old junior. Region runner-up Colby Morris took his first DIII loss of the season to Major in the regional final.

In the Upper Midwest, region champ Jared Stricker is 38-2 this season, losing only to Fleming and Brossard. He won Wheaton and the WIAC, and has wins over four other in the field. Seth Brossard of UW-La Crosse decided to sit out the regional final rather than face Stricker for the second time this season. His only losses this year are to Mulder, and he has defeated six wrestlers in the field. Both Stricker and Brossard were in the tournament last season. Stricker fell in the All-American round at this wight while Brossard finished in 7th place at 165.

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There are several sets of brothers in this tournament but just one in the same weight class. 2022 NCAA 157 lbs. champion Nathan Lackman has moved up to 165 where his brother Matt was an All-American last season. With the top three at this weight all gone from last season, Nathan slotted into the top spot in his new weight and has gone undefeated save three DI losses at the Midlands where he placed 6th. He capped his regional title with a win over returning All-American Cooper Pontelandolfo of NYU. Matt is undefeated and dominated his region with three falls and a tech fall.

Austin Lamb of RIT joins Matt Lackman and Pontelandolfo as returning placewinners at this weight. Lamb came into the region with a single injury default loss to Sacco on his record and finished in second place, dropping a 4-0 decision to Sacco in the finals. Sacco has not lost since December and has defeated both Lower Midwest finalists this season. Brian Schneider of Elizabethtown joined teammate Ganon Smith to give his team qualifiers for the first time since 2018 while leading the team to its best regional finish in a decade.

Returning 2022 157 lbs. All-American Luke Reicosky lost a 3-1 overtime match in the Central semis to Altman before bouncing back with a 3-1 overtime victory to make the tournament again. His only prior loss this season was to Lamb in the RIT finals, though he missed a chunk of the season between the Citrus Invitational and February 7th. Altman forfeited the Hardrick of ONU in the regional final after Hardrick had to go deep into the rarely seen second set of tiebreakers to earn his spot in the finals.

Gabe Fiser of Loras was a perhaps unexpected champ in the Lower Midwest region, entering the tournament with 10 losses on an admittedly tough schedule. He did qualify last year and place 4th at the 2021 NWCA tournament, so getting to Roanoke is not as much of a shock as defeating the top seed and 5th ranked Fuller to earn his finals spot then prevailing over Cervantes in that math. Fuller has just two losses in his first season for the Knights after transferring from Minnesota, and both are to wrestlers from Loras.

Thanks to Jason Bryant’s work collecting hometowns of the 180 qualifiers, it is possible to see how far from home they have traveled to go to school. There is a new tab on this spreadsheet entitled “Distance from Home” that has the raw data. To generate the distance from home, I used the geography tools in Excel to calculate latitude and longitude for the hometown and school of each qualifier. This will necessarily be a rough calculation, since only the city was used and not exact addresses. The distance from home to school was calculated using trigonometry along with the assumption that the earth is a perfect sphere with a constant radius. This gave a value for straight line (or as the crow flies) distance on a curved surface. It is not the same as driving distance.

The average distance for a 2023 NCAA qualifier from home is 167.3 miles. However, if you remove the five qualifiers who are over 1,000 miles from home, the average drops to 113.7 miles. The median distance for all qualifiers is 79 miles, meaning half the qualifiers are 79 miles or less from home. 59% of qualifiers are within 100 miles, and just 16% are more than 200 miles from home.

98 qualifiers (59%) attend school in the same state where they live. There are 25 wrestler who are within 100 miles of school but live in a different state. There are 13 qualifiers who attend a state school outside of their home state. There are four qualifiers who attend a state school in a state that does not border their home state: Jake Burford, UW-Whitewater (Indiana), Gavin Bradley, Castleton, (Pennsylvania), James Rodriguez, Castleton (New Jersey), and Edwin Morales, Bridgewater State (Pennsylvania).

Five wrestlers over 1,000 miles from home:
Christian Guzman, North Central, 1193.5 miles
Donovan Corn, Luther, 1283.1 miles
Coy Spooner, Coast Guard, 1497.8 miles
Chase Randall, Coast Guard, 2242.3 miles
Zayren Terukina, Wartburg, 4007.2 miles

Five wrestlers from the same town as school:
Darryl Aiello, Dubuque
Josh, Wilson, Greensboro
Brandon Williams, Greensboro
Chase Sumner, Ohio Northern
Colby Morris, Waynesburg

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Sorting out the top of 157 is quite the ordeal, as nobody has gotten through the season unscathed. Hollingsworth beat Zeke Smith in the regional final after losing earlier and gave Hertel one of his two losses. Shilson lost to Smith, beat Hollingsworth, and dropped 2 of 3 to Hertel, losing most recently in the Upper Midwest final. Luth was the last undefeated wrestler standing at this weight until getting upset by Rezac in the Southeast semis. Shilson is the top returning placer, winning over Luth in the third place match last year. Hertel took a forfeit win over Hollingsworth for 5th place in the same weight class.

Shilson and Hollingsworth both had a rough National Duals. Shilson lost to Zeke Smith, Nolan Hertel, and Hayden Brown of JWU, who is now at 149. Without that weekend, Shilson is sitting on one loss to Hertel, who he has also beaten. Hollingsworth just once that weekend, but his loss came to the 7th place finisher in the Northeast region. He went on to lose his next two matches to Shilson and Zeke Smith, but got himself together and cruised through the Lower Midwest region.

Patrick McGraw qualified at 165 last year but swapped weights with his teammate and 2022 All-American at 157 Luke Reicosky. He reversed an earlier loss to Thomas West of Baldwin Wallace, winning 8-7 on a late stalling call in the Central final. Both of them lost to Augsburg backup Blake Jagodzinske who must be one of the top reserves in DIII and also has a win over Peter Kane of Williams. Third in the Central was 2020 qualifier Ryan Whitten. Whitten missed out on the tournament last year and spend most of this season at 165 before dropping down to earn his second trip to the tournament and first since his freshman year.

Matt Sacco is back in the tournament for TCNJ after a second place finish in the Mideast. He lost for the second time to Wenchard Pierre-Louis of Ithaca in the regional final, though he defeated top seed and third place finisher, and 2022 149 lbs. qualifier, Brandon Bowles of Muhlenberg in the semifinals. Ryan Smith of Stevens won the Southeast region without having to face the top-seeded Luth, though he did have to turn around an earlier loss to Alvarado of Averett in the semifinals to punch his ticket through to Roanoke. Northeast champ Jake Deguire of Springfield has 24 falls, including 3 at the regional.

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Michael Petrella has followed up last year’s runner-up finish with a 29-0 season that includes wins over seven other wrestlers in the bracket including Brown, Burford, Babb, Rumph, McDonough, Estrada, and Sumner. He has just five regular decision wins this season, and all of those opponents are in the bracket with him in Roanoke. His regional finals opponent, Chase Sumner of Ohio Northern, took a first week loss to Eli Sims of Brockport but has only lost to Petrella since then (save an injury default to Beyer at Budd Whitehill).

Also undefeated this season is freshman Thomas Monn of McDaniel. He won the Southeast region to become McDaniel’s first NCAA qualifier since 2016. He has wins over Beyer, Perry, and 3x qualifier Siu. Nearly, but not quite, undefeated is Northeast champ Hayden Brown of JWU. He took an opening weekend loss to Petrell and has run the table since. He has defeated five qualifiers at this weight and a couple more at 157 for good measure.

Kristian Rumph made the rankings difficult when he took the mat starting in January. The 2022 All-American and 2021 NWCA runner-up started his season by losing three in a row and getting pinned twice. Two of those losses were to Petrella and Brown, a tough draw for your first matches of the year. He has not lost since, capping a dominant regional tournament with a first period pin over Estrada. Even with the regional under his belt, Rumph is just 7-3 with five events on his schedule.

Charlie Stuhl of Augsburg and Hunter Gutierrez of Stevens won the Upper Midwest and Southeast, respectively. Stuhl has just four losses this year with two to Rumph and one to Estrada. He won by injury default against Burford in the regional final before the match really had a chance to get going. Gutierrez has beaten Siu, Burford, Estrada, and Beyer while losing just to Brown in this field along with twice to wrestlers who did not qualify. He gave up a pair of early takedowns in the regional final but followed that up with one of his own and a turn to get the fall late in the first period over Siu.

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The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishers all return from 2022 at this weight, and they were lined up as the top three spots in the rankings before the regional. #4 Josh Wilson of Greensboro muddied the seeding waters with his first period pin over #3 Kyle Slendorn of Stevens. Wilson’s only DIII loss is to James Rodriguez of Castleton, the 8th place finisher at this weight a year ago.

Zayren Terukina of Wartburg and Jacob Reed of Ohio Northern finished 2nd and 3rd last year. They never met, both losing to the champion Jordin James. This season, they have gone wire-to-wire as #1 and #2 as both have gone undefeated. Reed picked up his 40th win in the regional final, though that 40th win was his first match against another wrestler in the field. Terukina is 23-0 with a win over Slendorn and three other wrestlers in the tournament, though he did forfeit the regional final.

There are seven wrestlers in the bracket who were also at this weight last year. Terukina (2nd), Reed (3rd), Slendorn (4th), and Rodriguez (8th) are the returning placewinners that are joined by qualifiers Xavier Pena of Centenary, Domenic Difrancescantonio of TCNJ, and Sam Stuhl of Augsburg. Pena is undefeated in DIII so far while Difrancescantonio is just 14-2 but has squeezed matches against six other qualifiers in already (not counting his forfeit to Pena in the regional). He has wins over Rosen, Perlleshi, Rodriguez, Donovan, and Burge to go along with a loss to Kinkaid.

Cameron Johnson won the Upper Midwest region for Aurora to give the team its first national qualifier since bringing the team back last season. He was a semifinalist in the region in 2022 where he was injured and withdrew from the tournament. He’s wrestled a limited schedule this year and is just 13-2, but he has defeated Lower Midwest champ Rosen and Wheaton’s Ethan Harsted.

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Robbie Precin is the defending champion, and nothing has happened yet this season to suggest anyone here can keep him off the top of the podium again. He advanced his record to 31-0 at the Lower Midwest regional, defeating Ohio State transfer Dylan Koontz of Dubuque in the finals. Koontz avenged an earlier loss against Joe Pins of Wartburg in the semifinals to earn the right to face Precin. Pins, a 2022 All-American, came back to get the third spot in the region.

Last year’s runner up and the #2 ranked wrestler in this weight came out of the Central region. #2 Jaden Hinton has only lost to Precin this year and has a win over Andrew Perelka, the 2022 runner-up. Perelka was set to face off against Hinton in the regional final, but Hinton opted not to wrestle the match. Perelka’s only other DIII loss this season is to Ty Bisek of Concordia-Moorhead in the Wheaton finals.

Bisek had not lost to a DIII opponent prior to the regional tournament, and he still has not lost to anyone in the field. He dropped his quarterfinal match to the 8th seed before fighting back to beat the same wrestler in the consolation finals. Along the way, he defeated 2022 All-American Zach Thompson of UW-Platteville, the 5th ranked wrestler at the weight, in the consolation semifinals. The champion in the Upper Midwest, Dominik Mallinder of UW-Whitewater, defeated Tyler Fleetwood of UW-Eau Claire in the rubber match of their three match season series. He also defeated Fleetwood in the WIAC finals after dropping a match to him early in the season.

Dalton Rohrbaugh was third for York last year at this weight after coming in as the #2 seed. His only losses this year are to Jayden Cardenas of Cortland and Jaden Hinton, both of whom will be in Roanoke. He won a narrow 9-8 decision over Nico Diaz of Stevens early on and decided to sit out the regional final rather than have a rematch. Finishing third in the region was Luke Kowalski of Gettysburg. He dropped his quarterfinal match but won four in a row to earn a second trip to the tournament. Gettysburg had just one placer in the region, but it was enough to get them to Roanoke.

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Defending champion Jacob Decatur of Baldwin Wallace is back to seek a second 125 title. He began his season in the second semester and took a loss on his first day back. He has been perfect since then, though his only match against another wrestler in the field was the regional final against James Day of Wabash. Day has three losses. His other two defeats came to wrestlers who did not make the field, and he has wins over the Southeast, Lower Midwest, and Upper Midwest champions.

Despite the presence of last year’s champion, the wrestler to beat here is likely Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales. The Campbell transfer is 39-0 with 31 bonus point wins. He has defeated seven of the other qualified entries and has dominated a strong schedule wrestling back in his home state of Rhode Island. He won the Northeast Region ahead of a pair of tough freshman in the ranked Jake Craig of Southern Maine and 4x Pennsylvania high school placewinner Gavin Bradley of Castleton.

Another freshman surprised with a run to the Lower Midwest title. Christian Guzman of North Central defeated a pair of top-ten wrestlers on his way to the Outstanding Wrestler award at the region. He turned around a prior loss against #2 ranked Zac Blasioli of Millikin in the finals after having dispatched Ohio State transfer Brady Koontz in the semifinals. Koontz came back to get third, so there will be two former Ohio State wrestlers in this bracket as Koontz and Decatur shared two seasons on the Buckeye roster.

Four ranked wrestlers entered the Southeast Region, but just two qualified for the NCAA tournament. Top seed and returning All-American Riley Parker of Washington & Lee lost his first match to unseeded Jacob Blair of Delaware Valley who then made a run all the way to the regional final to punch his ticket to Roanoke despite a loss to #9 Mason Barrett of Averett. The 5th ranked Parker made the consolation final against #6 Hoerle who had just defeated #7 Kuhns to earn his spot in the match. Hoerle came out on top to get the last spot in the Southeast.

More info to come when the brackets are released next week.

Teams per region with a qualifier (68 out of 119 total teams)
Lower Midwest – 10 of 19 (180 individual entries)
Upper Midwest – 11 of 19 (169 entries)
Central – 9 of 20 (184 entries)
Mideast – 13 of 21 (192 entries)
Northeast – 13 of 19 (177 entries)
Southeast – 12 of 21 (193 entries)
180 of 1,095 regional entries qualified (16.4%)
1,066 regional entries in 2022 (+29 in 2023)

Click image below for regional breakdown

Number seeded by region
Lower Midwest – 18
Upper Midwest – 16
Central – 14
Southeast – 11
Northeast – 11
Mideast – 10

Seed Breakdown by Region

Relative Seed Strength (8 points for 1st seed down to 1 for 8th)
Lower Midwest – 92
Central – 71
Upper Midwest – 67
Northeast – 56
Southeast – 42
Mideast – 32

Seeded Region Champs – 43
Seeded Region 2nd – 26
Seeded Region 3rd – 11

Non-region champs to be seeded
Lower Midwest – 10 (4 3rd place)
Upper Midwest – 8 (2 3rd place)
Northeast – 5 (2 3rd place)
Southeast – 5 (2 3rd place)
Central – 4 (1 3rd place)
Mideast – 3

Unseeded Region Champs – 17 total
Northeast – 4
Southeast – 4
Mideast – 3
Central – 2
Lower Midwest – 2
Upper Midwest – 2

Full List of Individual Qualifiers

Central at CWRU – team champ Baldwin Wallace Preview | Results | Home Page

Northeast at Southern Maine – team champ Johnson & Wales Preview | Results | Home Page

Southeast at York – team champ Stevens Preview | Results | Home Page

Upper Midwest at Concordia Wisconsin – team champ Augsburg Preview | Results | Home Page

Mideast at Ithaca – team champ TCNJ Preview | Results | Home Page

Lower Midwest at Millikin – team champ Wartburg Preview | Results | Home Page

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Click below for the list of qualifiers by region as well as a count of qualifiers per team in the second tab. Thanks to Jason Bryant for providing hometown and high school information.

2023 NCAA Qualifiers | Map of Hometowns

Day 2

Central at CWRU – Preview | Results | Home Page

Northeast at Southern Maine – Preview | Results | Home Page

Final Results

Southeast at York – Preview | Results | Home Page

Upper Midwest at Concordia Wisconsin – Preview | Results | Home Page

Mideast at Ithaca – Preview | Results | Home Page

Lower Midwest at Millikin – Preview | Results | Home Page

Day 1

Central at CWRU – Preview | Results | Home Page

Northeast at Southern Maine – Preview | Results | Home Page

Day 2

Southeast at York – Preview | Results | Home Page

Upper Midwest at Concordia Wisconsin – Preview | Results | Home Page

Mideast at Ithaca – Preview | Results | Home Page

Lower Midwest at Millikin – Preview | Results | Home Page

Day 1

Southeast at York – Preview | Results | Home Page

Upper Midwest at Concordia Wisconsin – Preview | Results | Home Page

Friday and Saturday, February 24-25, 2023
Millikin University | Host Site | 2022 Results

Teams (19):
Augustana, Buena Vista, Central, Coe, Cornell, Dubuque, Eureka, Fontbonne, Huntingdon, Loras, Luther, Millikin, Nebraska Wesleyan, North Central, University of the Ozarks, Schreiner, Simpson, Wartburg, Westminster

NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
#1 Wartburg
#5 Loras
#6 North Central
#17 Millikin
#18 Luther
#21 Coe
#23 Dubuque

Top 10 Ranked Individuals | February 16th Ranking (24 total)
125: #2 Blasioli (Millikin), #10 B. Koontz (Dubuque)
133: #1 Precin (North Central), #6 Pins (Wartburg), #9 D. Koontz (Dubuque)
141: #1 Terukina (Wartburg), #9 Kinkaid (Loras), #10 Rosen (North Central)
149: #5 Estrada (North Central), #9 Rumph (Wartburg)
157: #1 Smith (Loras), #3 Hollingsworth (Wartburg), #8 Villar (North Central)
165: #5 Fuller (Wartburg)
174: #2 Mulder (Wartburg), #10 Gnida (Loras)
184: #2 Liegel (Loras), #4 Corn (Luther), #10 Bushey (Wartburg)
197: #3 Endene (Wartburg), #7 Cooley (Schreiner)
285: #5 Reeves (Coe), #7 Quick (Luther), #8 Wriedt (Loras)

Contenders & H.M. (40 total)
125: Hornback (Coe), Levy (Wartburg), Valtierrez (North Central), McChesney (Simpson)
133: Boryla (Augustana), Friddle (Coe), Haney (Millikin), McMillan (Loras), Beck (Central), Haynes (Nebraska Wesleyan)
141: Dado (Ozarks), Baldwin (Central), Carson (Millikin), Parke (Coe), Yarbrough (Dubuque)
149: McCusker (Millikin), Schropp (Loras), Wright (Coe)
157: McDonough (Luther), Smith (Cornell), Callaway (Millikin), York (Ozarks)
165: Allen (Cornell), Cervantes (North Central), Mandler (Luther), Esmoil (Coe), Fiser (Loras)
174: Gerkensmeyer (Nebraska Wesleyan), Richardson (Coe), Langley (Simpson)
184: Westphal (Coe), Geigner (North Central)
197: Voss (Coe), Linahon (Central), Montford (North Central), Thurston (Dubuque)
285: Bates (North Central), Dancy (Wartburg), Kinnison (Simpson), Lewis (Ozarks)

Defending NCAA champion Wartburg is poised to win the team title again, to the surprise of no one, as they bring eight ranked wrestlers to the weekend with two more appearing outside the top ten. Four of their wrestlers will be the top ranked individual in the region, and five are returning All-Americans. Loras, North Central, and Coe will make it a fight. Coe and North Central each have nine wrestlers appearing somewhere in the rankings, while Loras has 8. Each of Wartburg, North Central, and Loras has a #1 ranked individual.

Robbie Precin of North Central is the top-ranked returning NCAA champion at 133, and that weight looks to be extremely tough behind him. There will be at least one wrestler who appears in the rankings but is not seeded at 133. All-American Joe Pins of Wartburg is ranked 6th and has a win over Ohio State transfer Dylan Koontz who has wrestled a very limited schedule since joining Dubuque in January. Alex Friddle won the 2021 NWCA tournament at 125 for Coe while Eron Haynes of Nebraska Wesleyan was a 2019 NCAA All-American at 125 and NWCA 4th place in 2021.

Seven wrestlers appear in the rankings at 157 along with #1 Zeke Smith of Loras. 157 has been a tough weight to figure this year as many of the top guys have beaten each other along the way, except for Smith who is undefeated in limited action. That action, however, includes wins over #2 Shilson (Augsburg, 3rd in 2022) and #3 Hollingsworth (Wartburg, 6th in 2022). Smith won one match at the NCAA tournament last year and aims for a podium spot in 2023. Hollingsworth was injured in a semifinal loss and dropped to sixth. #8 Villar (North Central) finished in 4th place at the NCAA championships at 149.

165 could be an interesting weight. Only Wartburg’s Nathan Fuller, a Minnesota transfer, is ranked in the top ten, but five other wrestlers appear lower in the rankings including Will Esmoil of Coe. Esmoil turned it on last postseason, going from a third place regional finisher who was unseeded at the NCAA tournament to a semifinalist and eventual 4th place finisher. He has losses to Cervantes (North Central) and Mandler (Luther), so we will see if he has more end-of-season magic lined up for 2023.

Saturday and Sunday, February 25-26, 2023
University of Southern Maine | Host Site | 2022 Results

Teams (20):
Bridgewater State, Castleton, Hunter, Johnson & Wales, New England College, NYU, Norwich, Plymouth State, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams, Southern Maine, Springfield, Trinity, US Coast Guard Academy, US Merchant Marine Academy, Wesleyan, Western New England, Williams, WPI

NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
#2 Johnson & Wales
#10 Coast Guard
#14 Rhode Island College
#24 Southern Maine

Top 10 Ranked Individuals | February 16th Ranking (13 total)
125: #1 Fry (JWU), #4 Craig (Southern Maine), #8 Manginelli (Springfield)
133:
141: #6 Rodriguez (Castleton)
149: #2 Brown (JWU)
157:
165: #1 Lackman (Rhode Island), #8 Pontelandolfo (NYU)
174: #1 Ross (JWU), #6 Geyer (NYU)
184: #8 McCullough (Coast Guard), #9 DeVivo (JWU)
197: #2 Spooner (Coast Guard)
285: #9 Leka (JWU)

Contenders & H.M. (24 total)
125: Bogle (Castleton), Karachi (NYU)
133: Leo (JWU), Manginelli (Springfield)
141:
149: Frost (Southern Maine), Pagliarulo (Coast Guard), Parrott (Springfield)
157: Chapman (Coast Guard), DeGuire (Springfield), Kane (Williams), Hughes (JWU)
165: Angers (Castleton), Rochard (Coast Guard)
174: Fleming (Castleton), Gaita (Wesleyan)
184: DuPont (NYU), Morales (Bridgewater State), Shaughnessy (Roger Williams), Wilkins (Castleton)
197: Harr (JWU), Kelly (NYU), Cruz (Merchant Marine)
285: Anderson (NYU), Peavey (Southern Maine)

Johnson & Wales ends the regular season in the #2 tournament slot and will have a shot at hoisting the championships trophy in March. At the National Duals, they finished second to Augsburg after upsetting Wartburg in the semifinals. The Wildcats are the only team with multiple individuals ranked 1st at their respective weights in Joziah Fry and Michael Ross. Challenging JWU will be Coast Guard, last year’s regional champions. NYU also has a strong team with six wrestlers mentioned in the final rankings.

Fry is at the top of a tough 125 bracket in the region, as #4 Craig (Southern Maine) and #8 Manginelli (Springfield) will look to lock down spots in Roanoke. Fry is 34-0 with just seven of his victories coming via decision. The Rhode Island native and Campbell transfer has been outstanding in his first season for JWU. Manginelli hopes to land on the podium this year after a narrow miss last season when a last second headlock ended his season in the All-American round.

Michael Ross at 174 joins teammate Fry at the top of the rankings. He has wrestled just 8 matches this season, but he does have a win over Wartburg’s #2 Mulder, a repeat of their semifinal result in 2022. Ross began his career at Wartburg, entering the 2018 NCAA tournament as the #1 seed at 165. Injuries contributed to an 8th place finish. Last year, he finished 2nd in the NCAA championships, and he heads into the 2023 postseason hoping to earn the #1 seed at the NCAA tournament five years after doing so for the first time.

Nathan Lackman won a controversial NCAA championship at 157 last season, and he returns at 165 to aim for a second title. He is 31-3 and ranked #1 this year, with all three of his losses coming to DI competition at the Midlands where he finished in 6th place. He has been on a significant growth trajectory, moving from 120 as a senior to 141 as a freshman to 165 in 2023. His younger brother Matt is ranked #2 at this weight for Alvernia. There are a lot of matches between now and a potential all-Lackman NCAA final, but it is not a far-fetched possibility.

Friday and Saturday, February 24-25, 2023
Concordia University Wisconsin | Host Site | 2022 Results

Teams (19):
Augsburg, Aurora, Carthage, Chicago, Concordia-Moorhead, Concordia-Wisconsin, Elmhurst, Lakeland, MSOE, Pacific, St. John’s, Linfield, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, Wheaton

NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
#3 Augsburg
#7 UW-La Crosse
#8 UW-Whitewater
#12 UW-Platteville
#18 UW-Eau Claire
#22 UW-Oshkosh

Top 10 Ranked Individuals | February 16th Ranking (25 total)
125:
133: #3 Bisek (Concordia-Moorhead), #5 Thompson (UW-Platteville), #8 Fleetwood (UW-Eau Claire), #10 Mallinder (UW-Whitewater)
141: #7 Johnson (Aurora), #8 Stuhl (Augsburg)
149: #6 Burford (UW-Whitewater), #8 Goebel (UW-La Crosse)
157: #2 Shilson (Augsburg), #4 Hertel (La Crosse)
165: #6 Willis (Augsburg), #7 Leisgang (UW-La Crosse), #9 Vedner (UW-Whitewater), #10 Massie (UW-Eau Claire)
174: #3 Brossard (UW-La Crosse), #4 Stricker (UW-Eau Claire), #8 Wynsma (UW-Platteville)
184: #1 Shinhoster (UW-Whitewater), #5 Schwanebeck-Ostermann (Augsburg), #7 Schoenfelder (UW-Eau Claire)
197: #1 Yineman (UW-Oshkosh), #5 Kawczynski (UW-La Crosse), #8 Venz (Augsburg), #10 Hannah (UW-Platteville)
285: #4 Kim (Augsburg)

Contenders & H.M. (28 total)
125: Steele (Augsburg), Valdez (UW-Oshkosh)
133: Willis (Augsburg)
141: Clay (UW-Whitewater), Harsted (Wheaton), Lundeen (Concordia-Moorhead), Blakely (UW-Platteville), Lorenz (UW-La Crosse)
149: Fleck (Chicago), Sato (Eau Claire), Stuhl (Augsburg), Prunty (Concordia-Moorhead)
157:
165: Estevez (Chicago), Peckham (UW-Stevens Point)
174: Goetzinger (Augsburg), Rapelje (Concordia-Moorhead), Silva (Aurora)
184: Jahn (UW-La Crosse), Altensey (UW-Stevens Point), Ross (UW-Platteville)
197: Punzel (Wheaton), Zierden (Concordia-Moorhead)
285: Douglas (UW-La Crosse), Fibranz (Chicago), Jones (UW-Whitewater), Schoenherr (UW-Platteville), Barnes (Linfield), Melton (UW-Eau Claire)

Augsburg comes in as the favorite, but they will certainly be pushed by a number of the WIAC schools. La Crosse and Whitewater both bring strong teams to the tournament with Platteville and Eau Claire right behind, while Oshkosh boasts a #1 ranked wrestler of their own. Augsburg’s 33-3 win over La Crosse puts them in the driver’s seat this weekend, but every weight will be a fight given the depth of the tournament. Three weights are guaranteed to leave at least one top-ten wrestler home.

Jaritt Shinhoster is the lone returning NCAA champion in the region. Last year he fought his way to the title from the 5th seed. If he wins out here, he will start on top of the bracket in Roanoke. The highlight of his season so far is a runner-up finish in the Midlands back in December. His only DIII loss is to Liegel of Loras, and he avenged that loss later in the season. Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (Augsburg) a 2022 All-American at 197 and #7 Schoenfelder of UW-Eau Claire will toughen this bracket along with three others who appear in the d3wrestle.com rankings.

The other #1 ranked wrestler in the region is Beau Yineman of UW-Oshkosh. He was 3rd in the NCAA last year and has a single DIII loss this season. That loss, though, is to Ben Kawczynski of UW-La Crosse who should also be in this bracket after spending last season at 285. The rest of the field has spend the season trading matches depending on who has the best week. Four ranked wrestlers will enter, and no more than three will head to Virginia.

Chicago has a pair of wrestlers who were All-Americans last season but fall outside of the top ten leading into the regional. Ryan Fleck stormed to the semis at 149 before dropping to 6th place. He has split with Prunty this year and lost twice to Burford. Can he get in there and take another top three spot? Darian Estevez finished 8th at 157 last year and has moved up to 165 in 2023. He has some good wins this season including a recent victory over 2022 All-American Pontelandolfo (NYU), but his competition this weekend will be stiff. There are four top-ten wrestlers in the weight class, two of whom have already beaten him this year.