NORTHEAST REGIONAL
Of the six NCAA Division III qualifying Regionals this weekend, the Northeast is the only one that will take place Saturday-Sunday, as the other five are Friday-Saturday tournaments. We've had some examples of just how asinine it is that only three wrestlers per weight class qualify for nationals, but here in the Northeast Regional, just about every weight class illustrates that point. Once all of the Regionals are complete, I'm going to make a "best to not qualify" list and I already know looking over these weights, plenty will come from the Northeast Regional. It has some tremendous talent.
Four of the best 125 lbs'ers in the D3 nation & one of them is staying home. Hurts your head doesn't it? Seeding will have an effect on what order these talents end up finishing, as truth to be known, all four of these guys could walk out of Worcester, Massachusetts as the Northeast champion. If we're going based on rankings, Gavin Bradley of Castleton at 30-3 for the season ought to be our *1. 3rd at last year's Northeast Regional, he finished one match shy of All American honors. He owns a 6-4 win over Jake Craig of Southern Maine & he's defeated Harrison Gordon twice (11-6 & 20-6). He won both the Ithaca Invitational as well as the Citrus Invite.
Craig was a Northeast Regional runner-up two seasons ago, but just barely missed out on qualification last year when he finished in 4th place. Itching to reclaim his qualifier status, he has beaten Bradley twice in the past. Rather solid beatings may I add of a 2:28 fall & a 14-3 major decisions.
New England's Chris DeRosa knows what it takes to win. Oddly enough he's just recently made the move to 125 lbs having competed at both 141 & 133 earlier this season. He's no stranger to either Bradley or Craig, and he's defeated both of them as well. Bradley by a 4-1 score & Craig by a 3-2 score.
Then we have Harrison Gordon, who himself owns a 6-1 win over Bradley.
Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales is something else. I have a feeling that when his career is said & done, he's going to go down in the record books as one of the most dominant D3 wrestlers of all time. Winning both the Northeast Regional & the NCAA Division III titles last season, I say that it is most likely that he repeats as both again. 25-1 on the year, his only loss is to DI wrestler Luke Stanich, himself ranked, who won the Midlands title. Fry otherwise has 25 victories, 13 of them via tech fall, with four falls & three majors.
3rd in the Northeast Regional & 8th in the D3 nation last year, our foreseeable runner-up here is Coast Guard's Chase Randall who currently carries a 17-2 record. He defeated Springfield's Gianni Manginelli by an 8-4 decision earlier this season.
As to Manginelli, I have to say this. Finishing 4th & 5th at the Northeast Regional the past two seasons, he's made both my '22 & my '23, "best to not qualify" list. It pleases me very much to know that in his final season as a member of the Pride, he stands in excellent position to finally nab that qualification that has eluded him the past two years. While Fry does own a 20-5 technical fall over him, he has given the seemingly untouchable one, one of his closest matches with a 4-3 decision. For the record, Randall also gave Fry a respectable match, losing 12-8.
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| 125 lbs |
Four of the best 125 lbs'ers in the D3 nation & one of them is staying home. Hurts your head doesn't it? Seeding will have an effect on what order these talents end up finishing, as truth to be known, all four of these guys could walk out of Worcester, Massachusetts as the Northeast champion. If we're going based on rankings, Gavin Bradley of Castleton at 30-3 for the season ought to be our *1. 3rd at last year's Northeast Regional, he finished one match shy of All American honors. He owns a 6-4 win over Jake Craig of Southern Maine & he's defeated Harrison Gordon twice (11-6 & 20-6). He won both the Ithaca Invitational as well as the Citrus Invite.
Craig was a Northeast Regional runner-up two seasons ago, but just barely missed out on qualification last year when he finished in 4th place. Itching to reclaim his qualifier status, he has beaten Bradley twice in the past. Rather solid beatings may I add of a 2:28 fall & a 14-3 major decisions.
New England's Chris DeRosa knows what it takes to win. Oddly enough he's just recently made the move to 125 lbs having competed at both 141 & 133 earlier this season. He's no stranger to either Bradley or Craig, and he's defeated both of them as well. Bradley by a 4-1 score & Craig by a 3-2 score.
Then we have Harrison Gordon, who himself owns a 6-1 win over Bradley.
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| 133 lbs |
Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales is something else. I have a feeling that when his career is said & done, he's going to go down in the record books as one of the most dominant D3 wrestlers of all time. Winning both the Northeast Regional & the NCAA Division III titles last season, I say that it is most likely that he repeats as both again. 25-1 on the year, his only loss is to DI wrestler Luke Stanich, himself ranked, who won the Midlands title. Fry otherwise has 25 victories, 13 of them via tech fall, with four falls & three majors.
3rd in the Northeast Regional & 8th in the D3 nation last year, our foreseeable runner-up here is Coast Guard's Chase Randall who currently carries a 17-2 record. He defeated Springfield's Gianni Manginelli by an 8-4 decision earlier this season.
As to Manginelli, I have to say this. Finishing 4th & 5th at the Northeast Regional the past two seasons, he's made both my '22 & my '23, "best to not qualify" list. It pleases me very much to know that in his final season as a member of the Pride, he stands in excellent position to finally nab that qualification that has eluded him the past two years. While Fry does own a 20-5 technical fall over him, he has given the seemingly untouchable one, one of his closest matches with a 4-3 decision. For the record, Randall also gave Fry a respectable match, losing 12-8.
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| 141 lbs |
141 lbs in the Northeast Regional is perhaps the most peculiar of all the weight classes. First and foremost for the past two seasons, I have referred to James Rodriguez of Castleton as "Backside" Rodriguez. Why? Cause the guy gets into the consolation side of the bracket & he suddenly turns into an unstoppable force that is going to earn qualification/All American honors. 3rd in both '22 & '23 at the Northeast Regional, he's thus far been 8th & 7th in the D3 nation. The catch this season is, I don't think he's going to have JT#1 drop the nickname! He has 7-4, 6-3 & 4-2 victories over Chris Perry of Trinity & I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he didn't walk out of here champion!
The question is, will Perry be his finals opponent? Perry's been 4th & 3rd the past two seasons competing at 149. Here's the catch. While wrestling well enough to earn a ranking within the top twenty, he's had some head scratcher losses this year. He's vulnerable to upsets. Knowing that by all means, he should make the finals or at least come back to take 3rd, the ugly losses linger in the back of my mind.
As to our other plausible qualifier? I might catch Hell for this, but I'd love to see it be Gabriel Leo-Esparolini of Johnson & Wales. My heart really goes out to GLE. A Northeast Regional champ last year at 133 lbs, Fry moved up a weight class & that left GLE with nowhere to go. Truth is, he doesn't seem big enough for 141 & I would imagine the cut to 125 is too far. He's batting .500 so far this year & perhaps I'm being Utopian but I'd love to see him nab 2nd or 3rd place. Rodriguez defeated him 8-3 earlier this year.
Perhaps I should be spouting similar feelings for Adam Schaeublin. He was 2nd in the Northeast Regional last season, but got bumped outta his spot, when Perry decided to move down to 141. I say it all the time, but often without illustration it loses its muster. It's so difficult even to make a lineup in collegiate wrestling.
Five...Five of the top twenty 149 lbs'ers in the D3 nation & two of them won't be going to the national tournament when it is all said and done. We have some serious talent here at 149.
Nathan Fritz of USCGA was the Northeast Regional runner-up last season, competing at 141 lbs. Thus far the move up to 149 has proven to be very successful. 21-0 on the season, he's beaten everyone who will give him challenge this weekend. An 8-3 decision over Victor Perlleshi, a 8-5 s.v. over Colby Frost, a 1-0 decision over Eli Cyr & two wins over Vincenzo Napolitana (11-2 & 19-4).
One of the many who will fight for a spot in the finals this weekend, Eli Cyr of Castleton carries a 25-7 record. A 5-4 decision over Perlleshi, he owns 5-4, 10-3 & 3-2 decisions over Frost.
Speaking of Frost, he was an NCAA DIII qualifier back in 2022 with a 3rd place showing here at the Northeast Regional. Unfortunately, he came up a little short last season, finishing in 5th place. Looking to reclaim a top three showing, he owns both a 9-8, as well as a 12-1 victory over Cyr.
Perlleshi sure as the sun shines doesn't plan on being one of the odd men out. He won the Northeast Regional title last season competing at 141 lbs. He does own an 8-4 win over Fritz.
Last but certainly not least, competing for a qualification will be Napolitana who has twenty wins on the year.
Even though it wouldn't do you any good & it'd be a complete waste of time, it is weight classes like these that make you wanna sit down & write a letter to the NCAA petitioning for more qualifiers in DIII wrestling. We have five wrestlers here, two of which are NCAA DIII champion material & if I may so, all five of which are All American material. Only three of them get to make the trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Two of them are staying home. As the late Gino Marella would say, "a miscarriage of justice." Moving on....
3rd in the Northeast Regional last season & 7th in the D3 nation, Peter Kane of Williams has had himself an Eph'in good season thus far in '23-'24. 16-1, he owns titles at Doug Parker, RIT & Williams tournaments. He looks to pick up another here this weekend. Owns an 11-1 major over Noah Caskey of USCGA.
Another title contender this weekend will be Cooper Pontelandolfo. The Violet has thus far finished as the Northeast Regional runner-up the past two seasons, with back to back 6th place D3 All American finishes. Has a 13-5 major over Jack Richardson of J&W and a 13-7 decision over Caskey.
Noah Camisciol of Castleton will be one to watch this weekend. The former Purdue Boilermaker is 27-5 on the season. Has both an 8-1 as well as a 5-2 decision over Caskey & an 11-2 major over Richardson.
Richardson owns a 10-4 decision over Caskey.
Our Northeast Regional final here at 184 lbs is most likely going to be between Nick Roeger of Castleton and Patrick Wisniewski of Johson & Wales. When I was growing up one of my Dad's favorite sayings about wrestling was, "It's hard to beat a good wrestler three times in a row." That's exactly what Roeger will have to do if he wants to call himself a champion this weekend. Thus far he's managed to be the one step ahead of Wisniewski that he needed to be to win both a 9-8 decision & a 4-2 sudden victory.
The darkhorse in this story is Myles Leonard of Springfield. 25-7 on the season, he does own an 8-5 victory over Roeger & despite being unranked, he'll pose a threat himself.
The question is, will Perry be his finals opponent? Perry's been 4th & 3rd the past two seasons competing at 149. Here's the catch. While wrestling well enough to earn a ranking within the top twenty, he's had some head scratcher losses this year. He's vulnerable to upsets. Knowing that by all means, he should make the finals or at least come back to take 3rd, the ugly losses linger in the back of my mind.
As to our other plausible qualifier? I might catch Hell for this, but I'd love to see it be Gabriel Leo-Esparolini of Johnson & Wales. My heart really goes out to GLE. A Northeast Regional champ last year at 133 lbs, Fry moved up a weight class & that left GLE with nowhere to go. Truth is, he doesn't seem big enough for 141 & I would imagine the cut to 125 is too far. He's batting .500 so far this year & perhaps I'm being Utopian but I'd love to see him nab 2nd or 3rd place. Rodriguez defeated him 8-3 earlier this year.
Perhaps I should be spouting similar feelings for Adam Schaeublin. He was 2nd in the Northeast Regional last season, but got bumped outta his spot, when Perry decided to move down to 141. I say it all the time, but often without illustration it loses its muster. It's so difficult even to make a lineup in collegiate wrestling.
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| 149 lbs |
Five...Five of the top twenty 149 lbs'ers in the D3 nation & two of them won't be going to the national tournament when it is all said and done. We have some serious talent here at 149.
Nathan Fritz of USCGA was the Northeast Regional runner-up last season, competing at 141 lbs. Thus far the move up to 149 has proven to be very successful. 21-0 on the season, he's beaten everyone who will give him challenge this weekend. An 8-3 decision over Victor Perlleshi, a 8-5 s.v. over Colby Frost, a 1-0 decision over Eli Cyr & two wins over Vincenzo Napolitana (11-2 & 19-4).
One of the many who will fight for a spot in the finals this weekend, Eli Cyr of Castleton carries a 25-7 record. A 5-4 decision over Perlleshi, he owns 5-4, 10-3 & 3-2 decisions over Frost.
Speaking of Frost, he was an NCAA DIII qualifier back in 2022 with a 3rd place showing here at the Northeast Regional. Unfortunately, he came up a little short last season, finishing in 5th place. Looking to reclaim a top three showing, he owns both a 9-8, as well as a 12-1 victory over Cyr.
Perlleshi sure as the sun shines doesn't plan on being one of the odd men out. He won the Northeast Regional title last season competing at 141 lbs. He does own an 8-4 win over Fritz.
Last but certainly not least, competing for a qualification will be Napolitana who has twenty wins on the year.
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| 157 lbs |
Even though it wouldn't do you any good & it'd be a complete waste of time, it is weight classes like these that make you wanna sit down & write a letter to the NCAA petitioning for more qualifiers in DIII wrestling. We have five wrestlers here, two of which are NCAA DIII champion material & if I may so, all five of which are All American material. Only three of them get to make the trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Two of them are staying home. As the late Gino Marella would say, "a miscarriage of justice." Moving on....
3rd in the Northeast Regional last season & 7th in the D3 nation, Peter Kane of Williams has had himself an Eph'in good season thus far in '23-'24. 16-1, he owns titles at Doug Parker, RIT & Williams tournaments. He looks to pick up another here this weekend. Owns an 11-1 major over Noah Caskey of USCGA.
Another title contender this weekend will be Cooper Pontelandolfo. The Violet has thus far finished as the Northeast Regional runner-up the past two seasons, with back to back 6th place D3 All American finishes. Has a 13-5 major over Jack Richardson of J&W and a 13-7 decision over Caskey.
Noah Camisciol of Castleton will be one to watch this weekend. The former Purdue Boilermaker is 27-5 on the season. Has both an 8-1 as well as a 5-2 decision over Caskey & an 11-2 major over Richardson.
Richardson owns a 10-4 decision over Caskey.
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| 165 lbs |
Our Northeast Regional final here at 184 lbs is most likely going to be between Nick Roeger of Castleton and Patrick Wisniewski of Johson & Wales. When I was growing up one of my Dad's favorite sayings about wrestling was, "It's hard to beat a good wrestler three times in a row." That's exactly what Roeger will have to do if he wants to call himself a champion this weekend. Thus far he's managed to be the one step ahead of Wisniewski that he needed to be to win both a 9-8 decision & a 4-2 sudden victory.
The darkhorse in this story is Myles Leonard of Springfield. 25-7 on the season, he does own an 8-5 victory over Roeger & despite being unranked, he'll pose a threat himself.
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| 174 lbs |
Personally I've always found the "something to prove"/"Chips on their shoulders" wrestling to be the most intriguing. That's why 174 lbs interest me.
Jason Geyer of NYU & Joe Chapman of USCGA have a few of things in common. They were both NCAA DIII qualifiers in 2022, both placing 3rd at the Northeast Regional (Chapman was competing at 157 lbs). The other thing they have in common, is that they both came up a hair short of another qualification last year, as Geyer finished 4th & Chapman finished 5th. At 18-1 for Geyer & 17-2 for Chapman they both want to reclaim their qualification status.
With that noted, I question if we'll see Jacob Deguire of Springfield in action here this weekend. A Northeast Regional Champion & 3rd in the D3 nation, he started off the season 9-0. Championships won at both Ithaca & Doug Parker. Including a 13-10 decision over Chapman. Yet he hasn't competed since mid November. 7 of his 9 victories were via fall. 6 of those 7 falls were under a minute! I have no idea as to the whats, whys, or hows, but what I do know is that if he's competing here, he is a title contender.
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| 184 lbs |
Sometimes in wrestling we have reflections of order. Other times we have reflections of chaos. In this particular case, we seem to have reflections of both. So take your pick. Either 184 lbs in the Northeast Regional is chaotic order, or it is organized chaos. What's pretty clear to me is that Sampson Wilkins of Castleton has wrestled a great season this year, honing in winning those tough matches & being more consistent. 3rd in the Northeast Regional last year & one match shy of D3 All American honors, he has thus far won titles at Roger Williams, Ted Reese & the Citrus Invitationals. He's 32-2 thus far.
One of the challengers to Wilkins this tournament will be Ryan DeVivo of Johnson & Wales. 7th in the Regional last season, he looks to claim a much higher spot on the podium this year.
That leads me to Trent Furman. Two seasons ago, competing at 157, Furman was a Northeast Regional runner-up, who finished one match shy of D3 All American honors himself. He wasn't the varsity starter at the Regional last year & this year he moved up three weight classes to 184! Obviously spent some time in the weight room putting on size and muscle, and it has thus far paid off.
That's the order of it all.
The Chaos?
This weight class features an assortment of darkhorses. More than the two I'm going to mention, by the way. I really don't know exactly where to start or to stop, so I'm going to mention a couple that particularly stick out in my mind.
Cole Shaughnessy of Roger Williams oddly enough reminds me of what I said about Sampson Wilkins last season. He's a good, solid, tough wrestler that needs to figure out a way to win those tough matches and turn those close losses into wins. He's been 4th & 5th in the Northeast Regional thus far. He has notable wins too. A 3-1 decision & he also pinned Wilkins at the 6:46 mark. On top of it, he's kept it close with Wilkins in 1-0 & 3-1 losses. He's lost twice to DeVivo, but he's also beaten DeVivo once too. 21-5 this year, if he were to pull off an upset, it wouldn't surprise me at all.
Matt Kelly of Rhode Island College is another that sticks out to me. Binghamton to NYU to RIC, I think adjustments have finally been finalized. He's 18-4 on the year.
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| 197 lbs |
What you see is what you get here at 197 lbs in the Northeast Regional. I've said now for quite sometime that I think when it is all said and done, Coy Spooner will perhaps go down as the greatest wrestler the Coast Guard ever produced. Already a two time Northeast Regional champion, he'll go for title number three this weekend & there's a very, very good chance he'll get it. He's also a two time All American with D3 national finishes of 5th & 2nd.
That saying of "hard to beat a good guy three times in a row" rings through my head once again, but three times? Heck, Spooner's done it five times. Dylan Harr of J&W, one of the toughest HWTs in D3, 4th in the D3 nation himself last season. Spooner's defeated him on five occasions, albeit three of them by nose hair scores. So the possibility of an upset isn't nonexistent, but until Harr proves otherwise, I see gold in one direction & silver in another.
Results say that neither Spencer Fetrow of Roger Williams or Darby McLaughlin of Castleton are going to knock off Spooner or Harr. However, it is very likely that the two will do battle for that ever elusive bronze medal that will get them to La Crosse, Wisconsin to compete for All American honors. While Fetrow has the ranking, it is McLaughlin who has the head to head 8-3 decision. Fetrow 6th in last year's Northeast Regional, McLaughlin has finishes of 6th & 4th.
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| HWT |
Here's the true crime against humanity. 6 of the very best HWT's in NCAA DIII wrestling & three of them will end up staying home during the NCAA DIII championships. If you want a tough, challenging Regional bracket, look no further than HWT in the Northeast.
If Carl Digiorgio is reading this preview, he's probably reading over what I wrote about Coy Spooner & thinking to himself, "What am I invisible to you!?!?!" The answer is, no, no he is not. As Spooner looks to become one of the greatest wrestlers in USCGA history, as does Digiorgio. Thus far this season he is 15-0, having taken 2nd place Northeast Regional Honors & 7th place D3 All American honors last season. This year, he'll have to win the toughest bracket in the Northeast Regional if he wants to call himself champion this weekend.
Among his competition will be Mason Sprinkel of Norwich, the shining star among the maroon and gold. 5th in the Northeast Regional last season, he looks to improve upon that finish. He has both a 6-0 & 9-7 s.v. over Abbas Adulraham of Castleton, carrying a 31-2 record.
Abdulraham himself is currently 24-6. He's defeated Sprinkel 12-5, 10-7 & 5-4 and he also owns a 6-2 decision over Adolfo Betancur of Johnson & Wales.
Reid Garrison of the Merchant Marines is 24-3, with a 7-5 decision over Abbas among his victories.
Betancur owns both a 6:59 fall as well as a 4-2 decision over Abdulraham.
Last by certainly not least, we have Evan Anderson of NYU who may very well prove to be a ticking time bomb ready to explode. He was 3rd at last year's Northeast Regional & one match shy of D3 All American honors. He's kept it close with Digiorgio on two occasions dropping both a 2-1 & a 6-3 decision to the bear. He also owns both a 1:44 fall as well as a 22-5 tech fall over Garrison. Garrison however won their last meeting by a tight 4-3 decision.
We have ourselves WWIII in DIII here. This is going to be good.
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