2025 District Championship Preview | Men's Wrestling
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - Iowa Western will host the 2025 North Central District Championships in Council Bluffs on Sunday, the annual qualifier for the NJCAA Men's National Wrestling Championships.
The 2025 tournament will feature seven teams this season after Hawkeye completed their first regular season in program history. Heading into the event, five of the seven teams are ranked in the NJCAA Top 25.
The highest ranked team happens to be the 2024-25 ICCAC Regular Season Dual champions, Indian Hills. The Warriors are ranked No. 2 in the country and have wrestlers ranked in the top 8 in every weight class except 165. Jaquan East is a returning All-Americans from last season. Riley Bettich is back as well and will wrestle at 125 after an All-American season in 2023. In the latest rankings he was listed as the No. 1 wrestler in 133.
Indian Hills has two No. 1 ranked wrestlers in their weight class heading into the District, Bettich and Andrew Marquez at 197.
The Warriors went undefeated in ICCAC duals this season and look to win their first District title since 2021 when they won their first and only to date.
Iowa Central, last season's District Champions, are ranked No. 4 in the country. The Tritons only dual loss in the ICCAC this season came to Indian Hills, which ended their three year reign as the regular season dual champions.
Iowa Central won last year's District Championships. They are led by Jaydale Whitlock, the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 125 and Chance Davis, the No. 1 at 157. Whitlock was a 2024 All-American.
NIACC is ranked 11th in the country behind Cordell White (149), who finished in the top four at the NJCAA National Championships last season. Jessey Colas is another name to watch at 184.
The host, Iowa Western is down compared to years past, but still ranked in the top 20. The Reivers have two ranked wrestlers heading into the District.
Over the last five years, four teams have won the District -- Indian Hills (2021), Iowa Central (2023), Iowa Western (2020, 2023) and NIACC (2022). This year looks to be a two team race between Indian Hills and Iowa Central, but keep an eye on NIACC to make a push.
Action begins Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at Reiver Arena on the IWCC Campus. Qualification for the National Tournament will be determined by the finish at the event. Coaches will meet the night before to predetermine the qualifying places and weights. Additionally, as the host district, Region 11 will receive 10 additional qualifiers on top of their automatic qualifiers and wild cards.
Sunday, February 16, 2025 - @ Council Bluffs, Iowa
Wrestling Begins at 10:00 a.m.
Iowa Western Community College
Reiver Arena
2700 College Rd.
Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501
Map Link
Livestream Info:
Admission: $5/adult & student
Children 5 & Under - Free
Brackets:
125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157
165 | 174 | 184 | 197 | 285
Team Rosters:
| Weight | Ellsworth | Hawkeye | Indian Hills | Iowa Central | Iowa Lakes | Iowa Western | NIACC |
| 125 | Nick Needham | Adam Fish | #1 Riley Bettich | #5 Jaydale Whitlock** | Dominic Chinemo | #6 Cyrus Bucsit | #8 Luis Avevedo |
| 133 | Tyler Roper | --- | Deontae Forest | #5 Drew Cooper | Luke Guseman | Aaron Ohnoutka | Alejandro Rodriguez |
| 141 | Richard Barillas | Gavin Reed | #5 Gavyn Whitehead | #10 Matt Roche | Jadyn Friedrichs | Gabe Ferreira** | McKenley Charlus |
| 149 | Caiden Rentz | Macael Bear | Shehab Mohamed | #9 Gary Walker III | #10 William Penn | Braxton Peacher | #5 Cordell White** |
| 157 | Nick Fischer | Brody Hoyt | #2 Brice Coleman | #6 Chance Davis | La Travion Agu | Dawson Bond | Hansel Pompa |
| 165 | Josh Berlin | Jackson Turner | #8 Cinsere Clark | #3 Kaden King | Fischer Hawkins** | Josiah Taylor | #9 Emmanuel Celestin** |
| 174 | Giles Cowell** | Austin Pfantz | #4 Mohamed Abdelhady | #10 Lawrence Rosario** | Braden Gissal | Matteo Nikolov | Jonathan Krogman |
| 184 | Kaleb Homan** | Grant Nason | #6 Jaquan East** | #8 Sam Libby | Etheend Deyampert | Tanner Fuller | #5 Jessey Colas** |
| 197 | Zahyr Cronk | Isaiah Kellow | #1 Andrew Marquez | #5 Coen Grimm | Giovanni Hernandez | Kolby Scott | #8 Macray Klohs |
| 285 | Aiden McFadden | #10 Josh Vis | #8 Nassir Edmonds | Umair Ahmad | Phillip Malone | Orion Parker | Xander Kenworthy** |
Links:
Tournament Schedule:
Round 1- 20 Matches (3/6 & 4/5 Seeds)
Round 2- 20 Matches (Semifinals)
Round 3- 20 Matches (Consolation Semis)
Round 4- 10 Matches (5th/6th Place Match)
Round 5- 20 Matches (Championship & 3rd/4th)
Round 6- True placement matches (If needed)