The NCAA Division III Wrestling Committee has sent a regional proposal to coaches and administrator for a vote and comment period in advance of the NWCA Convention August 4-6. All regions in the proposal have either 17 or 18 teams. Conference affiliation and team strength were two important factors used in creating the proposal. This proposal will be voted on and discussed before a final proposal is sent to the NCAA Division III Championships Committee for approval in September.
The wrestling committee is composed of:
Ron Beaschler, Head Coach, Ohio Northern
Roger Crebs, Head Coach, Lycoming
Scott Honecker, Head Coach, Williams
Dave Kemmy, Athletic Director, Roger Williams (term ends 8/31/17)
Nathan Shearer, Head Coach, Washington & Lee
Jeff Swenson, Athletic Director, Augsburg
Eric Van Kley, Head Coach, Central
Here is the roster for the Division III Championships Committee.
2017-2018 Regional Alignment Proposal | Map of Schools by Region
| Lower Midwest (17) | Upper Midwest (17) | Central (18) |
| Augustana | Augsburg | Adrian |
| Buena Vista | Concordia Wisconsin | Alma |
| Central | Concordia-Moorhead | Baldwin Wallace |
| Coe | Eau Claire | CWRU |
| Cornell | Elmhurst | Heidelberg |
| Hungtingdon | La Crosse | John Carroll |
| Loras | Lakeland | Manchester |
| Luther | MSOE | Mount St. Joseph |
| MacMurray | Oshkosh | Mount Union |
| Millikin | Pacific | Muskingum |
| Nebraska Wesleyan | Platteville | Ohio Northern |
| North Central | St. John’s | Olivet |
| Simpson | St. Olaf | Otterbein |
| University of Dubuque | Stevens Point | Thomas More |
| University of the Ozarks | University of Chicago | Trine |
| Wartburg | Wheaton | Wabash |
| Westminster | Whitewater | Washington & Jefferson |
| Waynesburg | ||
| Southeast (18) | Mideast (17) | Northeast (17) |
| Averett | Brockport | Bridgewater State |
| Delaware Valley | Centenary | Castleton |
| Ferrum | Cortland | Coast Guard |
| Gettysburg | Elizabethtown | Johnson & Wales |
| Greensboro | Hunter | New England College |
| Hampden-Sydney | Ithaca | Norwich |
| Johns Hopkins | Keystone | NYU |
| King’s | Merchant Marine | Plymouth State |
| Lycoming | Mount St. Vincent | Rhode Island |
| McDaniel | Muhlenberg | Roger Williams |
| Messiah | Oneonta | Southern Maine |
| Penn College | Oswego | Springfield |
| Penn State Behrend | RIT | Trinity |
| Southern Virginia | Scranton | Wesleyan |
| Thiel | Stevens Institute | Western New England |
| Washington & Lee | TCNJ | Williams |
| Wilkes | Ursinus | WPI |
| York |
The Stevens Point under Mideast should be Stevens Institute (SIT), I assume.
How is Del Val in the southeast when Ursinus is more South than it?
Where is York College?
Upper Midwest is stacked with all of the WIAC plus Augsburg, plus Elmhurst and Wheaton, plus the 2 Concordia’s! No way is that not the toughest region by far! Looks like the committee is trying to hand Wartburg 10 qualifiers every year.
Conference affiliation and team strength were two important factors used in creating the proposal. Del Val had to stay with the MAC conference. Also NYU has only one other team in their conference which is Chicago and based on their strength they were put into Northeast over a few other team that may have been a little closer to the Northeast region would be my guess.
Finally a regional layout that at least makes sense. Agreed the Upper Midwest is the deepest and toughest regional but not so sure Wartburg wouldn’t qualify 10 guys in any of the regionals. Sorry Augsburg looks like no more cake walks for you
Based on 2017 points, Lower Midwest has the most, with Upper Midwest and Mideast quite a bit behind but very close to each other for No. 2. After another gap come Southeast and Northeast, with new Central (old Midwest) bringing up the rear. The latter region goes from one of the toughest to the weakest (based on 2017 points). Wabash has to like the new alignment.
Following up on previous post, Wartburg puts up a lot of points in its region, though fewer than half. Addition of the WIAC schools makes the Upper Midwest much tougher, and one could argue that the WIAC schools had a down year last season. Wabash scored almost three times as many points last year as any other team in the new Central. Based on team placing, Mideast is impressive with 7-10 placers Cortland, Brockport, Ithaca and Stevens. Southeast has three of the top 16 (Messiah, fifth; Delaware Valley, 13th; and Lycoming, 16th). Johnson and Wales scored almost double any other team in the Northeast, which has two other top 20 placers from 2017: NYU and Southern Maine. Obviously a lot of schools lose a lot of points with seniors graduating, so it would be interesting to see 2017 point totals minus graduates.
No matter what PopDaBubble says Upper Midwest will be the toughest if this stays like that
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