Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll.

197 has a lot of wrestlers who have beat each other, and that includes the Upper Midwest region. Tyler Hannah avenged two earlier losses to Beau Yineman to make the regional finals. There, he met Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann, a wrestler with a name that belongs in a John le Carré novel, and won by injury default, turning around another earlier loss. Yineman had just one prior DIII loss to a wrestler who was not in the postseason this year. It was a good weekend for Hannah who brings double digit losses into the tournament.

Yineman’s signature win this season came first week out against Cody Baldridge of North Central, the 2021 NWCA champ. Baldridge has not lost in DIII since and even placed in the Matmen Open that replaced this year’s Midlands. He won the Lower Midwest final over Donovan Corn on a stalling call that was strange more for its timing than whether or not it was warranted (video here to see for yourself).

#3 ranked Doug Byrne of Baldwin Wallace was a late scratch in the Central region, and #4 Jack Heldt of Wabash was able to take advantage. He had little trouble, dominating the field and winning 15-0 in the finals over Wellbaum. In the Southeast, Camden Farrow of York won a region where the #1 seed failed to place. Third place finisher Gable Crebs qualified for Lycoming where his father is the head coach, joining Bradan Birt at 165 as the second wrestler in the tournament competing with dad in the corner.

Northeast champ Coy Spooner is the only North Dakota native in the field, and he wrestles for Coast Guard despite coming from a town that is almost as far from the coast as you can get in this country. 6th seed pulled a pair upsets, including one over #12 Matt Kelly of NYU, to earn his spot in the field. Quinn Haddad won the Mideast region and has a win over Southeast region champ Farrow. He won by forfeit in the finals against Jordan Wallace of Ithaca who is 15-0 this season.

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll.

2021 NWCA DIII 174 lbs. champ Kyle Briggs had been dominant all year with just two of his 14 matches lasting a full 7 minutes prior to the regional final. 2021 NWCA DIII 184 lbs. champ Shane Liegel of Loras put a great match together to avenge an earlier loss and come away with a 6-0 victory that ended Briggs’s bid for an undefeated season. The two may have a third match this season, but some tough competitors stand in their way.

Paul Detwiler of Coast Guard fell to Liegel in the NWCA finals last year and has not lost since. The Coast Guard schedule sometimes makes it tough to evaluate their wrestlers, but Detwiler has dominated the competition this year and just completed a second undefeated regular season (his first ended with the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament). He defeated Upper Midwest runner-up Rogge in last year’s NWCA semifinals. Northeast runner-up Geyer made a late season move up to 184 that paid off, while third place finisher Edwin Morales makes his second trip to the tournament.

Chibueze Chukwuezi is a perfect 33-0 this season including three wins over Mideast runner-up Daniel Surich of TCNJ and two wins over 3rd place finisher Brian Torres. He won the Mideast in 2020 as well and was seeded 6th heading into the championship. Mahlic Sallah of Roanoke won the Southeast region, giving the Maroons a qualifier in their first season. Sallah was a 2020 NAIA All-American for Campbellsville. 2019 All-American Antonio McCloud defeated Lucas Salmon in the Central final in a matchup of #6 vs #7.

McCloud’s only loss this year is to Upper Midwest champ Jarrit Shinhoster of Whitewater. Shinhoster was the 4th seed in 2020. He defeated both of the other Upper Midwest qualifiers by 10-0 scores and is the only DIII wrestler with a win over McCloud this season. His only DIII loss is to Liegel. Nick Rogge was a semifinalist at the NWCA tournament last season and has made it to this tournament without beating any of the other qualifiers. Maguire Pecci of Chicago began his career in 2018 at 149 and makes his NCAA Championships debut four years and four weight classes later. The 2022 regional was his first postseason appearance.

Teams per region with a qualifier (67 out of 115 total teams)
Lower Midwest – 8 of 18 (167 individual entries)
Upper Midwest – 9 of 18 (166 entries)
Central -10 of 20 (180 entries)
Mideast – 11 of 20 (185 entries)
Northeast – 14 of 19 (180 entries)
Southeast – 15 of 20 (188 entries)
180 of 1,066 regional entries qualified (16.9%)

Click image below for regional breakdown

Number Seeded per Region
Lower Midwest – 19
Upper Midwest – 18
Central – 15
Northeast – 12
Southeast – 8
Mideast – 8

Breakdown of Seeds

Relative Seed Strength (8 points for 1st seed down to 1 for 8th)
Lower Midwest – 110
Central – 70
Upper Midwest – 58
Northeast – 51
Southeast – 41
Mideast – 30

Seeded Region Champs – 52
Seeded Region 2nd – 23
Seeded Region 3rd – 5

Non-region champs to be seeded
Lower Midwest – 9 (1 3rd place)
Upper Midwest – 9 (3 3rd place)
Central – 6 (1 3rd place)
Mideast – 2
Northeast – 2
Southeast – 0

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll.

None of the top four wrestlers in the NWCA rankings wrestled in their regional finals. #1 Cornell Beachem took a forfeit. #2 Mulder forfeited to Krakow, and #3 Sarasin forfeited to #4 Solomon Nielsen. Beachem also took a 3 second injury default win in the semis which gave him the shortest day of any qualifier in the tournament. Beachem started the season in December and seemed to perhaps be less than 100% at the National Duals, but he has come on strong since the Wheaton tournament at the end of January.

Iowa State transfer Zane Mulder is in his second season with Wartburg. After a runner-up finish at 165 at last year’s NWCA DIII tournament, he is undefeated at 174 this season with wins over Krakow and Westphal, the other qualifiers from his region, as well as a wins over Upper Midwest champ Nielson and Southeast champ Major. Major took a forfeit in the finals of a Southeast region lacking in star power at 174. 3rd place finisher Kade Kravits was the first qualifier for King’s since 2014.

Ben Sarasin was an All-American as a freshman in 2019 and qualified in 2020 before missing last year due to COVID-19. He looks to get back on the podium at 174 lbs. this year. The only blemish on his record so far is an injury default at Wheaton. He defeated Nielsen in their matchup earlier in the season before forfeiting in the regional final. Nielsen lost to Mulder and Sarasin for his only DIII defeats this season.

Michael Ross a former Wartburg All-American in 2018 is now at JWU and led the nation in tech falls, including the one he picked up in the regional final. Marco Gaita won four in a row in the Northeast consolation bracket to earn his second trip to the championships. Mideast champ Demitreus Henry has now wrestled runner-up Charlie Grygas three times, winning each of the last two. His only losses are the one to Grygas and one to Beachem at Wheaton.

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll. d3wrestle.com ranking to come next week.

Bradan Birt continued his undefeated season with three first period pins and a tech fall at the Lower Midwest region. He is a two-time NCAA placewinner, an NWCA DIII tournament champ, and is 37-0 this season with 155 career wins. The 3rd and 4th seeds Gabe Fiser and Will Esmoil also qualified here, and Fiser avenged an earlier loss against Allen from Cornell to make the finals.

Things got messier in the Central Region. Undefeated and #1 (NWCA) ranked Kyle Hatch of Wabash was pinned by Dalton Leightner of Baldwin Wallace after pinning Leightner earlier in the season. Then Leightner lost to Patrick McGraw of John Carroll, for the second time this year, in the finals. Upper Midwest champ Seth Brossard of UW-Lacrosse has just two losses, one to Birt and one to Hatch. He beat Chase Schmidt in the regional finals after beating him in the WIAC finals two weeks earlier.

Mideast champ Dominick Reyes is undefeated this year and has qualified for the third time. He defeated Southeast champ Matt Lackman, giving the Alvernia wrestler his only loss this season. Lackman beat NWCA DIII 7th place finisher Alex Turley in the finals.

Phil Rogers of Coast Guard controlled NYU’s tough freshman Pontelandolfo 5-0 in the Northeast finals for his second victory in that matchup this season. He is undefeated, but just 9-0, even including four matches at the region. He finished last season in 3rd place at the NWCA DIII tournament, defeating Fiser of Loras in the finals. The third place finisher Fox Maxwell of Bridgewater State was the 7th seed in the region.

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll.

Kaidon Winters cruised through the Mideast Region with four falls to give him a nation-leading 21 on the season and secure his lead in the latest Most Dominant standings. He remains undefeated in DIII. The third place finisher Jeff Johnson of New Jersey City gave the team its first ever qualifier. Johnson is on his third college stop after Sacred Heart and Rutgers.

NWCA DIII tournament champion David Hollingsworth won the Lower Midwest region in a convincing fashion, finishing it off with a 9-1 win over Zeke Smith of Loras. Hollingsworth took a couple of unexpected losses in the first half, but he has been rolling in 2022. Dubuque’s Zarik Anderson lost twice to Cervantes of North Central at the Concordia tournament but turned that around with a 10-1 win in the 3rd place match.

Things did not go quite according to seed at the Upper Midwest Region. Tyler Shilson had mostly rolled through his DIII competition, save a late season loss to Hollingsworth, and he defeated eventual region champ Nolan Hertel of UW-La Crosse at the end of January. Darian Estevez of Chicago kept the match in neutral and beat Shilson four takedowns to none to make the finals where Hertel made an escape and 3rd period rideout stand up in a 2-0 win.

Southeast champ Ryan Luth avenged a first week loss to Nick Barnhart in the regional finals. He and 3rd place finisher Eric Hutchinson qualified again for the tournament, though Luth’s chance to compete last time disappeared with the 2020 tournament. Nathan Lackman continued his undefeated season by winning the Northeast Region over Trent Furman, who we last saw in 2020 at 133 lbs. In the Central Region, 4th seeded Schuyler Caprella of ONU defeated top seed Stanley Bleich in the semis before taking a forfeit win over Reicosky in the finals. Bleich came back to get third and earn a third trip to the NCAA tournament.

The live results link below has the brackets for the 2022 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. The link below went public at 6pm Eastern today. The brackets should also have appeared on the NCAA website starting at 6pm, but they are usually late.

NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships via TrackWrestling

PDF of all 10 weights in one document

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll.

Is this the year for both Stevens and Brett Kaliner? Stevens is looking for their first national championship, and so is Kaliner. He was 2nd as a freshman, the top seed as a sophomore when he finished 3rd, seeded 2nd in 2020, and finished 3rd at the NWCA DIII tournament last year. He has been dominant this year with only four of his 25 victories lasting a full seven minutes.

Kris Rumph was 2nd at last year’s NWCA DIII tournament at 141, and he moved up to 149 this year where he won the Lower Midwest. He took two sets of injury time in the finals against the tough Areyano, but he managed to shake off the injury and score multiple takedowns after the second timeout. Areyano defeated the #2 seed Villar of North Central in the semis, and Villar came back to get 3rd in a weight featuring five different NWCA-ranked wrestlers.

Tony Ulaszek has gone undefeated for Coast Guard with 13 pins in 18 matches, perhaps proving that if your cement mixer is good enough, you can hit it even when the other guy knows it is coming. He pinned Merritt with it in 29 seconds in the regional final. 3rd place Frost is one of three Maine natives in the tournament this year. Jake Drexler of UW-Eau Claire has double-digit losses this season, but his record came on a tough schedule that prepared him to win the Upper Midwest in a #3 seed vs #5 matchup against Fleck in the finals. 8th ranked Jake Burford took 3rd over 7th ranked Brock Parker.

In the Central, Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace continued his outstanding season. His only DIII loss is to Kaliner, and he won by major decision over Chase Sumner in the finals. 8th seed Alex Barr of Wabash rolled to 3rd place after giving Petrella his toughest match of the tournament in the quarters. Chandler Merwin lost the takedown battle 3-1 to Conklin in the Mideast final, but his takedown came with four backpoints, and he made it stand up to win in the tiebreaker. 7th seeded Bowles of Muhlenberg lost in the quarters but came back to beat the same guy in overtime in the 3rd place match to punch his ticket.

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll.

Jordin James returns to try to win a title at 141 to go along with his 133 championship from 2019. He is the only returning NCAA champion in the tournament. He controlled a 6-1 victory over star freshman Jacob Reed of ONU in the regional final. If he wins in Iowa, he will become Mount Union’s first two-time champion.

Jimmy McAuliffe won the NWCA DIII tournament last season, and he was an NCAA placewinner way back in 2018. Four years later, he looks to ascend the podium again. He won a tough Upper Midwest Region that had two other top-ten wrestlers qualify in Stuhl and Sato. He has only wrestled 15 matches this season, so we will see if a relative lack of activity makes a difference in March.

Zayren Terukina of Wartburg topped Javen Estrada of North Central to win the Lower Midwest. He outscored Estrada three takedowns to one to avenge a loss by fall in the Concordia final in November. In the Mideast, Kyle Slendorn beat Josiah Gehr for the third time this season. Both qualified for the second time; Gehr’s first was in 2019, and Slendorn made it in 2020. Woody, the third place finisher in the Southeast, will also make his second appearance at the NCAA tournament.

Hayden Brown turned around a loss from earlier in the season in the Northeast semis before beating former NCAA qualifier Joseph Rossetti in the finals to set himself up for a good seed in Cedar Rapids. James Rodriguez of Castleon will get his 50th match of the season at the national tournament, and he will eclipse that number if he wins a match. The Mideast went as planned with the top three seeds qualifying in that order.

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll. d3wrestle.com ranking to come next week.

Robbie Precin continued his outstanding career for North Central with a regional title. He has just two losses in three years of college competition. He picked up a third win this season against Joe Pins of Wartburg in the finals. The top three seed finished 1-2-3 with Bryce Park of Coe slotting into the last qualifying slot.

The Upper Midwest was tightly contested. Matt Berlin, the #2 seed at the canceled 2020 championships, defeated Tyler Fleetwood of UW-Eau Claire in the finals for the second competition in a row, mirroring the WIAC finals with a second major decision. Zach Thompson moved up from the 4th seed to 3rd place to give Platteville a qualifier here.

Dalton Rohrbaugh defeated Josh Wilson in the Southeast final, a battle of DI transfers. Luke Kowalski came in 3rd for Gettysburg. His older brother Colin was the last NCAA qualifier for the Bullets. 8th seeded Gabriel Leo-Esparolini of JWU surprised with a 3rd place finish in the Northeast behind the ranked Kaiser of Roger Williams and Santiago of New England College.

See if you can figure out how these guys are supposed to be seeded. Arrows point from the winner to the loser of a match.

Rankings are from the February 18th NWCA Poll. d3wrestle.com ranking to come next week.

Ohio State transfer Jacob Decatur continued his excellent first season at Baldwin Wallace with a win at the Central Region. His only loss this year is to the top-ranked wrestler in DII. He defeated 2019 All-American Carlos Champagne of Wabash in the finals for the second time this season. Third place at the same region was Jack Stanley of Mount Union. Stanley had previously been an NCAA qualifier for Baldwin Wallace before transferring before this season.

Shandon Akeo of Central remains undefeated after upsetting top seed Brady Kyner of Wartburg in the Lower Midwest final. An escape and a takedown in the last minute of the match erased a two point deficit to give Akeo the win. 7th seed Tommy Russel of Millikin took 3rd over three other NWCA-ranked individuals to earn a spot in Iowa.

Justin Lopez of JWU turned around an earlier loss against Arborio to win the Northeast region. He also knocked off 2022 NCAA qualifier Joey Manginelli to reach the finals. Matt Caccamise of Brockport, a previous NCAA qualifier, was the 4th seed in the Mideast, but he came away with the title over 6th-seeded Lamparelli of Muhlenberg. In the Upper Midwest, 3rd seed Stuhl beat 4th seed Mora in the finals, but the top seeded Wiegel, the only ranked individual in the weight, came back for 3rd.

Sam Braswell qualified again for Averett out of the Southeast. The 5th year wrestler is 38-0 as he heads to his third NCAA tournament. He is seeking his first trip to the podium, though he did finish in 3rd last year at the NWCA DIII tournament. He will try to end his career on the podium next week.

Get live results and video($) for all six regions here. The top three placers at each weight qualify for the 2022 NCAA Championships March 11-12 at the Alliant Energy Power House in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Results & Video
Friday & Saturday
Southeast – Lycoming – Live Results & Video | Host Site | Preview
Central – Adrian – Live Results & Video | Host Site | Preview
Upper Midwest – UW-Eau Claire – Live Results & Video | Host Site | Preview
Lower Midwest – Five Flags Center – Live Results & Video | Schedule | Preview

Saturday & Sunday
Northeast – Springfield – Live Results & Video | Host Site | Preview
Mideast – Elizabethtown – Live Results & Video | Preview

Rankings
d3wrestle.com Individual (February 4th)
NWCA Dual Team (February 19th)
NWCA Tournament Team & Individual (February 18th)
NWCA Individual Regional Rankings (February 18th)

Saturday & Sunday, February 26 & 27
Springfield College

Teams (19): Bridgewater State, Castleton, Coast Guard, Hunter, Johnson & Wales, Merchant Marine, New England College, NYU, Norwich, Plymouth State, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams, Southern Maine, Springfield, Trinity, Wesleyan, Western New England, Williams, WPI

NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
5. Coast Guard
12. Johnson & Wales

Top Ten Ranked Wrestlers – February 4th Ranking
125: #7 Arborio (Western New England), #8 Manginelli (Springfield)
133: #8 Kaiser (Roger Williams)
141: #4 Brown (Johnson & Wales), #10 Rossetti (Williams)
149: #3 Ulaszek (Coast Guard)
157:
165: #10 Rogers (Coast Guard)
174: #6 Ross (Johnson & Wales)
184: #3 Detwiler (Coast Guard), #8 DeVivo (Johnson & Wales)
197: #4 Spooner (Coast Guard)
285: #7 Leka (Johnson & Wales)

Coast Guard is the top ranked tournament team in the region, while Johnson & Wales is ahead by one spot in the dual team rankings. Both have multiple wrestlers ranked in the top ten. NYU, Castleton, and Springfield also have strong dual meet teams that will do well in the regional format.

There are several undefeated wrestlers in this region including a trio of Coast Guard wrestlers #3 ranked Tony Ulaszek at 149, #10 Phil Rogers at 165, and #3 Paul Detwiler at 184. Nathan Lackman at 165 for Rhode Island College and teammates #6 Michael Ross at 174 and #7 Liridon Leka at 285 for Johnson & Wales are also unbeaten this season.

125 is a tough weight with three of the four top placewinners from the last Northeast Regional back in the field. #7 Arborio won the region, #8 Manginelli was 3rd, and Justin Lopez of Johnson & Wales was 4th. 141 is similarly tough with multiple 2020 qualifiers in the field. #4 Brown and Springfield’s Chris Trelli qualified at 133 in 2020, while #10 Rossetti was a qualifier in 2019 & 2020. 184 features a pair of ranked wrestlers in Detwiler (2021 NWCA DIII runner-up) and DeVivo along with Izaake Zuckerman of NYU, a 2020 qualifier at 174 and Edwin Morales of Bridgewater State, a 2020 qualifier at 184.

Very little competition happened with the teams in this region last season. Coast Guard attended the NWCA DIII tournament, and several teams had unattached representation at the NUWAY D3 tournament in the spring, but the mats were mostly quiet in the northeast part of the country. Wrestlers who missed out on a chance to wrestle in the 2020 championships and the entirety of the following season will try to make up for lost time as they aim for a spot in the top three and trip to Iowa next month.

Friday & Saturday, February 25 & 26
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Teams (18): Augsburg, Aurora, Carthage, Chicago, Concordia-Moorhead, Concordia Wisconsin, Elmhurst, Lakeland, MSOE, Pacific, St. John’s, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, Wheaton

NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
6. Augsburg
9. UW-La Crosse
12. UW-Oshkosh
16. UW-Eau Claire
T-18. UW-Stevens Point
T-18. Chicago
21. Elmhurst
23. UW-Whitewater

Top Ten Ranked Wrestlers – February 4th Ranking
125:
133: #3 Fleetwood (UW-Eau Claire), #7 Berlin (UW-Stevens Point), #10 Harsted (Wheaton)
141: #1 McAuliffe (Elmhurst), #7 Stuhl (Augsburg), #8 Sato (UW-Eau Claire)
149: #8 Parker (UW-Platteville), #9 Burford (UW-Whitewater)
157: #2 Smiley (UW-Stevens Point), #3 Shilson (Augsburg), #6 Hertel (UW-La Crosse), #7 Estevez (Chicago)
165: #5 Schmidt (UW-Eau Claire), #6 Brossard (UW-La Crosse), #7 Peckham (UW-Stevens Point)
174: #3 Sarasin (Chicago), #4 Nielsen (Augsburg), #10 Silva (Aurora)
184: #5 Shinhoster (UW-Whitewater), #9 Pecci (Chicago)
197: #2 Lahr (UW-Lacrosse), #3 Yineman (UW-Oshkosh)
285: #3 Lemcke (UW-Oshkosh), #4 Hawkins (UW-Eau Claire), #5 Kim (Augsburg), #9 Kawczynski (UW-La Crosse), #10 Koeppel (UW-Whitewater)

There are six teams in the WIAC, and five appear in the latest tournament team rankings. All five are in this region along with Augsburg, the top ranked team in the Upper Midwest. The sixth WIAC team has two wrestlers ranked in the top ten. There should be a real battle for the top spot in the standings, and a surprise winner is not out of the question.

The lone top-ranked wrestler in the region is Jimmy McAuliffe of Elmhurst at 141. He won the NWCA DIII tournament last year and has held onto the top ranking since then. He was an NCAA All-American when he finished 7th way back in 2018 and is a 3x NCAA qualifier. The NWCA has McAuliffe ranked 2nd but has Beau Yineman of UW-Oshkosh as the lone #1 ranked wrestler in the region. Yineman has one DIII loss and is coming off a WIAC Championship.

157 and 165 will be hard-fought with multiple top-ten wrestlers in each weight. Smiley was undefeated until Hertel knocked him out in the WIAC finals. Shilson has put up a ton of bonus points this year and finished 3rd in the NWCA DIII last season. Estevez has multiple ranked wins and was the runner-up to Smiley at Wheaton. Three ranked WIAC wrestlers will fight it out a 165. Brossard beat Schmidt in the WIAC finals after Schmidt beat Peckham in the semis to take a 2-1 lead in the season series.

Heavyweight is the headliner here with five ranked wrestlers. The four WIAC guys plus NWCA DIII runner-up Kim have been beating up on each other all season. Koeppel might be the only one of the five without a win over one of the other four. Stick around to the end to see how many ranked wrestlers make it, and how many have their season end.

Friday & Saturday, February 25 & 26
Five Flags Center – Dubuque, Iowa

Teams (18): Augustana, Buena Vista, Central, Coe, Cornell, Dubuque, Fontbonne, Huntingdon, Loras, Luther, Millikin, Nebraska Wesleyan, North Central, Schreiner, Simpson, University of the Ozarks, Wartburg, Westminster

NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
1. Wartburg
2. North Central
7. Loras
10. Coe
20. Millikin

Top Ten Ranked Wrestlers – February 4th Ranking
125: #3 Akeo (Central), #4 Rankin (Ozarks), #5 Friddle (Coe), #6 Kyner (Wartburg)
133: #1 Precin (North Central), #2 Pins (Wartburg), #9 Parke (Coe)
141: #3 Estrada (North Central), #6 Terukina (Wartburg)
149: #2 Rumph (Wartburg), #5 Villar (North Central), #6 Areyano (Central)
157: #4 Smith (Loras), #5 Hollingsworth (Wartburg)
165: #1 Birt (Millikin)
174: #2 Mulder (Wartburg), #5 Krakow (Loras), #9 Westphal (Coe)
184: #1 Briggs (Wartburg), #2 Liegel (Loras), #10 Schott (Coe)
197: #1 Baldridge (North Central), #5 Woods (Wartburg), #6 Corn (Luther)
285: #2 Reeves (Coe), #6 Brandon (Wartburg), #8 Vogel (Loras)

With four top ten teams, four #1 ranked wrestlers, and five #2 ranked wrestlers, the Lower Midwest is as tough as ever. Wartburg holds the number one spot, but the title is far from assured with #2 North Central right on their heels and with a dual meet win over the Knights this season. Loras and Coe also have wrestlers throughout the individual rankings. Wrestlers in the top ten (or NWCA top 15) will be left home after this weekend.

Seven of the champions (and 5 runners-up) from last year’s NWCA DIII tournament are expected to compete this weekend in the Lower Midwest. Bradan Birt of Millikin was the Outstanding Wrestler of that tournament and is undefeated this season at 165. He is the only top-ten ranked wrestler at his weight in the region, though as of this writing, 2019 NCAA runner-up at 157 Antwon Pugh is registered for Wartburg. Pugh last stepped on the mat at the 2020 regional for Mount Union and will make his season debut this weekend if he competes.

#3 Shandon Akeo of Central dropped to 125 this season and will tangle with #5 Alex Friddle and #6 Brady Kyner, the finalists at 125 last season. Add #4 Nathaniel Rankin to the mix, and the three spots will be hotly contested with Hensley (Loras), McChesney (Simpson), and Russell (Millikin) adding to the dogfight at the lowest weight.

As of the February 4th rankings, Wartburg had 10 wrestlers appear somewhere on the list, Coe and Loras had 9, and North Central had 8. Seven weights had at least three ranked wrestlers. Just getting to Saturday will be an accomplishment this year, and if one of these teams hopes to win the NCAA championship two weeks later, they will need to have a great performance to make sure they have enough guys left to score in Cedar Rapids.