Wide open race for NCAA Div. III team title this weekend; four teams have been No. 1 this season

Division III takes its national tournament to New England this weekend for the first time in more than 30 years.

The return might be just as exciting and just as historical as the 1993 event.

That year, Augsburg and Wartburg battled each other for the team title for the first time. A head-to-head win in the championship at 118 pounds was the difference as the Auggies won 93-92 to claim their second team championship.

The following year was the last time a school not ending in "burg" won the crown in a rivalry Wartburg has won 15 times and Augsburg 13 since 1995.

While both teams have been ranked atop Division III this season, so have two others that shared the honor of scoring the most points in regional competition that qualified wrestlers for this year's NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships that take place Friday and Saturday at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island.

"It's going to be fun; there's a lot of parity," Johnson & Wales Coach Lonnie Morris said.

"I doubt there ever have been four teams ranked No. 1 (in a season)," said Wisconsin-La Crosse Coach Dave Malecek, whose Eagles outscored Augsburg 192.5-186 to win the Region 6 title.

"I think every year Division III brings that (excitement). That's why fans love it. It's a high level of wrestling. There are a lot of teams coming in with high hopes and big dreams. We're one of those teams."

Johnson & Wales, which also has held the No. 1 spot in either the National Wrestling Coaches Association dual or tournament rankings, also scored 192.5 as it won Region 1. Being the host school this weekend, it promises to add even more excitement to the two-day event.

If that's not enough to interest fans, seven of last year's champions are back, and also returning is Nathan Lackman, who won two national titles for the Rhode Island College before taking last year off. He is now a graduate student at Alvernia, joining brother Matt, whom he beat for the title at 165 in 2023.

Like Nathan Lackman, Johnson & Wales' Joziah Fry (125), Baldwin Wallace's Michael Petrella (157) and Wartburg's Massoma Endene (197) are chasing third national titles.

The latter three all are in the conversation for best pound-for-pound wrestler in Division III.

Fry is 38-0 with bonus points in all but one match, including 21 technical falls and 12 pins. Petrella, who has not lost since the national finals as a freshman, is 36-0 with bonus points in all but two matches, including 16 pins and 15 tech falls. Endene is 16-0 with eight pins and all but three wins with bonus points.

"Everyone keeps on saying pound-for-pound, they keep on mentioning Endene and Petrella and Fry, and they're all exceptional wrestlers," Morris said. "The fact that Endene won the U23s is impressive. But if you look at the body of work, no one is more dominant than Fry. Nobody."

The other returning champions are Chase Randall of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at 133, Josh Wilson of Greensboro at 141, Nick Sacco of The College of New Jersey at 165 and Jared Stricker of Wisconsin-Eau Claire at 174.

"It's a good field," Morris said. "We have the national champ at 165 who's not even seeded. There are multiple-time All-Americans not even seeded. It's kind of crazy how deep this tournament is. It's going to be fun. It's whoever can push more guys to the finals and whoever can (get) multiple All-Americans. If someone gets six or seven (All-Americans), I think it's going to be hard for anyone to beat them."

Johnson & Wales' strength is in the lower weights, led by Fry at 125 pounds. Hayden Brown, a 2023 All-American who was injured last year, is the top seed at 149, while freshman Peyton Ellis is seeded second at 133 behind Randall. Jake Eckerle, a transfer from the University of Buffalo, is seeded seventh at 141, and Jack Richardson is sixth at 165.

"We've got a very veteran group," Morris said. "They're pretty focused. They know what they need to do. They're ready to go.

"Every year we talk about the championship, and they hand out four trophies. And we've won trophies before, but the difference is, we always kid around, we go up on stage, we get our trophy, we take a picture and say, 'Hey, did we get' — the championship team always gets the hats and the T-shirts. We joke around (and) say, 'We don't care about the trophy, we want the hats and T-shirts.'"

Wisconsin-La Crosse has the most qualifiers (nine) and is strongest in the upper weights. It has returning national runners-up Tyler Goebel at 157 pounds and Michael Douglas at 285, along with second-seeded transfer Tanner Gerber at 167 and All-American Ben Kawczynski at 197.

"This crew we have just worries about themselves," Malecek said. "In 30 years of coaching — six in high school and 24 in college — this group is one of my all-time favorites.

Last year's squad made a run at the title before finishing third with 82.5 points behind Augsburg (95) and Wartburg (87.5).

"We definitely know you've still got to win matches at NCAA," Malecek said. "In Division III, crazy things can happen. We put together a day and a half of pretty solid wrestling last year, but we didn't follow it up Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. You have to put together two really solid days."

Augsburg took advantage of the opening to win its 15th national title.

The Auggies and another region runner-up, Vermont State-Castleton each has eight qualifiers, while Johnson & Wales, Region 3 champion The College of New Jersey and Region 6 runner-up Loras have seven each. Region 6 champion Wartburg and Region 5 champion North Central — schools that in recent years battled each other in the old Lower Midwest Regional — have six qualifiers each, as do Region 2 champion Stevens Institute of Technology, Alvernia and Ohio Northern, led by 141-pounder Jaco Reed who has finished second, third and third the past three years.

"Because there is parity, I think our guys need to show up and wrestle. You're going to have to put seven on the podium and you're going to have to fight to the death on the championship and on the consolation side," Coach Joe Galante of The College of New Jersey said.

"I think it comes down to bonus points — winning close matches and getting bonus points," Malecek said. "That's going to be key for whoever wins."

Bonus points were a key last year for Augsburg, which graduated a pair of national champions but is led by three All-Americans, Parker Venz (197), Cooper Willis (165) and Seth Goetzinger (174), the latter two two-time All-Americans.

Two-time national champion Massoma Endene (197) leads Wartburg, which also has a No. 2 seed in Kasey Ross (184) and a returning All-American in Kyler Romero, who moved up from 141 to 149 when All-American Charlie Dojan suffered a season-ending injury.

Galante is hoping for a little history to repeat, too.

"1987 was the last time that Trenton State College (now TCNJ) won the national title for wrestling. That was the last year we returned two two-time All-Americans," he said. "This is the first year since then we've done that.

"Mike Conklin (149) is a two-time All-American, Nick Sacco is a two-time All-American and a national champion, and we added in a few transfers with Garrett Totten (U.S. Naval Academy, seeded third at 133), Sam Kotch (Franklin & Marshall, 141) and Hunter Mays (Rider and Lehigh, seeded fourth at 174) and then you've got some younger guys like Matt Griffin — he was a blood-road freshman last year at 125 — and D.J. Henry, whose our 197, they're both sophomores."

Castleton's lineup includes All-Americans Gavin Bradley (125), Sampson Wilkins (184) and James Rodriguez, a two-time All-American at 141.

Loras also has three returning All-Americans — Eric Kinkaid (157), Dustin Bohren (165) and Zeb Gnida (174), who won back-to-back-to-back regional titles.

North Central features a two-time All-American on each end of its lineup: Christian "Chip" Guzman at 125 and Robby Bates at 285.

"We've got some grampas on this team (graduate students Bates, Bradley Rosen at 141 and four-time national qualifier Alex Villar at 165, plus senior Javen Estrada, a 2023 All-American) — but we feel good," North Central Coach Grant Zamin said. "A lot of them have been here many times."

With so much parity, coaches won't be surprised to see a wild weekend.

"I've always said if we were ever going to make another run at another championship there would have to be a lot of parity within Division III wrestling, and you'd have to have a lot of teams stealing points from each other," Galante said.

"There are so many crazy things about this year," Zamin said. "I think it's going on 31 years, Wartburg and Augsburg at the top, and now there's a shot for one of those two teams to go down ... and neither of those are in the top two right now. But, again, you can't discount them because it's been those two the past 30-plus years."

CHANGE OF SCENERY

Morris was competing in the national tournament for Rhode Island College when New London, Connecticut, was the host city in 1993. He is happy to see it just up the coastline this year.

"It's been a long time coming," he said. "It's been 30 years since it's been back in New England. ... It's crazy it's coming full circle.

"But it's always been on my bucket list to try to get this going and host it."

He says the competitors will like what they see.

"I look at it as not just our kids deserve to travel right down the road to compete for a national title, but the Midwest kids deserve to come out here and see the ocean, put their feet in the sand."

The same goes for the fans, Morris said.

"It's going to be huge for the city as far as revenue for our hotels, for our restaurants. In the Midwest, a lot of the restaurants close at 9 o'clock, so when we get out of the tournament it's a hard place to find somewhere to eat. Out here it's very different. The restaurants stay open late, so people will be able to go and grab something to eat between rounds and after the rounds."

FIELD EXPANDS TO 210

Division III added a seventh regional tournament this year, adding 30 more qualifiers to the field. Two regions benefited the most. This year's field of 210 wrestlers will include 43 whose teams were in the Southeast Regional last year, while 41 wrestlers are out of the old Lower Midwest.

I definitely love (what they did)," said Zane Pannell, a sophomore at the University of Dubuque who placed third and qualified out of Region 6, the old Lower Midwest Regional. "I'm just going to be honest. It made my path to nationals way easier. If Millikin was still in our regional, I would have had the same guy (Dejon Glaster) I lost to at national duals, and he was a stud, one of the best wrestlers I've ever had the chance to wrestle. It would have been way tougher.

"This has got to be the hardest tournament I've ever wrestled in," Pannell said.

"Last year I wasn't able to wrestle in it. ... I got to experience how nasty every single one of the wrestlers are, and it's very tough. Every single guy comes and wants to punch you in the mouth, and I love it."

Perhaps no weight benefited more than 285 pounds in the old Lower Midwest. North Central's Robby Bates and Millikin's Leno Campbell qualified 2-3 out of Region 5 and Josh Woodrey of Augustana was runner-up in Region 7. Even with their departures Region 6 still had five of the top 10 ranked wrestlers in the country at 285.

NCAA Div. III Nationals brackets

NCAA Div. III Nationals broadcast on FloWrestling

NCAA DIV. III NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Providence, R.I., March 14-15

Event Schedule

Friday, March 14

10:00 a.m. ET - Prelims, consolation first round

5:00 p.m. ET - Championship quarterfinals and consolation second round wrestle-backs; consolation third round

Saturday, March 15

10:00 a.m. ET - Championship semifinals and consolation wrestle-back quarterfinals; consolation semifinals; seventh-, fifth- and third-place matches

7:00 p.m. ET - Championship finals