Often buried beneath a fixation with local high school wrestling & the fascination with NCAA Division I, east coast NCAA Division III wrestling is an assortment of talent that often goes overlooked. This upcoming weekend we have a great tournament held at Ursinus College with some of the best DIII teams from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts & New York.
Picture Guide
Ranking (D3wrestle) & Name
School Name
(Place taken at this tournament last season)
*What seed I would give them
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| 125 lbs |
A competitive weight that returns four of the six place-winners from last season. I think based on ranking & results that our #1 seed here should be Wilkes' Austin Fashour. He has a convincing 11-5 victory over Terry Adams of Ursinus & he's beaten Alvernia's Keito Shaw twice, along with a fall over Delaware Valley's Ryan Kelly. Even though York's (PA) Jared Kuhns won this tournament last season, I give Fashouer the nod due to not only the higher ranking but also being an NCAA DIII qualifier last season. Kuhns the #2 over Adams the #3 based on a head to head 5-2 decision. Shaw I believe is our clear #4 as with losses to Kuhns & Adams, he has victories over Kelly and Merwin. I will note that his match with Adams was a close 5-4 decision. It may seem odd to put Kelly who was runner-up here last season all the way down at #5 but head to head on paper he is the fifth best wrestler here. As to who I'd put as the #6 seed? Not sure but while I do think I have a clear grip (if these are the wrestlers that enter the tournament of course) on our first five place winners, I think the battle for sixth place will be between NYU's Benny Bautista, SUNY-Cortland's Cody Merwin & WPI's Tanner Thatcher.
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| 133 lbs |
A champion here last season & 3rd in the NCAA Division III championships, Dalton Rohrbaugh of York (PA) ought to add another Racich Rumble title to his resume without much effort. Jayden Cardenas of SUNY-Cortland may give him a match in the finals, but I would suspect he'll walk through the quarters & the semis. NYU's Nick Kruczynski was 4th here last season at a different weight class & it'll be interesting to see how he does at 133. Last season Romeo Rodriguez of Ursinus forfeited to Nick Germano in the 5th place match. Hopefully everyone stays healthy this tournament & if the two meet again, may we actually see the match.
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| 141 lbs |
No ranked wrestlers, but I predict a fun & exciting final between Alvernia's Quinn Tobin & WPI's Chris Cook. Both wrestlers were 3rd in these championships last season, with Cook down at 133 lbs. As I say this, I am well aware that Cook could potentially have his hands full with teammate Zach Rioux in a potential semi-final. I would like to see a good showing out of 2021 NCAA DIII qualifier Asa Brunk of Messiah, but at this point I can't see him any higher than 4th place. Rioux has pinned him & Tobin owns both a fall & a tech fall over him. Another place-winner I see in this bracket is Ryan Burbacher of SUNY-Cortland.
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| 149 lbs |
I can definitely see this being a very competitive weight class. As far as potential seeds, this was not an easy one to think through. There's a lot to take into consideration here & with results & parity, it can make the task quite difficult. Personally considering that Jared Bair of York (PA) won the tournament last season & has decisive victories over both Jason Rezac of Alvernia & Anthony Chavez of NYU, that puts him up towards the top. Yet, a 7-0 victory for SUNY-Cortland's Kyle Klien over Bair cannot be ignored either, thus giving him the #1 seed I would think.
Now Elizabethtown's Shane Strausser does own a 3:54 fall over Rezac, but he's also lost 9-0 to him & he has a loss by fall to Chavez in 6:48. Thus why I gave the #3 seed to Rezac, the #4 to Chavez & the #5 to Strausser. It could work out much differently, but this is my logic.
I would look to Chandler Merwin of SUNY-Cortland to perhaps be a bracket breaker & another one to look out for here would be Elizabethtown's Dorian Gonzalez.
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| 157 lbs |
This is going to be a fun weight class. A lot of unexpected things could happen here. I believe our top two seeds with be Messiah's Garret Cornell & NYU's Trent Furman. Even though Furman has a ranking & Cornell does not, I give Cornell the nod above Furman for two reasons. A, he placed 2nd to Furman's 3rd here last season. B, he was 5th at the 2021 NCAA DIII championships, compared to Furman's best finish, R12 last year. Either way regardless of who you give the #1 & who you give the #2, it is likely to be our finals & I think it's going to be a great match.
Shawn Marchesano of Ursinus I give the #3 seed. He was 4th here last season. Some may point to his 8-3 loss to Johns Hopkins Chris Roybal who I have seeded #5. Keep in mind that he also owns a 15-14 victory over Roybal & Roybal has a 6-4 loss to WPI's Tommy Dell'Aera who I have seeded #4. I want to add in that should Marchesano & Furman meet in the semi-finals as I predict, it could very well turn out to be a great match. The last time the two met, Furman took a 7-4 decision.
The guy I think to potentially watch for here could very well be Alvernia's Robert Lawlor. Although he was pinned in only 46 seconds by WPI's Edward Hay, he gave Marchesano a very tough match in a 4-3 loss.
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| 165 lbs |
Two of the best wrestlers in NCAA DIII will be in this bracket. Matt Lackman of Alvernia who placed 5th at last year's national tournament & Cooper Pontelandolfo of NYU who placed 6th. Lackman defeated Pontelandolfo 2-0. As we examine this bracket, it helps to illustrate just how much position, luck & circumstance go into being an NCAA DIII qualifier. If you don't place in the top three of your Region, you aren't going. It's that simple. A lot of good guys stay home every year & Brian Schneider of Elizabethtown is proof of that. He defeated Pontelandolfo here last season for 3rd place. What a statement it would be if he could upset the Violet once again. I give Messiah's Zach Needles the #4 seed. I think being 0-3 against Schneider this is most likely where he is to finish. I think our battle for 5th place will be between WPI's Ryan Powers & Ursinus' Jake Folk. Folk did give Schneider a tough 6-4 match last season for the record.
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| 174 lbs |
Returning 8th place NCAA Division III All American Demitreus Henry of SUNY-Cortland will run the show here at 174 lbs. As to places 2nd through 4th, I honestly see it going down exactly as it did last season.
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| 184 lbs |
This could easily turn out to be the best weight class of the entire tournament. We're talking two returning Racich Rumble champions, a runner-up & three returning NCAA Division III qualifiers.
Gotta go with Alvernia's Isaac Kassis as the #1 seed. He is a returning champion, he has the ranking & he has wins over Gary Nagle of Usinus, Scott Dupont of NYU & Ryder Slaton of Messiah. Brian Torres of SUNY-Cortland I give the #2 seed as he has a head to head 8-4 victory over Nagle. As to Nagle, I put him at #3 over NYU's Jason Geyer because of three reasons. His 2nd place here happened at 184, whereas Geyer's 1st place happened at 174. Secondly, he owns a victory via fall in 6:13 over Kassis. Thirdly in the loss he did have to Kassis, it was a 4-3 tiebreaker. Lastly I give Dupont the #5 seed over Slayton as he has a 7-2 win over Slayton. Slayton while he has a 8-3 loss to Kassis, also took him into sudden victory, losing 3-1.
When I say this weight class could turn out to be very good I mean it. Quarters on through, we're potentially looking at some really good matches.
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| 197 lbs |
Another very tough weight class. I believe our #1 seed will be Camden Farrow of York (PA), who was 4th in the NCAA DIII championships last season. He won a title here last year. I believe his opponent will be Mauro Kelly of Alvernia, who was R12 in NCAA DIII. Farrow defeated Pellot last season 9-7. As to the #3 seed, I would go with NCAA qualifier Matt Kelly of NYU. He took Farrow into overtime, dropping a 6-4 decision. At #4 Tyler Riggs of WPI, with Cameron Butka of Wilkes at #5 and Tyler Phenegar of Elizabethtown at #6. Butka has three victories over Phenegar by scores of 5-1, 8-2 & 11-6. Lastly I'll put in a word for Lucas Wilson-Wuestefeld who was 4th here last season, but I think it'll be very difficult for him to earn another top six showing if the rest of these talents show up.
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| HWT |
Bare with me on this one. It's a bumpy ride, buckle your seatbelt. There is a lot to unfold here.
Alvernia's Palmer Rodenhaber lost in the finals here last season to Delaware Valley's Austin Williams but I give Rodenhaber the #1 seed & I'll tell you why. Despite the 5-2 loss to Williams, he came back and defeated him twice. A score of 8-1 & a 6:55 fall. He also owns a 8-1 decision over Dylan Waller of Elizabethtown who I have given the #2 seed & he has pinned Carter Urich of Messiah who I give the #3 seed on three occasions.
As to Waller as the #2 seed, he has defeated Dan Eckley of Delaware Valley twice by scores of 9-6 & 6-5. He's also pinned Urich twice in the first period. Some may point at Eckley's 5-2 victory over Rodenhaber, but overall Eckley is 1-2 Vs Urich. A 4-2 victory Vs 9-3 & 5-2 losses.
Now it may seem weird to put last year's champ, Austin Williams all the way down at #5, but all things considered it's only fair to put him there. Along with the two losses he has to Rodenhaber, he's also lost twice to Eckley & once to Urich. Yet still one ahead of WPI's Chris Gens, who he has defeated twice.
Parity anyone??
Among the five returning place-winners from last season as well as Gens, I would also look to Caleb Burkhart of Wilkes as one who will be gunning for a top 6 finish.
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