While the team race has been predictable over the last three decades, the Division III national championships is anything but predictable on the individual side.

Friday morning, the 2024 version kicks off at the La Crosse Convention Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Ten individual champions and a team champion will be crowned Saturday night.

Will there be another title match between two unseeded wrestlers like last year when Sam Stuhl of Augsburg beat Wheaton’s Ethan Harsted for the 141 crown?

Will 31-year-old Izzy Balsiger of Wisconsin-Eau Claire return to the podium 11 years after being an All-American for UW-La Crosse in 2013?

Here are five other storylines to follow:

Why Augsburg Will Repeat As Champions

In the days leading up to the championships, Auggie head coach Tony Valek doesn’t talk a lot about team championships.

“The focus is on the individual component,” Valek said Tuesday. “We have 10 qualifiers, eight seeded in the top six and the goal is to put all 10 of them on the podium. You get all 10 on the podium...the team race will figure itself out.”

If the Auggies put 10 on the podium their 15th national title will likely be coming back to Minneapolis with them, matching the 15 won by their rival Wartburg College.

Augsburg is the only program with all 10 of its starters qualified for the tournament Baldwin Wallace has eight, with Wartburg College, Johnson & Wales and Wisconsin-La Crosse each with seven.

There are a handful of programs with six.

In addition to having eight seeded wrestlers, the Auggies have six returning All-Americans in the field, including defending 141-pound champion Sam Stuhl at 141.

“Just stick to our individual plans,” Valek said. “We’re excited…we tell our guys to go have fun, wrestle for each other.”

The Auggies are going to have plenty of fan support, too. Valek said they have sold more than 350 in group sales for the Augsburg section, and he knows more than 100 additional Auggie fans have bought general admission packages.

“The Convention Center is a perfect venue for the championships,” Valek said.

Why Wartburg Will Win

While Augsburg is the decided favorite, the Knights carry enough firepower among their seven qualifiers to challenge for the title if the Auggies stumble.

Wartburg is the only program with two 2023 national champions returning in Zane Mulder at 174 and Massoma Endene at 197. That is a lot of team points if those two return to the top of the podium.

But to challenge, Wartburg will need all seven of its qualifiers to find the podium.

“There are some teams that have better numbers,” Knight head coach Eric Keller said. “But like anything, you keep the focus on what you can control which is all we can do. At the end of the day, points are going to be where they are going to be.

“If we wrestle at the highest level of what we are capable of, I like where we are going to be.”

Six of Wartburg’s seven qualifiers are seeded, and five are seeded third or better. 

Wartburg’s only other past medalist is Joe Pins, who missed the podium last year, but was an All-American in 2022, eighth, and was third at the NWCA championships (2021).

Mulder comes in having lost in the regional finals and is seeded second. Jared Stricker of UW-Eau Claire, who Mulder beat in the finals last year in Roanoke, is the top seed.

“I fully expect that guy to respond this weekend,” Keller said. “We have seen a response in the wrestling room, and so have the guys who have been wrestling him in the room.”

Why UW-La Crosse Could Win

Dave Malecek might have his best tournament team since the Eagles were the national runner-up in 2010.

UWL was fifth a year ago, the program’s highest finish since taking fourth in 2013, part of a run that saw the Eagles finish fourth or better for nine straight years from 2005-13.

Paving the way for UWL is returning champion Nolan Hertel, the top seed at 157.

The Eagles have three other returning All-Americans – Noah Leisgang, Seth Brossard and Michael Douglas – and six of their seven qualifiers are seeded, five of them fourth or better.

UWL will be in the trophy race and if either Augsburg or Wartburg or if both slip, UWL has the team to be the first program to win the Division III title not named Augsburg or Wartburg since Ithaca College captured it in 1995.

“With seven qualifiers, we’ll be in the hunt for hardware,” Malecek said.

Can Anybody Beat Robbie Precin?

The two-time 133-pound champion from North Central College rolls into the tournament on a 90-match win streak.

With one win he will pass Oklahoma State’s John Smith for the ninth-longest win streak in college wrestling history and match Augustana College’s Raphael Wilson for ninth.

With a national championship, Precin would match Iowa State’s Dan Gable for eighth at 94 in a row.

Cael Sanderson of Iowa State (159), Marcus Levessuer of Augsburg (155), Joey Davis of Notre Dame College (133), Lucas Lovvorn of Baker (99), Stephen Abas of Fresno State and Zain Retherford of Penn State (95 each) round out the top six.

Precin, 17-0 and the top seed at 133, opens with Trine’s Joey Langeman.

2023 Flashback

Nearly half of last year’s All-Americans (38) return, and there are seven returning champions, including returning champs in each of the first five weights.

But most surely, one of those champs will lose this week, the tournament is always that crazy.

Friday at 11 a.m. Division III wrestling fans will see some of these storylines unfold.

2023 Top Ten Teams: 1. Augsburg 101, 2. Wartburg 66.5, 3. Baldwin Wallace 66, 4. North Central 63.5, 5. Wisconsin-La Crosse 61, 6. Johnson & Wales 52, 7. Stevens Institute 49.5, 8. Dubuque 41.5, 9. US Coast Guard Academy 40.5, 10. Wabash 35.5

2023 Championship matches (Returning champions in bold)

125 – Joziah Fry (Johnson & Wales) dec. Jacob Decatur (Baldwin Wallace), 4-2.

133 – Robbie Precin (North Central) dec. Dalton Rohrbaugh (York), 3-1.

141 – Sam Stuhl (Augsburg) dec. Ethan Harsted (Wheaton), 5-1.

149 – Michael Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) dec. Javen Estrada (North Central), 10-4

157 – Nolan Hertel (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Tyler Shilson (Augsburg), 6-5 TB1

165 – Nathan Lackman (Rhode Island) dec. Matt Lackman (Alvernia), 3-1 SV.

174 – Zane Mulder (Wartburg) dec. Jared Stricker (Wisconsin-Eau Claire), 7-5.

184 – Jarritt Shinhoster (Wisconsin-Whitewater) dec. Shane Liegel (Loras), 9-2.

197 – Massoma Endene (Wartburg) dec. Coy Spooner (US Coast Guard), 10-6.

285 – Jack Heldt (Wabash) dec. Kaleb Reeves (Coe), 6-1.