CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Lycoming junior Nolan Barger, a returning All-American, is seeded No. 3 at 165 pounds for the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships which begin Friday morning in the U.S. Cellular Center.
The former Clearfield Area High School standout was ranked No. 2 throughout the season and won 31 consecutive matches before losing 10-5 to John Hojnacki of Messiah in the Mideast Region title bout.
Barger, who had beaten Hojnacki 7-2 for the Middle Atlantic Conference championship in late January, placed third last year by charging through the consolations with four wins after losing 3-2 in the semifinals. Included was a 6-4 decision over No. 1 seed Andrew Steiert of Wartburg.
The other three returnees at 165 are defending champion Farai Sewera (25-2) of Coe (Iowa) and seventh-placer Eric Hensel (24-6) of Augsburg (Minn.).
Sewera was named the Central Region’s Outstanding Wrestler after handing Wartburg junior Nicholas Michael his first loss of the season, 6-4 in overtime, in the finals.
Sewara and Michael were accorded the top two seeds, while West Region champ Hensel is No. 8.
Also seeded are No. 4 Nick Herring of The College of New Jersey, No. 5 Logan Hermsen (25-6) of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, No. 6 Colin Navickas (44-4) of Stevens Institute of Technology and No. 7 Gerszewski (24-6) of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Herring is the East Region champ, Hermsen is the Midwest champ, Navickas is the East runner-up and Gerszewski is the Midwest runner-up.
Barger’s first match in Friday’s 11 a.m. session will be against sophomore Cole Sladek (17-5) of Concordia (Minn.)-Moorhead, the third-place finisher in the West Region.
The Warrior will face East Region runner-up Navickas or NE Region champ Nick Velez (24-6) of Ithaca in his next bout during Friday’s second session that starts at 6 p.m.
The championship semifinals will be featured in Saturday’s 10 a.m. session that includes the consolation quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
The national championships will begin at 6 p.m.