Takedown Report

NCAA Division III Regional Previews

2024 CENTRAL REGION PREVIEW
Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, 2024
Ohio Northern University | Host Site | 2023 Results
Teams (19):
Adrian, Albion, Alma, Baldwin Wallace, Case Western Reserve, Heidelberg, Hiram, John Carroll, Manchester, Mount St. Joseph, Mount Union, Muskingum, Ohio Northern, Ohio Wesleyan, Olivet, Otterbein, Trine, Wabash, Wilmington
NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
#6 Baldwin Wallace
#12 Ohio Northern
#14 Wabash
A pair of returning national champions headline the Central Region this year. Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace is the defending champ at 149 and has steamrolled the competition so far with 32 bonus point wins out of 34 matches in an undefeated season. Teammate Jacob Decatur was the 2022 champion at 125 and the runner-up last season. He returned to the lineup for the second half of the year and has just two close losses to the wrestlers ranked ahead of him.
Jacob Reed of Ohio Northern is the other top-ranked wrestler in the tournament (besides Petrella). He has finished 3rd at the last two NCAA Championships and weathered a midseason injury to post a 22-0 record so far this season. Other highly-ranked returning All-Americans here include #2 Chase Baczek of Wabash … story at … D3wrestle.com/2024-central-region-preview
And …

2024 UPPER MIDWEST REGION PREVIEW
Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, 2024
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point | Host Site | 2023 Results
Teams (19):
Augsburg, Aurora, Carthage, Chicago, Concordia-Moorhead, Concordia-Wisconsin, Elmhurst, Lakeland, Linfield, 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
#2 Augsburg
#3 UW-La Crosse
#7 UW-Eau Claire
#15 UW-Whitewater
#23 Concordia-Moorhead
A pair of returning champs highlight this region. Nolan Hertel of UW-La Crosse won a razor thin overtime match at 157 last year and has backed it up with an undefeated season and a win over the defending DII champ in the NWCA All-Star Match. Sam Stuhl of Augsburg surprised many with his unseeded run to the 141 championship after a 3rd place finish in this region last year. He has taken a few losses but hopes to catch lightning in a bottle again in March. The third returning finalist here is Jared Stricker of UW-Eau Claire at 174. He is 34-2 with both losses coming to DI opponents at the Midlands. He could be on a path to repeat last year’s NCAA finals matchup with Wartburg’s Mulder.
#3 Cooper Willis of Augsburg only has a loss to Iowa’s Caliendo this year, but he does have two regular season wins against the defending DII champ at 165. He is one of six returning 2023 All-Americans for Augsburg. #5 Izzy Balsiger of Eau Claire was last seen in the postseason wrestling for UW-La Crosse in 2013 where … story at … D3wrestle.com/2024-upper-midwest-region-preview
And …

2024 NORTHEAST REGION PREVIEW
Saturday and Sunday, March 2-3, 2024
Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Host Site | 2023 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
#5 Coast Guard
#9 Johnson & Wales
#11 Castleton
#13 NYU
#23 Williams
Returning national champion Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales is the top returner in the region and is in the only weight in the tournament with three top-ten individuals. Fry won last year at 125 and spent the first month of the season there before moving up to 133 in December. His only loss is to the #2 ranked wrestler in DI at the Princeton Open. The latest NWCA rankings have him back down at 125, even though he has not wrestled there since December. That said, expect him at 125 this weekend. The other returning finalist in the region is Coy Spooner of Coast Guard. … story at … D3wrestle.com/2024-northeast-region-preview
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2024 MIDEAST REGION PREVIEW
Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, 2024
Rochester Institute of Technology | Host Site | 2023 Results
Teams (21):
Alfred State, Brockport, Centenary, Cortland, Elizabethtown, Elmira, Ithaca, Johns Hopkins, Keystone, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, NJCU, TCNJ, Oneonta, Oswego, Penn College, Pitt-Bradford, RIT, St. John Fisher, Scranton, Ursinus
NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams:
#17 TCNJ
#19 Centenary
The Mideast is the only region without a #1 ranked wrestler, but there is certainly some firepower throughout the weights. #2 Angelo Centrone should return to the lineup this weekend for Cortland at 149. He is undefeated with 17 of his 18 wins coming with bonus points. #2 Nicholas Sacco of TCNJ is one of the two highest returning finishers in the region after a 4th place finish last year. He is undefeated against DIII competition. The other top returner is #7 Charlie Grygas of Oswego who was 4th at 174. Other returning All-Americans include Thomas Monn of McDaniel, last year’s d3wrestle.com Freshman of the Year along with Muhlenberg’s pair of 8th place finishers Joey Lamparelli (125) and Anson Dewar (174). Michael Conklin of TCNJ finished 8th in 2022 but missed out on the tournament last season.
Alfred State will be looking for their first NCAA qualifiers since transitioning from the junior college ranks. They have a pair of wrestlers with a good shot. Zach Levey was a qualifier for Brockport in 2022 and will be looking for his second trip to the tournament while #4 Sean Malenfant has worked his way up … story at … D3wrestle.com/2024-mideast-region-preview
And …

2024 LOWER MIDWEST REGION PREVIEW
Thursday and Friday, February 29 – March 1, 2024
Alliant Energy Powerhouse | Host Site | 2023 Results
Teams (20):
Augustana, Buena Vista, Central, Coe, Cornell, Dubuque, Eureka, Fontbonne, Huntingdon, Illinois Wesleyan, Loras, Luther, Millikin, Nebraska Wesleyan, North Central, University of the Ozarks, Schreiner, Simpson, Wartburg, Westminster
NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
#1 Wartburg
#4 North Central
#16 Central
#19 Coe
#21 Millikin
#23 Dubuque
#23 Augustana
Three of the seven returning NCAA champions from last year are in this region, and all three have had predictably dominant seasons. 2x champ Robbie Precin of North Central has not lost since the NWCA D3 tournament in 2021 and has the longest active win streak in all of NCAA wrestling. He has just two losses in five years of competition. Zane Mulder is 20-0 174 in his quest to repeat for Wartburg, while teammate  … story at … D3wrestle.com/2024-lower-midwest-region-preview/
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2024 SOUTHEAST REGION PREVIEW
Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, 2024
Lycoming College | Host Site | 2023 Results
Teams (22):
Alvernia, Averett, Delaware Valley, Ferrum, Gettysburg, Greensboro, King’s, Lycoming, Marymount, Messiah, PSU-Behrend, Roanoke, Shenandoah, Southern Virginia, St. Vincent, Stevens, Thiel, Washington and Lee, Washington and Jefferson, Waynesburg, Wilkes, York
NWCA Ranked Tournament Teams
#8 Alvernia
#10 Stevens
#18 Greensboro
#21 Ferrum
Matt Lackman of Alvernia has lost one match in the past two seasons, and it was in the national finals to his brother Nathan. That makes him 85-1 over his last two campaigns, and he comes into the postseason as the favorite at 165. The other #1 ranked wrestler here is Rayshawn Dixon of Ferrum. Dixon pinned Olivet’s King in the Wheaton finals to earn the top spot and joins Lackman in having a perfect season record. After dropping a heartbreaking match in last year’s All-America round that featured multiple reviews and the referee initially raising the wrong wrestler’s hand, he is looking toward the top of the podium. While Dixon is ranked #1, he has a teammate who joins Lackman as the other returning finalist in the region. Zach Beckner was a 2017 finalist at 125 lbs. and has found his way back to the Ferrum lineup seven years later. … story at …D3wrestle.com/2024-southeast-region-preview/

March 2, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized