In my opinion the seniors of the 133 lbs NCAA Division III class can best be summed up by the word heart. There was a lot of intestinal fortitude among our no longer eligible wrestlers here at 133 lbs in D3. As mentioned in my farewell to the seniors of 125 lbs NCAA DIII, I don't know everyone. I'm sure there are some I'm leaving out that deserved to be recognized. However, these were the guys I followed and the guys I want to recognize.
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| Robbie Precin North Central |
A legend. An inspiration. Even though things didn't end on the high note they were supposed to, Robbie Precin of North Central will still go down as one of the best to ever do it in NCAA Division III wrestling. 138-4, he was 2nd-1st-1st-4th at the national championships. When he injured his hand in his semi-final match against Chase Randall of USCGA, I told my girlfriend as we watched from the stands that he would unfortunately probably medical forfeit to 6th place. Much to my surprise with his hand all bandaged up, he was out their on the mat competing in the consolation semi-finals. Not only was he competing, unable to use that hand at all, he won the match! All I could think watching him out on the mat was, "What guts", "What courage." Precin had nothing to prove, yet there he was out on the mat, giving it his all. I get goose bumps just thinking about it.
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| Joey Pins Wartburg |
I've been referring to Joey Pins as Joey "Technically" Pins for the last three seasons now. My nickname for him is well substantiated as the Knight has 41 technical falls out of his 83 wins total. That's just shy of 1/2 of his wins being won via technical fall. As poetic justice would have it, he of course won the Gorriaran award for the most amount of falls in the least amount of time at the DIII championships. 8th in the DIII championships in 2022, he fell just a hair short of another AA in 2023. It was very rewarding to see him come back so strong this year. Finished up a great career taking 3rd in the D3 nation.
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| Joey Manginelli Springfield |
Anytime this guy stepped on the mat, you knew you had a fight on your hands. He might not always be the best & sometimes technically he may have been outmatched. Didn't matter, he was going to give it Hell that entire 7 minutes. I love watching guys like this. Guys that just come at you & they're unrelentless in their pursuit to score points. After finishing 4th & 5th in the Northeast Regional, I was really hoping that Manginelli would finally make the D3 national tournament and he did. Took 3rd & punched his ticket. Unfortunately got injured at the national championships, but still top 18 out of 125, that's pretty damn good. 25-6 on the year, a Petrofes title & even took Joziah Fry to a 4-3 decision.
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| Tyler Fleetwood UW-Eau Claire |
Things didn't quite end the way Tyler Fleetwood would have liked for them to have, but nevertheless, what a career for the Blugold. 82 career wins, let's examine all of the many accomplishments he had throughout his collegiate career.
3rd in the DIII nation in '23, he was also...
2nd & 3rd the past two Upper Midwest Regionals
2nd at the past two WIAC championships
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| Trevor Boryla Augustana (Illinois) |
I crossed the river a few times to watch Trevor Boryla compete. I suppose with as difficult as it is to qualify for the NCAA DIII championships, a lot of names could be thrown around. I could see a list of "best to never qualify" getting quite saturated, but if we're keeping our arguments objective, I think Boryla makes a strong case.
I mean this year alone he majored the NCAA DIII runner-up Jaden Hinton of Baldwin Wallace, 18-10. I think that in itself is all the proof you need. If you want more, how about the fact that he has 93 career wins? 4th-5th-4th at the Lower Midwest Regional, he barely missed out on qualification the past three seasons in a row. We all have different opinions on what is the toughest NCAA DIII in-season tournament, but in my opinion, the Pete Willson Invitational is where it's at. 3rd last year, Boryla won Pete Willson, finishing ahead of Ty Bisek of Concordia (MN), Dom Mallinder of UW-Whitewater, Jude Robson of Roanoke & Fleetwood.
Wrestlers like Boryla are the very reason I write articles like these. We have our heads so far up our own rears that all that matters & the only thing worth doing in wrestling involves the national tournament. I think that is such crap. Such a detrimental way of thinking. I refuse to be a part of that cult. Guys like Boryla still had great careers, careers worth mentioning. I'll die on that hill.
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