2020 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships Website
2020 NCAA Division III Wrestling Brackets
La Crosse, Wis. - Five University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestlers are set to compete at the 2020 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships Friday and Saturday, March 13-14. Action is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The American Rivers Conference and Cedar Rapids Tourism are serving as hosts of the championships.
Seniors
Mitch Hertel (165-pounds) of
Marshfield (H.S.) and
Sawyer Massie (184) of
Hudson (H.S.), juniors
Sawyer Sarbacker (125) of
Mineral Point (H.S.) and
Grant Zamin (157) of
Gurnee, Ill. (H.S.) and sophomore
Isaac Lahr (197) of
Galesville (Holmen) will represent UWL at this year's championships. Massie, Sarbacker and Zamin are making their second career appearance at the NCAA III Championships while Hertel and Lahr earned their first tournament berth.
Hertel enters the NCAA III Championships at 165-pounds with a 18-3 overall record, including 8-0 at 165-pounds and 10-3 at 174. He faces Thomas Poklikuha of Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) in his opening match. Hertel captured the title at the NCAA Division III Upper Midwest Regional with a 4-0 record to advance to the national meet. He won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) title February 14.
Massie, 15-5 overall on the season, is looking for this second career NCAA III All-America honor after finishing sixth at 174-pounds in 2018. He was third at this year's regional meet to advance to the NCAA III Championships. Massie is 12-4 at 184-pounds this year and 3-1 at 174. He won the 184-pound title at the 2020 WIAC Championships. Massie takes on third-seeded Cody Baldridge of North Central College (Ill.) in the first round.
Sarbacker, 9-4 at 125-pounds, wrestles Joey Manginelli of Springfield College (Mass.) in the first round.
Sarbacker went 0-2 at the 2019 national championships. He was third at this year's NCAA III Upper Midwest Regional to earn a bid to the NCAA III Championships.
Seeded first
at 157-pounds, Zamin is 24-1 on the season and faces the winner of Christian Gramuglia of Oswego State (N.Y.) versus Ryan Whitten of Otterbein College (Iowa) in the opening round on Friday. Zamin is 21-1 at 157-pounds this season and 3-0 at 165. He won the NCAA III Upper Midwest Regional and the WIAC title this year. Zamin is aiming for his second career NCAA III All-America award after placing eighth in 2019.
With an overall record of 18-1 at 197-pounds, Lahr is seeded fifth at this year's national championships and takes on Braden Homsey of Ferrum College (Va.) in the first round
. Lahr won the regional and conference title this season.
The Eagles tied for 24th at the 2019 NCAA Division III Championships in Roanoke, Virginia. UWL totaled 16.0 team points as two wrestles earned NCAA III All-America accolades. Augsburg University (Minn.) captured last year's national title with 130.0 points while Loras College (Iowa) was second with 66.0, Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) third with 63.0 and Ithaca College (N.Y.) fourth with 59.6.
Konrad Ernst placed seventh at 285-pounds and Zamin eighth at 157-pounds last year to earn All-America honors.
UWL has 22 top-10 finishes at the national championships since joining the NCAA III in 1992, including a school-best second-place showing in 2001, 2006, 2008 and 2010. The Eagles finished with a school record 106.0 points at the 2006 championships. The Eagles have had 13 top-four finishes at the national meet.
The Eagles have claimed 20 (14 wrestlers) NCAA III individual champions. UWL has claimed 123 All-America honors in wrestling, including 107 in the NCAA III and 16 in the NAIA. The Eagles had a school record seven wrestlers earn All-America recognition in 2005 and 2006.
Dave Malecek is in his 14th season as UWL's head coach, leading the Eagles to top-four finishes at the NCAA III Championships in seven of his first 13 years. UWL placed second in 2008 and 2010, third in 2007, 2009 and 2011 and fourth in 2012 and 2013. He has led UWL to nine WIAC titles (2007-11, 2017-20) and been selected the Mertz Mortorelli WIAC Coach of the Year on seven occasions (2007-11, 2015, 2017). UWL has earned the WIAC Coaching Staff of the Year Award three times (2018-20). Malecek was named the 2020 NCAA III Upper Midwest Regional Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to a second-place finish after nine (out of 10) wrestlers placed in the top-four.
