Manganaro Duals at Ursinus AMCC Duals at Pitt-Bradford (Alfred State, Hiram, PSU-Behrend) Bridgewater State Tri (WPI, Wesleyan) Northwoods Duals at Itasca Fred Johnson Duals at Augustana (Westminster, Eureka) Ohio Northern Tri (CWRU, Manchester)
Elmira at St. John Fisher Oswego at Ithaca Concordia Wisconsin at Wheaton Pacific at SW Oregon CC
The d3wrestle.com Wrestler of the Week is Jaritt Shinhoster of UW-Whitewater. Shinhoster finished in second place at the Midlands at 184 lbs. He is the first DIII finalist in the event since 2010. Seeded 5th in his weight class, Shinhoster defeated DI #20 Neil Antrassian of Virginia 7-3 in the quarterfinals before dispatching DI #12 Brian Soldano of Rutgers 7-0 in the semifinals to earn his spot in the finals. Reece Heller, the #2 seed from Pitt edged Shinhoster in the finals by a 7-5 score.
Shinhoster, a senior from Hoffman Estates, Illinois, is now 14-2 on the year and 93-15 for his career. He is the defending 184 lbs. NCAA Champion and has qualified for the NCAA Championships three times. He won the 2022 Upper Midwest Region and is a two-time runner up at the event. He is currently ranked 2nd at 184 lbs. in the latest d3wrestle.com Rankings. Whitewater next competes tomorrow in the NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Kentucky.
Manganaro Duals at Ursinus AMCC Duals at Pitt-Bradford (Alfred State, Hiram, PSU-Behrend) Bridgewater State Tri (WPI, Wesleyan) Northwoods Duals at Itasca Fred Johnson Duals at Augustana (Westminster, Eureka) Ohio Northern Tri (CWRU, Manchester)
Elmira at St. John Fisher Oswego at Ithaca Concordia Wisconsin at Wheaton Pacific at SW Oregon CC
Jaritt Shinhoster of UW-Whitewater led the way for DIII wrestlers at the Midlands where he finished in second place, defeating the #12 and #20 ranked DI wrestlers at 184.
Catch up on the last 2022 rankings before the holiday tournaments. Remember that wrestlers in the Contender and Honorable Mention sections are in alphabetical order by last name.
Five-time NCAA Championships winning coach Don Murray has sued the NCAA, seeking to reverse a three year show-cause order and receive monetary damages. A show-cause order requires that any NCAA member school employing him must restrict him from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply. The order and Murray’s subsequent resignation from his coaching position at Brockport stem from an investigation regarding both COVID restrictions and institutional physical education wrestling classes that the NCAA alleges were used to circumvent restrictions on out-of-season athletic activities.
Murray disputes that he did anything wrong and alleges that the Athletic Director and Vice President “initiated an investigation into Murray and the SUNY Brockport Wrestling program in an attempt to remove Murray as a Head Wrestling Coach and Associate Professor, with the additional intentions of dissolving the Wrestling program.” The lawsuit describes actions taken by Murray, the administration of SUNY Brockport, and the NCAA, though the NCAA is the only named party in the suit, as Murray is not suing Brockport. He remains on staff as an associate professor in the kinesiology department. He resigned as wrestling coach in late August of 2021.
As the midpoint of the 2022-2023 season approaches, here is a quick update on the state of women’s wrestling at the Division III level. There are 43 schools that either have a women’s wrestling team or have announced plans to start one. Two schools have announced the start of women’s wrestling, but enough time has passed since then without a team that it does not seem to be happening.
Has wrestling in 2022 (29): Adrian, Albion, Alvernia, Augsburg, Augustana, Aurora, Carthage, Cedar Crest, Cornell, Delaware Valley, Elmira, Eureka, Ferrum, Fontbonne, Greensboro, Hiram, Lakeland, Linfield, NJCU, North Central, Pacific, Schreiner, Simpson, UW-Stevens Point, Trine, University of the Ozarks, Ursinus, Western New England, Westminster
Has announced plans to begin women’s wrestling (14): Alfred State, Alma, Buena Vista, Buffalo State, Central, Dubuque, Huntingdon, John Carroll, Loras, Marymount, Southern Virginia, Utica, Wartburg, York
New England College and Concordia-Wisconsin both announced women’s wrestling but those efforts have either stalled or been shelved. Women’s wrestling no longer appears on the NEC website, and the last article on the Concordia website is from February of 2020 and announces plans to begin women’s wrestling that fall.
DIII teams appearing in the latest NCAA team rankings include North Central (2), Augsburg (5), Adrian (T13), NJCU (T16), Albion (T18), UW-Stevens Point (T19), and Schreiner (T19). The December 8th individual rankings include top ranked DIII wrestlers Sydney Petzinger (North Central, 109), Jaslyn Gallegos (North Central, 116), Nina Makem (Augsburg, 136), Marlynne Deede (Augsburg, 155), and Yelena Makoyed (North Central, 170). Since those rankings came out, Petzinger and Gallegos each lost to the #2 ranked wrestler at their respective weights, and Alexis Janiak of Aurora avenged an earlier loss to the #1 ranked wrestler at 130.
Women’s wrestling is an Emerging Sport in the NCAA. Once enough teams sponsor the sport and meet roster size and participation requirements, the sport can then move from Emerging to Championship status. A sport can gain championship status once 40 schools meet the minimum sponsorship requirement across all divisions. Also, a Division III championship can be created once 28 DIII schools sponsor the sport. Both milestones are within reach in the coming seasons. Not all of the 29 DIII teams competing this season will reach the minimum participation requirement of having at least six athletes in seven or more competitions, but that should change in the coming years as the number of teams and athletes increases.
The d3wrestle.com Wrestler of the Week is Robbie Precin of North Central. The top-ranked Precin won the 133 lbs. weight class in his home invitational this past weekend. Four of the top ten wrestlers in the November 28 d3wrestle.com Rankings were in the bracket. Precin defeated #9 Cade Willis of Augsburg 3-0 in the semifinals before winning 18-2 over #7 Jaden Hinton of Baldwin Wallace in the finals. Hinton had defeated #2 Andrew Perelka of John Carroll in the previous round. Precin was also named CCIW Wrestler of the Week for his efforts.
Precin, a senior from Orland Park, Illinois, is the defending NCAA 133 lbs. champion and has been ranked 1st at 133 all season long. He is undefeated this season and has won the Pointer and Concordia Opens. His current season record is 18-0. He was the runner-up at the 2021 NWCA DIII tournament and qualified for the canceled 2020 NCAA Championships. His career record stands at 104-2. North Central competes again this Thursday in a CCIW dual at Augustana.
