One of the toughest in-season NCAA DIII wrestling tournaments of the year, the North Central Invitational will feature five of the best teams in the nation with ranked wrestlers at every weight class duking it out for individual titles. Great wrestling to look forward to Saturday a little less than an hour west of Chicago.
Participating will be....
#2 North Central
# 4 Wabash
#6 UW-La Crosse
#8 Augsburg
#14 Baldwin Wallace
Still technically only a freshman, Ohio State transfer Jacob DeCatur of Baldwin Wallace is so far kicking butt and taking names as the favorite to win this year's NCAA DIII title. The question is, can anyone challenge him here at the North Central Invite? I don't think so.
A great opportunity to see DIII's #1 vs #2. Precin finished as the NCAA DIII runner-up last season as Champagne an All American (7th) as a freshman in 2019 looks to reclaim his status as a top dawg. Should prove to be an exciting match. Look for UW-La Crosse's Sawyer Sarbacker, a two time NCAA DIII qualifier in his own right to finish a strong 3rd.
NCAA Division III is abundantly full of phenomenal freshmen this season and Estrada is one of the best examples. I don't see anyone even remotely challenging him for a title on Saturday. He should walk through this tournament without a problem.
Another battle of youth among DIII talent. Freshman Alex Villar of North Central will be the top seed here looking to win a title on his home turf as sophomore Jake Burford of UW-Whitewater and junior Alex Barr of Wabash duke it out in the semi-finals to see who will meet him in the finals.
3rd place NCAA Division III All American Tyler Shilson is the favorite here to win a North Central Invite title, but he should have challenge out of UW-La Crosse's Nolan Hertel. Look for Chicago's Darian Estevez to finish 3rd.
This is the final I predict and a match I look really forward to. Wabash's Kyle Hatch has thus far finished 8th & 6th at the NCAA DIII tournament. UW-La Crosse's Brossard is a transfer from Rochester C&T where he was a two time NJCAA All American finishing 4th & 3rd the past two seasons. Should be a great match.
Another great match to look forward to this weekend at the North Central Invite is the probable final between #3 Ben Sarasin of Chicago and #4 Solomon Nielsen of Augburg. Sarasin a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa who wrestled for Kennedy High School was an All American back in 2019 (7th), where as Nielsen a three time Minnesota state place-winner for Luverne High School was the NCAA DIII runner-up last season.
This is one of the few weight classes where the competition has actually faced one another before. UW-La Crosse's Kalyn Jahn defeated Augsburg's Nick Rogge 5-4 at the Augsburg Invitational back in November & Rogge split 1-1 with North Central's Brock Montford last season. Rogge won earlier in the season on a 7-5 decision, but then dropped a 9-6 decision to Montford in the NCAA DIII semi-finals. The rubber match will be one for the ages that you will not want to miss.
2021 NCAA Division III champion Cody Baldridge will be in action this weekend as he looks to have challenge out of UW-La Crosse's Isaac Lahr. Look for Baldwin Wallace's Doug Byrne to take 3rd place.
I get it that the NCAA Division III tournament last season was in " " due to missing teams & wrestlers because of the pandemic and I also understand that UW-La Crosse's Ben Kawcynski recently upset him 2-0 BUT...I feel that Tyler Kim of Augsburg is severely underrated at #10. He finished as the runner-up last season for crying out loud. Being wrong isn't something new to me. I make a ton of a predictions week in and week out, but I feel Kim is better than he's being projected at the moment. He'll get a shot to avenge himself against Kawcynski and if he does, I say he gives Max Bishop of Wabash a run for his money in the finals.
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Johnnythompsonnum1 at the time does not and plans on never charging for content. However, I would like to extend the coverage I do for the sport and can only do so through donation. Your contributions would help in a variety of ways including but not limited to the following examples below.
To purchase a camera in order to conduct interviews with wrestlers, coaches and wrestling personnel.
To start a wrestling podcast with Dennis Doderer, a former Iowa High School state runner-up, Michigan State wrestler & writer of NYPD BLUE
To help cover the cost of travel and lodging to attend more wrestling events
To create more content to where eventually Johnnythompsonnum1 is covering all Divisions of Collegiate Wrestling. Right now based on money, time & resource restraints Johnnythompsonnum1 is mainly NCAA DI with a bit of NAIA mixed in here and there. I want to eventually be able to cover DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA, NCWA & all of Women’s wrestling.
If every reader of mine donated even $0.50 per month it’d be enough to achieve these goals. So please think about making a contribution to Johnnythompsonnum1 to help me extend the collegiate wrestling coverage that I do.
Send donnation via Venmo to Stephen-Stonebraker-1
P.O. Box to send cash, check or money order coming soon.
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| 133 lbs |
A great opportunity to see DIII's #1 vs #2. Precin finished as the NCAA DIII runner-up last season as Champagne an All American (7th) as a freshman in 2019 looks to reclaim his status as a top dawg. Should prove to be an exciting match. Look for UW-La Crosse's Sawyer Sarbacker, a two time NCAA DIII qualifier in his own right to finish a strong 3rd.
 |
| #2 Javen Estrada North Central 141 lbs |
NCAA Division III is abundantly full of phenomenal freshmen this season and Estrada is one of the best examples. I don't see anyone even remotely challenging him for a title on Saturday. He should walk through this tournament without a problem.
 |
| 149 lbs |
Another battle of youth among DIII talent. Freshman Alex Villar of North Central will be the top seed here looking to win a title on his home turf as sophomore Jake Burford of UW-Whitewater and junior Alex Barr of Wabash duke it out in the semi-finals to see who will meet him in the finals.
 |
| 157 lbs |
3rd place NCAA Division III All American Tyler Shilson is the favorite here to win a North Central Invite title, but he should have challenge out of UW-La Crosse's Nolan Hertel. Look for Chicago's Darian Estevez to finish 3rd.
 |
| 165 lbs |
This is the final I predict and a match I look really forward to. Wabash's Kyle Hatch has thus far finished 8th & 6th at the NCAA DIII tournament. UW-La Crosse's Brossard is a transfer from Rochester C&T where he was a two time NJCAA All American finishing 4th & 3rd the past two seasons. Should be a great match.
 |
| 174 lbs |
Another great match to look forward to this weekend at the North Central Invite is the probable final between #3 Ben Sarasin of Chicago and #4 Solomon Nielsen of Augburg. Sarasin a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa who wrestled for Kennedy High School was an All American back in 2019 (7th), where as Nielsen a three time Minnesota state place-winner for Luverne High School was the NCAA DIII runner-up last season.
 |
| 184 lbs |
This is one of the few weight classes where the competition has actually faced one another before. UW-La Crosse's Kalyn Jahn defeated Augsburg's Nick Rogge 5-4 at the Augsburg Invitational back in November & Rogge split 1-1 with North Central's Brock Montford last season. Rogge won earlier in the season on a 7-5 decision, but then dropped a 9-6 decision to Montford in the NCAA DIII semi-finals. The rubber match will be one for the ages that you will not want to miss.
 |
| 197 lbs |
2021 NCAA Division III champion Cody Baldridge will be in action this weekend as he looks to have challenge out of UW-La Crosse's Isaac Lahr. Look for Baldwin Wallace's Doug Byrne to take 3rd place.
 |
| HWT |
I get it that the NCAA Division III tournament last season was in " " due to missing teams & wrestlers because of the pandemic and I also understand that UW-La Crosse's Ben Kawcynski recently upset him 2-0 BUT...I feel that Tyler Kim of Augsburg is severely underrated at #10. He finished as the runner-up last season for crying out loud. Being wrong isn't something new to me. I make a ton of a predictions week in and week out, but I feel Kim is better than he's being projected at the moment. He'll get a shot to avenge himself against Kawcynski and if he does, I say he gives Max Bishop of Wabash a run for his money in the finals.
====
Johnnythompsonnum1 at the time does not and plans on never charging for content. However, I would like to extend the coverage I do for the sport and can only do so through donation. Your contributions would help in a variety of ways including but not limited to the following examples below.
To purchase a camera in order to conduct interviews with wrestlers, coaches and wrestling personnel.
To start a wrestling podcast with Dennis Doderer, a former Iowa High School state runner-up, Michigan State wrestler & writer of NYPD BLUE
To help cover the cost of travel and lodging to attend more wrestling events
To create more content to where eventually Johnnythompsonnum1 is covering all Divisions of Collegiate Wrestling. Right now based on money, time & resource restraints Johnnythompsonnum1 is mainly NCAA DI with a bit of NAIA mixed in here and there. I want to eventually be able to cover DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA, NCWA & all of Women’s wrestling.
If every reader of mine donated even $0.50 per month it’d be enough to achieve these goals. So please think about making a contribution to Johnnythompsonnum1 to help me extend the collegiate wrestling coverage that I do.
Send donnation via Venmo to Stephen-Stonebraker-1
P.O. Box to send cash, check or money order coming soon.
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