The dual portion of the Division 2 wrestling season has come to an end and teams are gearing up for a postseason run starting with this weekend’s Super Regional tournaments. This is the opportunity for wrestlers to punch their tickets to the national tournament. 

The Super Regions are divided across the country at the following sites: 

Super Region 1: Host school — East Stroudsburg

Teams: #10 Pitt-Johnstown, #11 Mercyhurst, #19 (tied) Millersville, #23 (tied) Gannon, Alderson Broaddus, American International, East Stroudsburg, Fairmont State, Kutztown, Seton Hill, Shippensburg. 

Super Region 2: Host school — UNC-Pembroke

Teams: #2 Lander, #16 UNC-Pembroke, Belmont Abbey, Coker, Emmanuel, King, Limestone, Lincoln Memorial, Mount Olive, Newberry.

Super Region 3: Host school — Tiffin

Teams:  #4 (tied) West Liberty, #12 Glenville State, #14 (tied) Ashland, #23 (tied) Lake Erie, Bluefield State, Davenport, Davis and Elkins, Findlay, Notre Dame, Tiffen, Wheeling.

Super Region 4: Host school — Central Oklahoma

Teams: #4 (tied) Central Oklahoma, #9 Indianapolis, #13 McKendree, #19 (tied) Central Missouri, #23 (tied) Maryville, #23 (tied) Drury, Kentucky Wesleyan, Newman, Ouachita Baptist, Quincy, William Jewell.

Super Region 5: Host school — Northern State

Teams: #1 St. Cloud State, #6 Wisconsin-Parkside, #7 Upper Iowa, #17 Northern State, #19 (tied) Southwest Minnesota State, #19 (tied) Mary, Augustana, Minnesota State Moorhead, Minnesota State, Minot State.

Super Region 6: Host school — Chadron State

Teams: #3 Nebraska-Kearney, #8 Adams State, #14 (tied) Fort Hayes State, #18 Colorado Mesa, Chadron State, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State-Pueblo, New Mexico Highlands, San Francisco State, Simon Fraser, Western Colorado.

A few weight classes will showcase potential NCAA finals matchups, including at 165 where #1 Shane Gantz of UW-Parkside could meet #2 Chase Luensman from Upper Iowa in Super Region 5. In their dual meet earlier this month, Gantz narrowly defeated Luensman 6-4 in sudden victory. 

Also in Region 5, we could see another top-ranked matchup between #1 Abner Romero (St. Cloud State) and #2 Max Bruss (UMary), a bout that went Romero’s way in their first meeting of the season. However, #6 Cael Meyer (Upper Iowa) has been trending upward in the second half of the season and is a threat to knock off either Romero or Bruss. 

Lander Poised To Make Noise At Nationals

Lander coach R.C. LaHaye set some lofty goals for his team this season. 

“The goal is to repeat at the conference championship, win the NCAA Super Regional, and get all 10 guys to the national tournament, and our goal is top four in the country at nationals,” he said. 

In just their third complete season, the Bearcats secured their second consecutive conference championship. They are arguably the most talented team in their region and are currently ranked #2 in the nation. Anchored by six wrestlers ranked in the top 10, including defending champion #1 Zeth Brower at 141 pounds, Lander will look to send a large contingent of Bearcat wrestlers to the national tournament. 

All of this sets the table for a deep run at the NCAA tournament and puts Lander in the conversation as a contender to win a national team title. 

St. Cloud State Getting Healthy 

If Lander is hoping to win a team title, it will have to contend with a loaded St. Cloud State team that has been rolling. Even though the Huskies have been dealing with injuries to two of their top wrestlers — #2 Nick Novak at 157 pounds and #1 Abner Romero at 174 pounds — they continued to rattle off dual wins against #17 Northern State, #7 Upper Iowa, and #19 UMary. 

Heading into Super Regionals, St. Cloud State coach Steve Costanzo is focused on improvement.

“We have to continue to improve,” he said. We always tell our guys — there's not a lot of time left, but there's a lot of hours left. There's plenty of hours left to continue to improve.” 

However, health could play a major role in how the Huskies perform at Super Regionals.

“We have to get healthy,” Costanzo said earlier this month. “We'll be spending the next week and a half here trying to heal our guys up, trying to get healthy and ready for the Regional Tournament.” 

St. Cloud State put a cap on the dual meet season by beating #19 Southwest Minnesota State, 48-0.  

West Liberty Hopes to Bring Home Mat Advantage On the Road

West Liberty is another team hoping to make some noise at Super Regionals. The Hilltoppers are coming off winning their third straight Mountain East Conference championship where they completely dominated in taking home seven individual titles. 

West Liberty coach Danny Irwin attributes a piece of the Hilltoppers’ success to having a strong home crowd advantage in the conference tournament and he believes that they will continue to have a strong crowd presence in Tiffin, OH at Super Regionals.

“I think that we are going to have a huge crowd come to Tiffin and repeat that a couple of weeks later in Cedar Rapids Iowa for the national tournament,” he said.  

The Hilltoppers have a good chance of giving their fans something to cheer for. They are the #4-ranked team in the nation, with two-time defending national champion and #2 Cole Laya leading the team at 125 pounds. Laya has been hitting his stride according to coach Irwin. 

“He is getting to his leg attacks and being aggressive,” Irwin said. “You also see him being really stingy on top and mat returning guys, so you know good things are going to happen.”

West Liberty has depth beyond Laya with #4 Vincent Scolio at 133 pounds, #4 Jamar Williams at 157 pounds, #3 Ty McGeary at 184 pounds, and #7 Francesco Borsellino at 285 pounds. With half of their team ranked in the top eight, West Liberty is looking to make a statement at Super Regionals and heading forward into the NCAA tournament. 

#4 Central Oklahoma Knocks Off #3 Nebraska Kearney 

Central Oklahoma ended its dual season with a 21-13 dual victory against Nebraska-Kearney that featured some of the best wrestlers in Division 2. 

“It was a tough dual like we knew it would be, I was proud of the way our guys battled,” Central Oklahoma coach Todd Steidley said. “We didn't wrestle our best, but we competed hard at every weight."

The dual came down to the final match, with Nebraska-Kearney top-ranked heavyweight Lee Herrington needing a pin or technical fall over #2 Shawn Streck to secure the victory. However, Streck notched a convincing 8-3 victory to secure the dual for the Bronchos. 

"It was a great way to end the regular season," Steidley said. "Now it's time to turn the page and get ready for what we've been building for all year. We're going to work hard these next two weeks and our guys are excited about being home for the regional."