AWN Preview & Predictions: NCAA Division II Championships NCAA Division II Championships For the last two seasons, Steve Costanzo’s St. Cloud State Huskies have been close. Very close. With senior leadership and a 47-match dual meet winning streak, the Huskies seem to have the right combination in order to bring home the school’s first wrestling national championship. But last year, the depth of the field knocked down the Huskies to second. This year, the field is equally as deep, while defending Division II champion Nebraska-Kearney has added some extra pop to its lineup. Notre Dame College brings a wealth of experience from the NAIA level as the Falcons and head coach Frank Romano are wrestling in their first Division II championship. Newberry always brings a solid squad, as does Upper Iowa. Individually, there are 42 Division II All- Americans in the tournament, as well as a handful of Junior College national champions and NAIA champions. Some quick math for you — over a quarter of the wrestlers in the tournament have been on the podium at a national collegiate championship at one point in their careers. There’s also a few Olympic Trials qualifiers in there as well. Seriously. Birmingham, Ala., doesn’t come off as a mecca for championship wrestling, but the sport will get great exposure in the deep south, which is a plus for an area looking for high-level wrestling. 125 pounds Four returning All-Americans highlight the field, including returning champion Kyle McCrite of Grand Canyon. McCrite was second at the Super Region 4 championships, losing to Gerald Huff of Adams State and the draw doesn’t start off easy for the Loper. McCrite draws All-American David Demo of Minnesota State-Mankato in the opening round with the winner taking on either Super Region 2 champion Max Byrd of Ashland or Newberry’s Jeff Vesta. Also up top is a stellar first-round draw between St. Cloud State’s Eric Forde and Jesse Hillhouse of CSU-Pueblo. Hillhouse has beaten a number of Division I wrestlers this year and has previously won the NJCAA championships. The winner of the Forde-Hillhouse match will see Super Region 1 champion Willie Bohince of Mercyhurst. Down low, All-Americans Garrett Evans of Ouachita Baptist and Ben Sergent of Findlay loom. Sergent could see Huff in the quarters, while Evans has a tough first-round match with Pitt-Johnstown’s Evan Link, the winner faces Super Region 3 champion Alex Johns of Indianapolis. The Forde-Hillhouse match is crucial for the team title as St. Cloud State will need solid points from Forde, who is ranked second, while Hillhouse is ranked fourth. Both Forde and Hillhouse lost in the regionals, as did McCrite, which makes the top half of the bracket full of wrestlers looking to shake off their regional losses. As with any prediction, they are never personal, so look for semi matchups between Forde and McCrite and Johns and Sergent on the bottom half with Johns and Forde making the final. The top half could very easily see Hillhouse beat Forde in the opening round and work through to reach the finals as well. First Round Upset Watch: Jeff Vesta (Newberry) vs. Max Byrd (Ashland) AWN Picks 1. Alex Johns (Indianapolis) 2. Eric Forde (St. Cloud State) 3. Jesse Hillhouse (CSU-Pueblo) 4. Ben Sergant (FIndlay) 5. Kyle McCrite (Grand Canyon) 6. Jeff Vesta (Newberry) 7. Evan Link (Pitt-Johnstown) 8. Willie Bohince (Mercyhurst) 133 pounds With the Division II tournament being predrawn based on regional finishes, it isn’t uncommon for two highly-ranked returning All-Americans to meet in the first round. Case in point is at 133 where last year’s runner-up Andy Pokorny of St. Cloud State will meet Dave Fogle in the opening round. Fogle was third last year at 125 pounds but was fourth in Super Region 1 and comes in with a 16-12 record. Pokorny should be the favorite to advance to take on Mike Labry of Ashland in the quarterfinals. Labry, a freshman, is 31-2 on the year who didn’t suffer his first defeat until February 8 against Notre Dame’s Marty Carlson. Also up on the top half is Carlson and All-American Justin Reinsma of Southwest Minnesota State. Reinsma draws Cameron Throckmorton of Shippensburg, a North Carolina transfer and Super Region 1 champion. Down low, there’s a pair of All-Americans in Casy Rowell of Central Oklahoma and two-time defending champion Trevor Franklin of Upper Iowa. Franklin was second to Pokorny in the Super Region 3 tournament, while Rowell, fifth last year at 141 pounds, beat Labry in the finals of the Super Region 2 tournament. The winner of the Rowell-Franklin bout will hit the semis to face either Daniel DeShazer of Nebraska-Kearney, the Super Region 4 champion, or Mercyhurst’s Dylan D’Urso. Both wrestlers have been impressive this season. Nothing super special about the AWN projected final, a rematch of last year’s championship bout between Pokorny and Franklin. This year, Pokorny has beaten Franklin two out of three times — once at the National Duals and once in the Super Region 3 championship final. Beating someone three out of four is tough. Consolation bracket draws at this weight will be rugged. First Round Upset Watch: Ross Benzel (Limestone) vs. Daniel DeShazer (Nebraska-Kearney) AWN Picks 1. Andy Pokorny (St. Cloud State) 2. Trevor Franklin (Upper Iowa) 3. Mike Labry (Ashland) 4. Daniel DeShazer (Nebraska-Kearney) 5. Cameron Throckmorton (Shippensburg) 6. Dylan D’Urso (Mercyhurst) 7. Marty Carlson (Notre Dame College) 8. Casy Rowell (Central Oklahoma) 141 pounds Six returning All-Americans fill out the weight class and a lot of potential finalists coming out of the bottom half of the bracket. A quick look at the AWN projected bracket will see names crossed, re-crossed, scribbled and scratched out and most of them focusing on the bottom quadrant of the weight where three previous All-Americans are positioned out of the four wrestlers. That’s probably bad news for Central Oklahoma’s Trison Graham, the lone non-All-American in that quadrant. B.J. Young of Newberry is last year’s runner-up, while his first-round opponent is fourth-ranked Ryan Fillingame, the third-place finisher in 2011 from Adams State. The winner gets second-ranked Trevor Johnson of Mary who finished sixth a year ago. All that and there’s still 12 more qualifiers to discuss. Up top is unbeaten and top-ranked Daniel Ownbey of UNC Pembroke. He was third last year and has been impressive all season long. Also up top in the bottom half are two All-Americans who will meet in the first round — Naveed Bagheri of San Francisco State and Evan Yenolevich of Kutztown. Bagheri was fifth in 2011 while Yenolevich was fourth a year ago at 133 pounds. But still the focus remains on that bottom half, where it seems anything can be possible. Notre Dame’s Maurice “Mo” Miller might be the beneficiary, should he make the semis and get someone who is spent after two tough matches, although the quarterfinal winner of that quad will have at least a solid night’s sleep. Minnesota State-Moorhead’s lone qualifier, Angel Vega, is trying to match his twin brother’s output at the national level. Anthony Vega placed fifth at 141 pounds in last week’s NAIA championships for Simpson University. Both wrestled for Dave Pacheco at Sac City College in California before heading their separate ways to wrestle at four-year institutions. First Round Upset Watch: None. Most of them will be toss-ups. AWN Picks 1. Daniel Ownbey (UNC Pembroke) 2. Trevor Johnson (Mary) 3. Naveed Bagheri (San Francisco State) 4. Ryan Fillingame (Adams State) 5. Evan Yenloevich (Kutztown) 6. Maurice Miller (Notre Dame College) 7. B.J. Young (Newberry) 8. Brock Coutu (Nebraska-Kearney) 149 pounds Of the five previous All-Americans in the mix at 149 pounds, only one wrestler will not face an All- American in the first round. Returning runner-up John “Keegan” Hagerty will open up with James Martinez of Colorado Mesa (formerly Mesa State), while the other four All-Americans, including defending champion Raufeon Stots of Nebraska-Kearney will get tested immediately. Up top, Jacob D. Horn of St. Cloud State was an All-American in 2011 and he’ll take on last year’s third- place winner Bobby Ward of Grand Canyon. Ward previously wrestled at N.C. State and Nassau Community College. Horn is going to be a vital cog in St. Cloud’s championship run. A win over Ward would put him in good position to pick up crucial placement points along the way. A loss would put him on a very tough road back to placing. The way the draw works out, we think Ward and Horn will meet more than once in this tournament. Down low, Stots will face Nate Herda, an All-American in 2010 from Augustana. Second-ranked Jordan Basks of Central Oklahoma is on the top half along with Max Ortega of Adams State and Cameryn Brady of Indianapolis. Newberry’s Deral Brown won Super Region 1, but will meet Jonatan (spelled correctly) Rivera of Notre Dame College in the opening round. Rivera beat Brown at the National Duals. While Hagerty hasn’t had much success against Stots in his career, including last year in the finals, it’s one of those gut feelings. Sometimes the guy who isn’t supposed to win it all comes out and does.