Ironically enough two of the most likely finalists are most likely to redshirt this season. Arizona State's Zahid Valencia a two time NCAA champion at 174 lbs will most likely be taking an Olympic redshirt and last year's 184 lbs NCAA runner up Max Dean of Cornell will be taking a regular redshirt. Of course their is no guarantee that either would win the tournament or even make the finals, but with credentials like those, it is fair to predict that they might.
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BEN DARMSTADT
Sophomore
CORNELL
|
Filling in for Dean at Cornell will be 2018 All American Ben Darmstadt who missed the 2018-2019 season do to a spinal injury. Back injuries can often be the most difficult to recover from and it leaves to question how healthy he'll be this season. If fully recovered, a force to be reckoned with.
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SHAKUR RASHEED
Senior
PENN STATE |
I would say even despite a disappointing NCAA tournament last year, that Rasheed is a forerunner for this year's NCAA title. He won the Southern Scuffle, finished second at the BIG 10's and 17 of his 21 victories last season were bonus points.
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LOUIE DEPREZ
Sophomore
BINGHAMTON |
Only a sophomore, Louie DePrez could end up the most successful wrestler in Binghamton history. The school has never had a three time NCAA Division I All American, and there's a high probability that he could be the first. He was 5th at last year's CKLV, 3rd at the Scuffle and 3rd at the EIWA. One match shy of placing at the NCAA's, he did own a 5-3 sudden victory over Dean.
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TRENT HIDLAY
Freshman
NORTH CAROLINA STATE |
With six of the eight All Americans being seniors, it is safe to say that in 2019, 184 lbs was an upperclassmen's weight class. With the abundance of talented freshmen and sophomores, the polar opposite could be true for 2020. There are a lot of talented underclassmen who could easily make this a weight class of the young. Among them is NCST's Trent Hidlay who at 174 lbs last season went 24-2. His only losses were to two time All Americans David McFadden of Virginia Tech and Joe Smith of Oklahoma State. Wins included Brandon Womack of Cornell, Spencer Carey of Navy, Quentin Perez of Campbell and Matt Finesilver of Duke.
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NINO BONACCORSI
Sophomore
PITTSBURGH |
Head coach Keith Gavin was the last NCAA champion for the Panthers winning his title in 2008. While it'd be a tall order, he could coach the next this season in sophomore Nino Bonaccorsi. A match shy of All American status last season, he defeated All Americans Chip Ness of North Carolina and Emory Parker of Illinois. He placed seventh in Vegas and second at the ACC's.
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TAYLOR VENZ
Junior
NEBRASKA |
Like Rasheed, Venz had a great season in 2018-2019, that ended on a sour note. An All American as a freshman in 2018, Venz found himself one match shy of a second medal last year. Despite this disappointing outcome, there was still enough about his performance that leads one to believe that he could challenge for this year's NCAA title. He took second in Vegas, pinned Emory Parker of Illinois, and most notably owned two wins over NCAA Champion Drew Foster of Northern Iowa. He defeated him 11-8 and 8-6 last season. What a story it'd make if Venz met Rasheed in the finals this March.
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SAM COLBRAY
Senior
IOWA STATE |
A testimony to head coach Kevin Dresser and staff is how well Colbray performed last season. Got his name out their with a win over Iowa's Cash Wilcke and then continued that success by defeating All American Dakota Geer of Oklahoma State, taking fifth at the Scuffle & runner-up honors at the BIG 12 tournament. A match shy of an NCAA medal, Colbray did defeat Foster 8-5 during the season.
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DEVIN KANE
Senior
NORTH CAROLINA |
A match shy of All American at 174 lbs last season, Kane moves up to 184 lbs to test the waters in what should prove with Hidlay, Bonaccorsi and Virginia Tech's Hunter Bolen to be a very competitive ACC conference.
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HUNTER BOLEN
Sophomore
VIRGINIA TECH |
To add testimony to the though of 184 lbs being a young man's territory is Virginia Tech's Hunter Bolen. Taking a redshirt last season he placed second at the Scuffle with victories of Ness, Deprez and Oklahoma State's Jacobe Smith.
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DYLAN WISMAN
Senior
MISSOURI |
Last year's MAC champion, Wisman defeated Dean 7-6 during the season. While it's most likely that he'll once again be the starter for the Tigers this season, Canton Marriott was an NCAA qualifier himself in 2018.
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TATE SAMUELSON
Sophomore
WYOMING |
An NCAA qualifier with 24 wins last season, Samuelson should be in the hunt for a BIG 12 finals appearance although he'll have some stiff competition to get their.
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CASH WILCKE
Senior
IOWA |
A four year starter for the University of Iowa who never made All American during his career. That's a very rare occurrence. So rare that I don't know if it has happened in the past 46 years. That's what leads me to believe that Wilcke, twice the round of twelve, will finally break through and secure his medal this season. A two time Midlands finalist, he looks to win his second title this season as well.
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BRITT WILSON
Sophomore
NORTHERN ILLINOIS |
A national qualifier at 174 lbs last season, one will want to see him in competition against Wisman and the other MAC 184 lbs'ers first, but it is at the moment realistic to think he'll contend for the conference title.
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TANNER HARVEY
Junior
AMERICAN |
A wrestler whose win-loss record on the mat usually reflects what you think his win-loss record would be on paper. Fourth at last year's EIWA tournament, Harvey should again qualify for the NCAA championships.
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GAVIN HOFFMAN
Freshman
OHIO STATE |
25-3 last year in his redshirt, Hoffman took an impressive fifth at the Midlands. I don't see him defeating Rasheed, Venz or Wilcke, but he could place as high as fourth at the BIG 10's.
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CHRIS WEILER
Junior
LEHIGH |
Moving down from 197 lbs, Weiler was eighth at last year's Scuffle. One match shy of All American status as a freshman in 2018, Weiler should compete well within both the EIWA and NCAA.
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COREY HAZEL
Senior
LOCK HAVEN |
An EWL champion last season who defeated Deprez 6-4, Hazel stands a legitimate shot at being one of the (if not the) first MAC champ for Lock Haven this year.
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ANDREW MORGAN
Senior
CAMPBELL |
An NCAA Qualifier at 174 lbs last season, Morgan moves up to 184 and should be the forerunner for a Southern Conference title.
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CAM CAFFEY
Sophomore
MICHIGAN STATE |
A fun, exciting and extremely aggressive wrestler, Caffey won the Reno tournament of champions last season as a freshman. In a conference that I see qualifying as many as nine, it'll be interesting to see where Caffey places in the BIG 10's.
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JELANI EMBREE
Sophomore
MICHIGAN |
When the 184 lbs at large selections were made last season, I was a little surprised to not see Embree's name among those selected as wildcards for the NCAA tournament. One match shy of placing a CKLV and a technical fall win over NCAA qualifier Dom Ducharme. Embree should finish out his career with at least three NCAA qualifications, if not more credentials and accomplishments.
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NOAH STEWART
Senior
ARMY |
Stewart placed sixth at last year's EIWA championships and should improve upon that showing this season.
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KEVIN PARKER
Senior
PRINCETON |
An at large NCAA qualifier who placed seventh at last year's EIWA championships, Parker looks for his second qualification this season.
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MAX LYON
Junior
PURDUE |
An NCAA qualifier last season, Lyon will most likely be among the thirty-three again this season.
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TANNER ORNDORFF
Senior
UTAH VALLEY |
If you've read my analysis on the other weight classes I've written about thus far, there's no denying that I am enthusiastic about the Wolverine's potential this season. Adding fuel to that fire is seeing Orndorff a three time NCAA qualifier at 197 lbs moving down to 184 for his final year of eligibility. Very anxious to see how he'll do against the competition.
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JOHNNY SEBASTIAN
Senior
WISCONSIN |
New, new, new. Everything is new for Johnny Sebastian. New school. New weight class. After three varsity seasons at Northwestern, qualifying for the NCAA's at both 165 and 174 lbs, Sebastian wrestles his final season for Wisconsin, this time at 184 lbs.
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ANTONIO AGEE
Senior
OLD DOMINION |
Agee has yet to qualify for the NCAA championships, but I think he stands a legitimate chance at doing so this year. He defeated Kent State's Andrew McNally 4-1 last season.
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DOM DUCHARME
Junior
CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD |
Sixth at the Scuffle and third at the PAC-12's Ducharme looks to add another NCAA qualification to his resume this season.
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TREVOR ALLARD
Senior
BLOOMSBURG |
28-13 as a sophomore and 27-11 as a junior who placed seventh at last year's Midlands I'm more than a little surprised that Allard hasn't qualified for the NCAA championships yet. I think Bloomsburg's move to the MAC conference will be beneficial to Allard as the victories he is more than capable of should hold more weight than those he was racking up in the EWL. A mention earlier of Hazel doing it for the Eagles, Allard himself could be the first Husky to win a MAC title.
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ALAN CLOTHIER
Junior
NORTHERN COLORADO |
An NCAA qualifier as a freshman who placed seventh at last year's Scuffle for Appalachian State, Clothier moves cross country to begin a career at Northern Colorado.
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DOMINIC LAMPE
Senior
CHATTANOOGA |
It may be a bit of a stretch but I'll tell you why I think Lampe could qualify for this year's NCAA championships. He was third at the Southern Conference last season, and from where I sit he should make the finals against Morgan this season. I don't think it stretches the imagination too much to think that he could win that match, a SOCON title and a trip to the NCAA's.
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JUDAH DUHM
Sophomore
STANFORD |
One of the rare occurrences throughout NCAA wrestling history where the second place wrestler in a conference stays home, while the third place wrestler whom he defeated gets to go to the NCAA tournament. It's a rarity but it did happen to Stanford's Judah Duhm who defeated Ducharme at last year's PAC-12 championships. Only fair though when you consider Duhm only wrestled a total of seven matches last season, going 5-2. What should be a full season, it'll be interesting to see how good Duhm really is. If that win over Ducharme was a total fluke or if it was legit.
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HUNTER YEARGAN
Senior
OHIO |
Another wrestler who has yet to qualify for the NCAA's, who stands a decent shot at doing so this year is Ohio bobcat Hunter Yeargan. Yeargan owns a win over Clothier and he finished one match shy of a medal at the Scuffle.
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