Baldwin, Martinson headed to national wrestling meet

Dutch take fifth as a team

by Joseph Flaherty

Cedar Rapids, IA (03/03/2025) — A pair of Central College men's wrestlers secured a trip to the NCAA Division III Championships by earning top-three finishes at the Region VI Championships Saturday.

In the team standings, Central was fifth of 16 teams with 117.5 points. Wartburg College won the team title with 169 points.

Pierre Baldwin (junior, Carol Stream, Ill., West Chicago HS) was the regional champion at 141 pounds, earning Central's sixth individual crown since the regional format debuted in 2013 and first since 2022. He won both of his matches by major decision on Saturday, including a 14-2 major decision Wartburg's Tommy Thongseng in the final. He outscored opponents 49-4 in four regional matches.

"He was prepared to put up points and score for seven minutes straight on anybody that stepped in front of him," coach Landon Williams said. "That's the mindset we've been using with him. We don't just want to win the close matches, we want to wrestle to the best of our ability the whole time."

Carson Martinson (sophomore, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) won a thrilling 7-6 decision in his 165-pound semifinal against Wartburg's Aiden Brosinski to earn his national bid. He would lose 6-3 to the top-seeded Dustin Bohren of Loras College in the final.

"We're super proud of him," Williams said. "The good part is that he got to his offense and got takedowns and that's the difference."

The No. 8 seed entering the weekend, Dominick Marre (freshman, Bartlett, Ill., Glenbard North HS) won three straight matches after suffering a loss by technical fall in the 125-pound quarterfinals against No. 1 Connor Fiser of Loras. He nearly avenged that loss before dropping an 11-8 decision in sudden victory overtime to finish in fourth.

Junior 184-pounder Sam West (Burlington, Notre Dame HS) also lost in the third-place match, dropping a 7-2 decision to Austin Wetzel of Westminster College (Mo.). Eight Dutch wrestlers finished in the top eight: Carter Martinson (sophomore, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) was fifth at 157 pounds, Jason Hermann (senior, Stockton, Ill.) was sixth at 174 pounds, Cade Siebrecht (sophomore, Lisbon) was sixth at 149 pounds and Austin Roos (senior, Atkins, Benton HS) was seventh at 197 pounds

"We're happy that everyone finished out the tournament but we've got to get better across the board," Williams said. "The expectation is to win matches nobody who is in front of us. The message will always be in this program that we need maximum effort wrestling for seven minutes and the outcome will take care of itself."

Baldwin and Carson Martinson will travel to Providence, Rhode Island for the national championship meet which starts Friday, March 14.

Jason

Hermann