NCAA Div. III Preview: Augsburg is favored, with a wide-open race expected for a top-four team trophy

Hosting the national tournament is nothing new for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. But considering the meet was canceled because of COVID in 2021 when his school was supposed to host, Eagles Coach Dave Malecek is keeping a sense of humor about this weekend’s NCAA Division III Championships.

“I think the biggest thing is just being grateful,” he said. “It is happening. We check it every day. We are having the NCAA Championships. That’s our sense of humor. We don’t take anything for granted.

“We really are blessed to have the opportunity to showcase wrestling, not only in the Coulee Region, but the great state of Wisconsin and show off the entire UW-L program.”

His wrestlers will take care of that latter part. The Eagles qualified seven wrestlers at the Upper Midwest Regional tournament and should be one of a handful of teams in contention to come away with a team trophy Saturday night at the La Crosse Center.

Defending champion Augsburg, which claimed the Upper Midwest Regional crown two weekends ago, enters the tournament as the favorite.

The Auggies finished 34.5 points ahead of runner-up Wartburg a year ago in Roanoke, Virginia, and have six of their seven All-Americans back.

“No question (Augsburg is the favorite),” said Coach Jamie Gibbs of Baldwin Wallace, whose team placed a program-best third last year, one-half point behind Wartburg.

“When you send 10 guys, no question you are the odds-on favorite,” said Coach Joe Favia, whose Stevens Tech team won the Southeast Regional title.

Another title this weekend would tie the Auggies with Wartburg for the all-time lead in national titles with 15.

Despite any pressure, Auggies Coach Tony Valek also showed a humorous side earlier this week.

“Some of my favorite moments, honestly, are not matches that have Augsburg kids in them – of course I enjoy those – but I like when our fans get involved in matches where maybe (another team’s wrestler) is wrestling a Wartburg kid, and they cheer for small-school kid on the East Coast with one qualifier, and all of a sudden this dude has 500 people cheering for him.

…

“This year, I think, like most years you obviously have the element of everybody kind cheering against Wartburg and Augsburg. I’m sure this year we’ll be public enemy number one.”

He shouldn’t have to worry about his fans being drowned out, however. Augsburg is just a two-and-a-half-hour drive up the Mississippi River from La Crosse.

“We pre-sold about 320 tickets and feel we should have 400-500 people there,” Valek said. “That’s a big advantage for us.”

So are the numbers on the mat. The Auggies have a qualifier at every weight, and eight of them are seeded in the top six.

For us, it’s continuing to focus on the things that got us there,” Valek said. “We kind of control our own fate. We don’t need to worry about anybody else with having 10 qualifiers. … We believe we always get our guys ready to go, peak at the right time. It’s kind of our training cycle and mentality. We look forward to wrestling the best we have all year this weekend.”

Among the returning All-Americans for the Auggies is the defending champion at 141 pounds, Sam Stuhl. He has suffered four losses in 29 matches this season and comes in as the No. 6 seed, but that is not much of concern for Valek, considering Stuhl was unseeded a year ago.

The lineup also includes top-seeded Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann at 184; third seeds Cooper Willis at 165, Seth Goetzinger at 174 and Tyler Kim at 285; fourth seed Charlie Stuhl at 149; and fifth seeds Blake Jagodzinske at 157 and Parker Venz at 197. Schwanebeck-Ostermann and Kim are two-time All-Americans; Stuhl, Willis and Goetzinger are returning All-Americans and Venz was a national qualifier last year.

“We’ve got great leadership,” Valek said.

While another team certainly could step up and challenge Augsburg, the real battle might be for second place. And it could be like the last lap of a NASCAR race.

“There are six or seven teams who will be fighting for those top three trophies,” Gibbs said.

“I look at it like this,” Wartburg Coach Eric Keller said. “In the 15 years we’ve won titles, there’s never been an easy one. There are a lot of teams in the field with a chance to win.

“It will be a battle, absolutely. It will be a war, for sure. That’s the beauty of it.”

Central Regional champion Baldwin Wallace has eight qualifiers; Lower Midwest winner Wartburg, Northeast runner-up Johnson & Wales and La Crosse have seven qualifiers apiece; Upper Midwest third-place team Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Central runner-up Wabash, Northeast champion Coast Guard, Northeast third-place team Castleton and Southeast runner-up Averett each has six qualifiers; and Southeast champion Stevens, Lower Midwest runner-up North Central, Mideast runner-up Ithaca and Southeast third-place team Roanoke have five each.

“D-III wrestling is amazing,” Malecek said. “The level is as good as it has ever been.”

Included in the 180-wrestler field are eight returning national champions, including Johnson & Wales’ Joziah Fry and Baldwin Wallace’s Jacob Decatur at 125 pounds. Fry beat Decatur, the 2022 national champ, in last year’s first-place bout.

North Central’s Robbie Precin, who has not lost since the COVID-shortened 2022 season, is chasing his third title at 133 pounds, Stuhl is back at 141, Baldwin Wallace’s Michael Petrella won last year at 149 after finishing second in 2022; and Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Nolan Hertel won last year at 157.

The other two defending champions are Wartburg’s Zane Mulder at 174 and Mo Endene at 197.

“They understand it’s always going to be harder to win the title again,” Keller said of his two returning champions. Mulder even is coming in as the second seed after placing second at the regional.

“I think, honestly, it’s a good thing,” Keller said of the loss. “He is one of the most fierce competitors we have.”

COVID is a key reason there are so many champions back because the NCAA allowed wrestlers who were on rosters in 2021, when the season was canceled, to return for a fifth season.

“I do think there has been some uniqueness to this year,” Favia said. “Between this year and next year, you have the opportunity for a lot of national champs and finalists to come back.”

Unless you are at a service academy such as the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where the wrestlers have service obligations after their four years.

“It is what it is,” Coast Guard Coach Kevin Bratland said. “It’s nice that they (most wrestlers) get that opportunity. If we did, we probably would take it.”

Malecek is thankful Hertel decided to come back.

“Last April he said he wasn’t coming back,” Malecek said. “In May he changed his mind, and it really rallied the troops.”

Along with all the returning champions, 2023 runners-up are back at 125 (Decatur), 165 (Matt Lackman of Alvernia),174 (Jared Stricker of Wisconsin-Eau Claire) and 197 (Coy Spooner of Coast Guard). The top six placers at 125 all return.

With eight qualifiers, two returning champions and two other top-five finishers from a year ago (Jaden Hinton at 133 and Doug Byrne at 285), Baldwin Wallace has a chance to exceed last year’s third-place finish, the best in school history.

“We bring back a lot of experience,” Gibbs said. “We have a hungry crew ready to see what they can do.”

Wartburg has four new wrestlers in its lineup, and in addition to the two returning champions, the Knights have second-seeded Joe Pins, a three-time national qualifier who took eighth in 2022, at 133.

“Pins has the full understanding that this is just another tournament,” Keller said. “You’ve got to go out and do what you love.”’

Besides Fry, Johnson & Wales’ lineup has a returning All-American in Dylan Harr at 197 and returning qualifiers in Gabriel Leo-Esparolini (133) and Victor Perlieshi (141).

Along with its returning champion (Hertel), UW-La Crosse has returning All-Americans Noah Leisgang, third last year at 165, and Michael Douglas, eighth at heavyweight, and returning national qualifiers Tyler Goebel (149) and Ben Kawczynski (197).

“With seven qualifiers, we’ll be in the hunt for hardware,” Malecek said.

Coast Guard won the Northeast Regional in a close battle when All-America heavyweight Carl DiGiorgio, the top seed this year, won the regional title at heavyweight. Spooner, All-American Chase Randall, eighth last year at 133, and former national qualifiers Joe Chapman (174) and Nate Fitt (149) add to the Bears’ front line.

“Fitt made huge jumps this year,” Bratland said.

After breaking into the top 10 last year for the first time, the Bears will try to climb another rung, or more, up the standings ladder.

“I hope so,” Bratland said. “I don’t think too much about team scores. If you get enough to the national tournament, you score well.”

The other regional champions, Stevens (Southeast) and The College of New Jersey (Mideast) will need to get the most out of their qualifiers with five and four, respectively, to battle for high team finishes.

“I feel good about it,” Favia said. “A few years ago we had three guys and took fourth.”

Stevens is led by two-time All-American Stefan Major at 174, but Ryan Smith also is a returning All-American at 157 and Luke Hoerle was a national qualifier a year ago.

Below is a weight-by-weight outlook for the tournament.

125 POUNDS

Defending champion Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales and 2022 champion Jacob Decatur of Baldwin Wallace headline the weight class and could have a rematch of last year’s finals in the semifinals. The top six placewinners from 2023 return.

Notable: Izzy Balsiger of Wisconsin-Eau Claire returned to college this year after placing fourth in the nation in 2013 for Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Fry (1-125-2023); No. 2 seed Christian Guzman, North Central (3-125-2023); No. 3 seed Zac Blasiolia, Millikin (5-125-2023); No. 4 seed Decatur (2-125-2023, 1-125-2022); No. 6 seed Mason Barrett, Averett (6-125-2023); No. 8 seed Balsiger (4-125-2013); unseeded Jake Craig, Southern Maine; (4-125-2023).

First-round match to watch: All-Americans Guzman and Craig square off in a rematch of last year’s third-place bout, won 10-1 by Guzman.

133 POUNDS

Two-time national champion Robbie Precin of North Central has not lost since the final of the 2021 national tournament hosted by the National Wrestling Coaches Association after COVID-19 wiped out the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

Notable: Zach Beckner, the national runner-up at 125 in 2017, returned to Ferrum after five years away, and qualified as the third-place finisher in the Southeast Regional.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Precin (1-133-2023, 1-133-2022), No. 2 seed Joe Pins, Wartburg (8-133-2022); No. 3 seed Jaden Hinton, Baldwin Wallace (4-133-2023); No. 5 seed Chase Randall, Coast Guard (8-133-2023); No. 6 seed Tyler Fleetwood, Wisconsin-Eau Claire (3-133-2023), unseeded Beckner (2-125-2017).

First-round match to watch: Hinton, ranked fifth by the NWCA, faces No. 8 Gianni Manginelli of Springfield in one of three first-round matches between opponents ranked in the top 11.

141 POUNDS

Augsburg’s Sam Stuhl won a battle of unseeded wrestlers in last year’s championship match at 141 and comes in this year seeded sixth.

Notable: Bobur Berdiyorov, a native of Uzbekistan, will try to become New England College’s first Division III All-American. He placed fifth last year at the junior college national tournament.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Jacob Reed, Ohio Northern (3-141-2023, 3-141-2022); No. 2 seed Josh Wilson, Greensboro (8-141-2023, 5-133-2022); No. 5 seed Josiah Gehr, Messiah (7-141-2022); No. 6 seed Stuhl (1-141-2023); unseeded James Rodriguez, Castleton (7-141-2023, 8-141-2022).

First-round match to watch: Third-ranked but unseeded Xavier Pena of Centenary faces seventh-ranked Gehr in one of three first-round matches between rated wrestlers in the top half of the bracket.

149 POUNDS

Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace won the title last year after finishing as runner-up in 2022, and he is looking for a third consecutive trip to the finals.

Notable: Petrella became the second father-son duo to win national titles last year. His father, Paul, won the title at 177 pounds in 1978 for Baldwin Wallace. Ryan (1999) and Bradan (2022) were the first to accomplish the feat.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Petrella (1-149-2023, 2-149-2022); Charlie Stuhl, Augsburg (8-149-2023); (unseeded Michael Conklin, The College of New Jersey (8-149-2022).

First-round match to watch: Third-seeded and sixth-ranked Nate Fitt of Coast Guard is matched up against 10th-ranked Danie Uribe of Wabash.

157 POUNDS

Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Nolan Hertel returns to defend his 2023 title at a weight in which the top five ranked wrestlers in the NWCA poll hold down the top five seeds.

Notable: Cooper Pontelandolfo of New York University is the second seed after placing sixth the previous two years at 165 pounds.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Hertel (1-157-2023, 5-157-2022); No. 2 seed Pontelandolfo, New York University (6-165-2023, 6-165-2022); third seed Peter Kane, Williams (7-157-2023); fourth seed Ryan Smith, Stevens (8-157-2023)

First-round match to watch: Hertel could get a test right away as he takes on ninth-seeded Nate Camiscioli of Castleton, a transfer from Purdue.

165 POUNDS

There is no returning champion at this weight, but last year’s runner-up, Matt Lackman of Alvernia returns after losing to his brother, two-time national champion Nate Lackman of Rhode Island College in the 2023 national final.

Notable: Dustin Bohren of Loras comes in battle-tested with losses to the first, second, third, sixth and seventh seeds this season, only one of those by more than three points.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Lackman (2-165-2023, 6-165-2022); No. 2 seed Nick Sacco, The College of New Jersey (4-165-2023); No. 3 seed Cooper Willis, Augsburg (5-165-2023); No. 4 seed Noah Leisgang, Wisconsin-La Crosse (3-165-2023); No. 6 seed Will Esmoil, Coe (4-165-2022); No. 7 seed Alex Villar, North Central (4-149-2022).

Preliminary-round match to watch: Another pigtail match pits ranked wrestlers against each other when No. 6 Tristan Massie of Wisconsin-Eau Claire meets No. 11 Bohren of Loras.

174 POUNDS

Zane Mulder of Wartburg returns after winning the title in 2023, but he lost in the Lower Midwest Regional final and comes in as the No. 2 seed behind Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Jared Stricker, whom he beat 7-5 in last year’s championship match.

Notable: Zeb Gnida of Loras avenged his only two losses since December when he beat Mulder 4-1 in the regional final.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Stricker (2-174-2023); No. 2 seed Mulder (1-174-2023, 4-174-2022); No. 3 Seth Goetzinger, Augsburg (7-174-2023); Stefan Major, Stevens (5-174-2023, 7-174-2022); No. 7 seed Charlie Grygas, Oswego State (4-174-2023).

First-round match to watch: Stricker faces a fellow regional champion, Ithaca’s Jackson Gray.

184 POUNDS

Two two-time All-Americans return, and they are seeded first (Augsburg’s Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann) and second (Wabash’s Chase Baczek).

Notable: Sean Malenfant, the No. 7 seed, is trying to become Alfred State’s first All-American in Division III since the school switched from a junior college to a four-year school. He and Zach Levey (133) are the school’s first Division III national qualifiers.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Schwanebeck-Ostermann (4-184-2023, 5-197-2022) ; No. 2 seed Baczek (7-184-2023, 6-184-2022).

Preliminary-round match to watch: You don’t even have to wait until the first round to see a matchup of top-five-ranked wrestlers because third-ranked Niall Schoenfelder of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and fourth-ranked Kasey Ross of Wartburg meet in a pigtail match. They squared off in the quarterfinals of the Upper Midwest Regional last year when Ross was at Wisconsin-Platteville, with Schoenfelder winning 6-2.

197 POUNDS

Both defending champion Mo Endene of Wartburg and 2023 runner-up Coy Spooner of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy return and are seeded first and second, respectively.

Notable: Gabriel Zierden of Concordia-Moorhead knocked off the fourth- and third-ranked wrestlers to win the Upper Midwest Regional. He was a national qualifier in 2020, when the national meet was canceled, and them placed second at 197 in 2021 when the NWCA held the postseason tournament.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Endene (1-197-2023); No. 2 seed Spooner (2-197-2023, 6-197-2022); unseeded Dylan Harr, Johnson & Wales (4-197-2023); unseeded Gable Crebs, Lycoming (7-197-2022).

First-round match to watch: Ben Kawczynski, the fourth seed for host Wisconsin-La Crosse drew a returning All-American, Crebs, for his opening match.

285 POUNDS

The third weight without a returning champion does have a pair of two-time All-Americans in the bottom half of the bracket, including 2022 national runner-up Donovan King of Olivet.

Notable: Ferrum’s Rayshawn Dixon, the No. 2 seed, is back after suffering a 9-8 loss in the blood round last year in a wild match that had multiple reviews late in the match.

Returning All-Americans: No. 1 seed Carl DiGiorgio, U.S. Coast Guard Academy (7-285-2023); No. 3 seed Tyler Kim, Augsburg (3-285-2023, 4-285-2022); No. 4 seed Michael Douglas, Wisconsin-La Crosse (8-285-2023); No. 5 seed Doug Byrne, Baldwin Wallace (5-197-2023); No. 6 seed King (5-285-2023, 2-285-2022); No. 7 Robby Bates, North Central (6-285-2022).

First-round match to watch: Byrne, who moved up from 197 to heavyweight this season and is ranked sixth by the NWCA, is matched with eighth-ranked Walter West of Luther.