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The 2018 Central District Championship meet is set for Sunday in Fort Dodge, Iowa. All five ICCAC teams are currently ranked in the top 20 in the NJCAA rankings that were released on Tuesday. No. 3 Iowa Central, No. 7 Ellsworth, No. 9 Iowa Western, No. 10 Iowa Lakes, and No. 11 NIACC will all be participating in the post-season event starting at 10 a.m. Here's a look at the top ICCAC wrestlers for each weight class heading into the meet:
125: Iowa Western's Emmanuel Browne enters as the highest ranked wrestler by Intermat in the 125-pound weight class No. 8 in the NJCAA. Browne is 3-0 in conference matches this season. Kevin Radcliff, who took first place at last week's Duhawk Open, leads the Tritons, while Javier Moreno, who took thrid place at the Art Kraft Memorial earlier this season, will compete for Ellsworth. Iowa Lakes' Kevin Saravia Merlos and NIACC's Mark Gonzales round out the division.
133: Arguably the most stacked weight class heading into the District meet, the 133-pound division features three wrestlers ranked in the top 5. The Tritons' Todd Small is ranked No. 1 and has yet to lose a conference match this season. Small also took first place at the BVU Open by defeating Ellsworth's Justin Folley, who is currently ranked No. 2. The Lakers' Jordin James is currently ranked fourth, while the Reivers' D'Andre Brumfield and the Trojans' Arie Reyes are unranked.
141: Top-ranked Austin Anderly, from NIACC, leads the 141-pound division. Anderly, who is undefeated in conference matches this season, took second place at the 2017 district meet. Iowa Lakes' Anthony Fisher, who took home gold medals at the BVU Open and Grand View Open this year, is ranked No. 7 in the NJCAA. The Panthers' Keegan Powers, Iowa Central's Eric Clarke and Iowa Western's Kollin Wade round out the weight class.
149: The Lakers' David Hollingsworth enters the meet as the top ranked wrestler for the weight class at No. 8. Hollingsworth is undefeated in conference matches. He will compete for a first place finish against Ellsworth's Zach Garza, the Tritons' Yarhoski Aldiva, Iowa Western's Guy Suddman and NIACC's Chanse Rios.
157: The 157-pound weight class features some of the best wrestlers in the country. Top-ranked Steven Lawrence from Ellsworth has just one conference match loss this season, coming at the hands of Iowa Central's Ethan Karsten. Karsten is ranked No. 4 and won a gold medal at the Duhawk Open last month. Iowa Western's Thomas Lisher, Iowa Lakes' Anthony Maia and NIACC's Noah Jackson will all be looking to upset Lawrence and Karsten next week.
165: The 165-pound division could be up for grabs at the District meet, as no one wrestler stands out. Iowa Lakes' Bumni Smith is ranked No. 5 currently but has not competed in many meets this season. Iowa Western's Tell Ward has performed well, especially in his upset win over Iowa Central's Ethan Karsten. Matthew Young will represent Ellsworth while Ryan Faught will compete for NIACC. Throughout the season, Iowa Central has used five different wrestlers for this weight class during ICCAC duals.
174: Cody Kingery from Iowa Western leads the way for the 174-pound division with his No. 6 ranking and 3-1 record in conference matches. Kingery also took fourth place at the district meet in 2017. He will have to contend with Iowa Central's Brady Vogel, who has won his last three conference matches. The Panthers' Khanden Howse, the Lakers' Marcus Placide and the Trojans' Tavion Askew round out the weight class.
184: Iowa Lakes' Isaiah Cox is the top contender at the 184-pound weight class heading into next week's meet. Currently ranked No. 2, Cox is undefeated in conference matches and took first place at the Grand View Open earlier this season. Iowa Central's Jonah Egli, ranked #8 in the NJCAA, will look to keep his undefeated conference record intact. Ellsworth's Jordan Shahrikian, Iowa Western's Joey Sutter and NIACC's Jaylen Lee will also represent the ICCAC next week.
197: Ellsworth's Tim Young, ranked #1 in the NJCAA, will be looking to take first place at the district meet for the second consecutive year. Young is 5-1 in conference matches this season. Iowa Central's Tyree Sutton, who is ranked No. 4, is the only conference wrestler to defeat Young this season. Iowa Western's Seth Ham will also be a contender to watch as he has gone 3-0 in conference matches thus far. Iowa Lakes' Cayelon Barton and NIACC's Sedrack Sheppard round out the division.
Heavyweight: Ellsworth's Charles Griffin is the highest ranked ICCAC wrestler in the heavyweight division. Currently ranked No. 6, Griffin was the only wrestler to earn team points in the Panthers' blowout loss to Iowa Central in late January. Iowa Central's Jordan has also had a solid season, taking fifth place at the Duhawk Open last month. Iowa Western's Andrew Pistillo, Iowa Lakes' Montana Fuller and NIACC's Jimsher Sidhu also represent the conference for the heavyweight division.
NJCAA Championship Qualification:
Each district shall qualify no greater than 70% of the total participants within that specific district. There can only be a maximum of nine wildcards within any district. All percentages shall be rounded down to the next lower number (ex: 39.9 wildcards = 39). Each district before the district seeding meeting ends, will determine whether they will be using the traditional qualifying standards or pre-determined qualifying standards which will be final once the seeding meeting ends and no changes can be made after that. The District Director will make a note of this and include this with the national qualifiers submitted from the district.
The host district for the NJCAA Tournament may add one additional wrestler for each weight class above the 70% rule. (Applies to Region XI/Central District)
In the even one of the district qualifiers cannot wrestle, then the next alternate as determined by the district involved, may be designated as the substitute at the weight class in which the replacement is needed. In no other circumstance can a district qualifier and/or wildcard selection be replaced.
Event Schedule:
Date: Sunday, February 11th at 10am
Site: Hodges Fieldhouse
One Triton Circle
Fort Dodge, IA 50501
- Skin checks begin at 7:45 am
- Weigh-ins at 8 am
- Wrestling starts at 10 am
- Awards and Wildcard meeting will take place immediately after the tournament.