2023 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships Website
2023 NCAA Division III Wrestling Brackets

Roanoke, Va. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team is in fifth-place after the first day of action at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships Friday night at the Berglund Center. The Eagles have 35.5 team points while Augsburg University (Minn.) lead with 62.5. Baldwin-Wallace University (Ohio) and Wartburg College (Iowa) are tied for second with 40.0 points with North Central College (Ill.) fourth with 38.0. 

Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) is in sixth-place (34.0) followed by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Ct. (27.0), Johnson & Wales University, R.I. (26.0), Coe College, Iowa (23.0) and the University of Dubuque, Iowa (21.5) to round-out the top-10. A total of 59 teams have scored points. 

Ferrum College (Va.) is serving as the host of the championships.  

Four UWL wrestlers advanced to Saturday's action to earn NCAA III All-America honors. 

The Eagles' Nolan Hertel at 157-pounds and Noah Leisgang at 165 both advanced to Saturday's semifinals. Seeded-second in the tournament, Hertel won by decision (6-1) over Matthew Sacco of The College of New Jersey in the first round and by decision (2-1) over Peter Kane of Williams College (Mass.) in the quarterfinals. Hertel will wrestle third-seeded Zeke Smith of Loras College (Iowa) in Saturday's semifinals. Hertel earns his second career NCAA III All-America honor after finishing fifth at 157-pounds at the 2022 national championships. 

Leisgang earns his first career NCAA III All-America honor with the trip to the national semifinals. The third-seed for this year's national meet, Leisgang opened with a decision (2-0) over Gabe Fiser of Loras College (Iowa) and advanced to the semifinals after a decision (2-1) over sixth-seeded Austin Lamb of Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) in the quarterfinals. Leisgang faces second-seeded Matt Lackman of Alvernia University (Pa.) in the semifinals. 

UWL's Seth Brossard and Michael Douglas both advanced to Saturday's action. Brossard, seeded third at 174-pounds, earns his second career All-America award after finishing seventh at 165-pounds in 2022. He won by decision (10-5) over Wabash College's (Ind.) Raymond Arebalo in Friday's preliminary round. Brossard followed with a win by fall (5:41) over Cooper Fleming of Castleton Univeristy (Vt.) in the first round, but lost by decision (5-3) to Charlie Grygas of Oswego State University (N.Y.) in the quarterfinals. Brossard earned a spot in Saturday's competition with a win by fall (2:54) over Luke Hopkins of Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) in the consolation third round. He will take on seventh-seed Seth Goetzinger of Augsburg (Minn.) on Saturday. 
 

Douglas earned his first career NCAA III All-America honor after going 2-1 in Friday's action. The eighth-seed for the championships, Douglas lost by fall (6:25) to Carl DiGiorgio of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in the first round, but came back with a pair of victories in the consolation round. He won by decision (6-1) over Cole Fibranz of the University of Chicago (Ill.) in the first round and by decision (8-4) over seventh-seeded Evan Anderson of New York University in the second round. Douglas faces fifth-seed Jake Peavey of Southern Maine in Saturday's consolation third round. 

UWL's Kalyn Jahn went 2-2 on Friday. He opened the tournament with a win by fall (2:16) over Blake Williams of Adrian College (Mich.) in the preliminary round, but lost by decision (3-2) to seventh-seeded Colby Giroux of Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) in the first round. Jahn came back with a win by decision (3-2) over Gavin Layman of Ohio Northern University in the consolation round, but was eliminated after losing by decision (4-3) to Roanoke College (Va.) in the consolation second round.

Tyler Goebel went 1-2 at 149-pounds for the Eagles in Friday's opening day. In his preliminary match, Goebel lost by decision (6-4) to Hai Siu of Averett University (Va.). He came back with a win by fall (6:05) over Matthew Beyer of Ithaca College (N.Y.) in the preliminary round, but lost by sudden victory (8-6) to Eli Sims of Brockport College (N.Y.) in the consolation first round. 

Brandon Murphy lost by of his matches at 125-pounds on Friday. He lost by decision (8-1) to sixth-seeded Jake Craig of Southern Maine in the first round and by decision (8-2) to third-seeded James Day of Wabash (Ind.) in the consolation first round. 

UWL has 22 top-10 finishes at the NCAA III Championships since joining the NCAA III in 1992, including a school-best second-place showing on four different occasions (2001, 2006, 2008, 2010). The Eagles finished with a school record 106.0 points at the 2006 championships.  UWL has 13 top-four finishes at the national meet. 

The Eagles have captured 20 (14 wrestlers) NCAA III individual champions.  With this year's total of four All-America honors, UWL has now claimed 134 in school history, including 118 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 17th season as UWL's head coach, leading the Eagles to top-four finishes at the NCAA III Championships in seven different seasons. UWL placed second in 2008 and 2010, third in 2007, 2009 and 2011 and fourth in 2012 and 2013.  He has led UWL to 12 WIAC titles (2007-11, 2017-23) 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 the last six seasons (2018-23).  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.

Action continues at the NCAA III Championships on Saturday, March 11 at 9 a.m.