Holy cow, what a tough Regional, Regional Five will be! 18 teams in total, a mixture of the Lower Midwest Regional, The Upper Midwest Regional & the Central Regional. We have #11 UW-Whitewater, #13 North Central & #19 Wabash. Every weight class will feature at least one ranked wrestler, many of them even more. You want to get out of here with a gold, silver or bronze medal, you better be prepared to be at 100% and wrestle at 100%. Physically and mentally, any less %, won't suffice.
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| 125 |
26-0, a two-time Lower Midwest Regional champion & thus far 2nd & 3rd in the NCAA D3 nation, I think we have a safe bet in Christian Guzman. I'd also say, at 21-3, an Upper Midwest Regional champion & one match shy of being a D3 All American himself, we have another in Jalen Dunson.
Ben Kamali is my pick for the bronze here, and I'll say this about the Comet. He has had a journey of a career. Albion, trying his hand in DI at Virginia, I say the destination ends on a high note of NCAA DIII qualification as he enters the tournament with a 23-1 record.
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| 133 |
There ought to be a law against having this much talent in one bracket. I mean this is insane. Five ranked wrestlers + another wrestler who would for sure be ranked if D3 rankings went to 25, or in Rustad's case, even top 20. This is a very loaded bracket, and again, only three of these standouts are heading to Providence.
Two-time Upper Midwest Regional champion Dom Mallinder looks to be one of them. 6th in the D3 nation last year, the Warhawk is 17-2 on the season. Owns a 15-3 major over Julian Valtierrez & a 15-9 decision over Coby Haney.
James Day was 3rd in the D3 nation last season & has 2nd-3rd place finishes with the Central Regional. He currently carries a record of 30-4.
Coby Haney, 24-3 on the season has thus far been 7th & 6th in the Lower Midwest Regional. Seems to have Art Martinez's # with 12-0 & 7-0 victories.
Valtierrez has been a backup the past two seasons (one of the best in the D3 nation) and he has a shot in his final year of competition to make the NCAA DIII tournament.
Martinez has been a nosehair's length from qualification in the past, with 5th & 4th place finishes in the Central Regional. He has 36 wins this season, many quite impressive.
Last by certainly not least, we also have Jackson Rustad. He'd have to pull out some mighty impressive upsets to be top three by the end of this weekend, but I wouldn't rule it out. 6th in the Upper Midwest Regional last year, he owns an 8-6 victory over Martinez.
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| 141 lbs |
Another tough bracket full of many qualifier candidates to take those top three spots. Evan Onstad a tough sophomore with 27 wins, could likely get the *1 seed. Bradley Rosen, 15-2 has been NCAA D3 R12 in the past & has won a Lower Midwest Regional title. He owns a 7-5 s.v. over Dylan Phelps.
Desmond Diggs has Central Regional finishes of 3rd & 2nd, and was 8th in the D3 nation last season. He currently stands 23-6. Phelps, 24-6, was an NCAA DIII qualifier last year with a 3rd place finish at the Central Regional. Another candidate, Sean Conway owns a 6-5 decision over Phelps among other victories of note.
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| 149 |
3rd-2nd-3rd in the Central Regional, the favorite here to win a Regional Five title at 149 lbs is Daniel Uribe. The Little Giant was one match shy of being a D3 All American last year. As to silver & bronze? I think we'll see a great match between Tyler Herrema & Jalin Conner in the semi-finals. Both Herrema & Conner were one match shy of D3 qualification last year. Herrema 4th at the Central Regional & Conner 4th at the Upper Midwest Regional. Whoever comes up short here, should come back to take 3rd.
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| 157 |
We have three ranked wrestlers here at 157 lbs, and all three of them are within the top 10. It seems like an open and shut case, but it isn't. We have two other wrestlers in this bracket, very capable of stealing a spot. Aiden Smith a former DI wrestler of Northern Illinois is currently 21-1 on the season. He owns an 11-2 major decision over Tim Smith. Tim Smith, a Central Regional champion last year & one match shy of D3 All American honors, owns a 12-3 major over Rhenzo Augusto.
Jermaine Butler, was also one match shy of D3 All American honors last season & was 3rd in the Upper Midwest Regional. Augusto is currently 29-2 on the season, with an 8-3 decision over Jermaine Butler & a 4-2 decision over Darian Estevez. Estevez was a D3 All American back in 2022, with an 8th place finish.
We're going to see two good semi-finals in this bracket, two good consolation semis, a great consolation final & a great final. A lot on the line to determine our top three.
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| 165 |
One match shy of NCAA DIII qualification last season, Brayden Peet looks to try and win a Regional Five title this weekend. 16 wins on the season, owns a tight 4-3 decision over likely finals opponent Alex Villar. Villar himself was 4th in the D3 nation back in '22, and has since finished one match shy of All American honors in '23 & '24. Standing at 20-5 on the year, he's been 3rd & 2nd at the last two Lower Midwest Regionals. My pick for bronze here is Joey Jens. I realize he has that ugly 14-4 loss to Austin Martin, but consider it to have been a very off day as he defeated Martin on two other occasions this year 9-4 & 4-2.
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| 174 |
I'm not sure what to say as far as bronze is concerned, but what I can tell you is that the likely finals match here at 174 is going to be very good. We have Dejon Glaster 26-2, who was 3rd at the Lower Midwest Regional & 6th in the D3 nation last year. Javen Estrada 15-3, is currently carrying a huge chip on his shoulder & I think we see him get the monkey off his back the remainder of the year. Twice a Lower Midwest Regional runner-up & a runner-up at the 2023 NCAA DIII national tournament, he was 4th at the Lower Midwest Regional last season. Redemption anyone?
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| 184 |
5th-7th-5th in the Lower Midwest Regional, Payton Geigner has yet to make it to the NCAA DIII championships, but I say he not only achieves that goal this weekend, he achieves it in style. He's currently 26-3 on the season. Here to challenge him will be Blake Williams, a Central Regional runner-up with a 23-4 record. Look for Owen McDaniel, 5th in the Central Regional last year to also contend for qualification honors.
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| 197 |
The obvious favorite for gold here is Charles Baczek. 20-2 on the season a two-time Central Regional champion, with D3 All American finishes of 6th & 7th.
Silver & Bronze? That's a whole other story. I think it'll be absolute chaos between four talented wrestlers to determine who takes up those other two qualification spots. Casey Aikman is 22-6 on the year, with a very impressive 8-7 decision over Baczek. Gunnar Garriques is 12-3, finished 5th in the Upper Midwest Regional last year. Jesse Kanatzar with 19 wins on the season, was 4th at the Central Regional. Then of course we have Jackson Punzel, an inconsistent wrestler who doesn't mind being the monkey wrench thrown into the bracket every once in a while.
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| HWT |
6th & 4th place finishes in the D3 nation & a Lower Midwest Regional champion last year, Robby Bates is a favorite to win the first ever Regional Five HWT title. With that said, Mike D'Orazio is 9-0 on the year, and he owns a 2:01 fall over Bates. Was it a fluke or is D'Orazio for real? We find out this weekend! Also look for Cam'Ron Harper, 25 wins on the season to contend for NCAA DIII qualification. He took Bates into the tiebreakers earlier this year, before ultimately losing 4-1.
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