2014 Champion: Mike Fuenffinger, Augsburg
2015 Field (with rankings)
| West 1 | (1) Fuenffinger | Augsburg |
| West 2 | (6) Ferguson | Platteville |
| West 3 | (8) Stageberg | Concordia-Moorhead |
| Central 1 | (9) Agnitsch | Wartburg |
| Central 2 | Page | Central |
| Central 3 | Rosenberg | Coe |
| Midwest 1 | Richter | Chicago |
| Midwest 2 | Fuentez | Wheaton |
| Midwest 3 | Weinmann | La Crosse |
| Mideast 1 | (2) Malmberg | Messiah |
| Mideast 2 | (3) Gunter | Baldwin Wallace |
| Mideast 3 | (4) Kramer | Bockport |
| East 1 | (5) Rea | Wilkes |
| East 2 | Donato | NYU |
| East 3 | (7) Bewak | Johns Hopkins |
| Northeast 1 | (10) Kaishian | Ithaca |
| Northeast 2 | Jordan | Johnson & Wales |
| Northeast 3 | Amato | WPI |
The top three from last year all return, led by returning NCAA Champion Mike Fuenffinger of Augsburg. Fuenffinger wrestled a fabulous tournament last year capped with a major decision in the finals. He is undefeated in Division III this year and has won all five of his matches against wrestlers in the field. He seems to be on a collision course with Messiah’s Lucas Malmberg, his opponent in last year’s finals. They have been solidly 1-2 all year in the rankings and Malmberg has also run the table in Division III, including a pair of wins over the #3 ranked Gunter, who was 3rd here last year. Gunter has had more than a few close calls this year to go along with a loss he avenged in the regional semis, but he is favored to repeat his 3rd place finish of a year ago. He presents a potentially difficult style matchup for wrestlers not used to constant contact.
There is some similarity to last year’s bracket, as seven of the 18 competitors were at the NCAA Championships last season at this weight. Besides those mentioned, Paul Bewak of Johns Hopkins is a four time qualifier and two time All-American looking for his third trip to the podium. He was upset in the regional semifinals by NYU’s Donato but came back to take 3rd. Donato wrestled a great regional tournament but is one of a small number of NCAA qualifiers with a losing record. A pair of surprise qualifiers came out of the Midwest region where #5 seed Richter of Chicago defeated #6 seed Fuentez of Wheaton in the finals, leaving the top 2 seeds to wrestle for 3rd.
Asher Kramer of the college at Brockport state university of New York will be in the mix of things . You can take that to the bank
If these rankings end being thr seeds and they hold up, then he’ll see Rea in the Quarters and Fuenffinger in the semis. Those should be two good matches.
Personally, Stageberg and Agnitsch at 8 and 9 mean would could wrestle Fuenffinger in the quarters. I’d like him to wrestle Bewak instead and give him a win over him too. Either way, he hasn’t been pushed hard in D3 yet, so this tournament will be a great opportunity for him to close out his career.
Caleb ,
What are your predictions for 125?
1. Malmburg 2 fueffinger 3 Kramer 4 bewack 5gunter 6 kaishion 7 rea 8 ang
Upstate,
I’d say:
1. Fuenffinger
2. Malmberg
Any order:
Bewak
Gunter
Kramer
Rea
Any order
Kaishian
Agnitsch
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