Hosted by #25 Coe, Regional Six will also feature #1 Wartburg, #8 Loras & #17 Luther among many other teams looking to send wrestlers to the NCAA Division III wrestling tournament. Each bracket will feature ranked wrestlers, and many of them at least three, if not more. We're talking a very tough Regional, and by the end of it, many good wrestlers will be staying home.
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| 125 |
Speaking of staying home, that's what James Levy has done the past two Lower Midwest Regionals with "right there" finishes of 5th & 4th. He doesn't look to be staying home this year though, he looks to be packed and ready to for flight to Providence, Rhode Island! Looking to join him in my estimation will be Connor Fiser & Brayden Parke. Fiser owns 18 wins on the season, including a 16-5 major over Parke. Parke is 20-5 on the year, some odd losses, but wrestling in Cedar Rapids in front of a home crowd of screaming Kohawk fans I believe will make the difference.
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| 133 |
A tough bracket, I think we 're looking at a probable final between Josh Gervey, and home crowd favorite Bryce Parke. Parke a two-time NCAA DIII qualifier with back to back 3rd place finishes at the Lower Midwest Regional, recently defeated Gervey in a 10-9 tiebreaker. He also owns a 12-1 major over Aiden Evans & an 11-5 dec over Eli Sneed. Evans himself owns a 9-6 decision over Gervey & Sneed owns a 7-4 decision over Evans.
Want to add in that while Trevor Hedges is currently hurt & probably not going to be wrestling this tournament, if he were healthy & a go, he'd be a part of the conversation.
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| 141 |
Not sure who we'll see in that third place, bronze medal spot, but I'm pretty positive we're going to see a final over Kyler Romero Vs Pierre Baldwin. Romero is 22-1 on the season, a Lower Midwest Regional Champion last year & 5th in the D3 nation. Baldwin, 18-1 on the year was a runner-up at the Lower Midwest Regional last year & one match shy of D3 All American honors.
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| 149 |
Got a tough one here at 149 lbs. Obvious favorite is Charlie Dojan, a Lower Midwest Regional runner-up last season who took 3rd in the D3 nation last year. His finals opponent looks to be the winner of a probable semi-final between Chase Fiser & Duncan Delzell. Fiser is 18-4 on the year, with a nice 10-3 win over Landon Card. Delzell hasn't wrestled much at all this season, but has impressed the ranking committee enough to earn a #13 ranking. Card has a 28-4 record, and a 4-2 win over Dresden Grimm. Grimm 18 wins on the season, owns a 14-12 decision over Fiser.
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| 157 |
Three ranked wrestlers, and all three All-American candidates, you'd think the story here would be an open and shut case. However, I'm not sold. There's one non-ranked wrestler that will be in this bracket that I think could potentially make some noise.
Blain Christie 17-5 on the season, owns victories over all of the other three candidates. 3-2 over Clayton McDonough, 10-7 s.v. over Eric Kinkaid & a 9-7 decision over Carter Martinson.
McDonough, 3rd in the Lower Midwest Regional last year, and 4th in the D3 nation. 25-5 on the year, he owns a 6-1 decision over Martinson.
Kinkaid, 18-3 on the year, competed at 149 last year, he was 4th in the D3 nation himself, and owns Lower Midwest Regional finishes of 3rd & 1st. Kinkaid owns a 4-0 decision over Christie.
Martinson an Iowa transfer, stands at 17-3. He owns an 8-4 decision over Kinkaid.
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| 165 |
Another bracket with three ranked wrestlers & a Martinson who could spoil the plans on paper. Dustin Bohren 3rd in the Lower Midwest Regional last year & 7th in the D3 nation leads the way. 19-5 on the season, he owns a 4-0 decision over Bryce McDonough. Aiden Brosinski, one match shy of D3 All American honors in 2023, owns a 6-1 decision over McDonough.
McDonough 18-6 on the year, is one of the best wrestlers yet to make the NCAA DIII tournament. He's been 5th & 4th thus far in the Lower Midwest Regional.
Martinson, who like his brother Carter is an Iowa transfer, is 12-2 on the year. Owns an 11-4 decision over McDonough.
Then we have Kale Roth. A wrestler like Roth makes the life of anyone who is trying to make predictions a living nightmare. 11-11 on the year, you never know what you're going to get with a guy like Roth. Yet the Spartan owns both an 8-2 decision over Martinson & an 11-8 decision over Brosinski. Results like that, cannot be ignored.
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| 174 |
16-0 on the year & a Lower Midwest Regional champion last year, I believe our first ever Regional Six 174 lbs champ is likely to be Zeb Gnida. He was also 3rd in the D3 nation last year & owns a 4-2 decision over L.J. Richardson.
Richardson, 18-3 on the year, was a Lower Midwest Regional runner-up in 2023, earning 6th place D3 All American honors. Last year, he was one match shy of NCAA DIII qualification.
Our other candidate for a top three finish here is Matt Rogge.
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| 184 |
I said there would be some really good wrestlers here in Regional Six that wouldn't be going to the NCAA DIII tournament, and I meant it. When there are only 21 available slots and 125 guys in total going for those spots, that's bound to happen. Here at 184 lbs, we have four very talented wrestlers & only three of them are headed to Providence.
Kasey Ross, 22-1, is a favorite to win. He was a Lower Midwest Regional champion last yeaar, and owns both a 4-1 decision over Jared Voss & a 14-6 major over Sam West.
Voss, has been 3rd & 5th thus far in the Lower Midwest Regional. He is 19-3 on the year, and owns an 11-2 decision over West.
Cael McLaren was a Lower Midwest Regional runner-up last year, and owns three 4-1 decisions over West.
West was 6th in the Lower Midwest Regional last year.
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| 197 |
The sun will rise, the moon will rotate around the Earth, the Earth will rotate around the sun, and Massoma Endene will be our champion here at 197 lbs. Already a two-time Lower Midwest Regional champion & a two-time NCAA D3 champion, he's collecting more gold this weekend. As to who his finals opponent will be? Looks to be an outstanding match between Matt Arsenault & Treyten Steffen. Arsenault was 4th at the Lower Midwest Regional last season & Steffen has finishes of 7th & 5th thus far in the Lower Midwest Regional. The last the two met, Steffen won a 6-5 decision.
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| HWT |
Some of these Regional brackets have no business being anywhere near as tough as they are, yet here we are. HWT features four ranked wrestlers, and all four are All-American candidates! Yet one of them (maybe more) will not being going to the NCAA DIII championships.
Walter West has been having one heck of a season. 15-1 on the year, he was 3rd at the Lower Midwest Regional, and 7th in the D3 nation last season. Mitch Williamson is currently undefeated standing at 14-0. He was 2nd in the Lower Midwest Regional last year & one match shy of D3 All American honors. He owns a 2-1 decision over Justin Matson.
Matson himself is 19-2 on the year, and was 7th at the Lower Midwest Regional last year.
We also have Jacob Kaminski, who owns a 4:30 fall over Matson.
Last but not least, it wouldn't seem with four ranked wrestlers anyone else would stand a shot, bust Austin Cooley does. 22-1 on the year, he owns a 9-1 major decision over Kaminski.
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