PELLA — With a young roster this season, the Central College wrestling team will rely on its commitment to each other to push itself forward.
           
The Dutch roster features 30 names on it, including just eight letterwinners and four seniors. There is some experience as five starters are back from a year ago. Central finished 7-5 overall and 4-4 in American Rivers Conference duals to place fifth in the league. The Dutch were ninth out of 19 teams at the 2023 NCAA Division III Lower Midwest Regional
           
"I'm really excited for the season," coach Eric Van Kley said. We've got great guys on the team, and we have a chance to really grow. We might be a little inexperienced and younger, but I think we've got a chance to grow as the season goes on."
           
Positive relationships within the entirety of the wrestling program have been an emphasis since last season.
           
"We want to get back to being a family," Van Kley said. "Being a part of the Central wrestling family is something we talk about and it's important that everybody involved has a great experience."
           
Success on the mat is always a part of having a great experience and Van Kley has laid out clear goals for his program.
           
"We aspire to be a top-20 team nationally and finish in the top three of our conference," Van Kley said. "We're going to work harder on being tougher when we need to be and to be more consistent."       

125
Sophomore David Vukobratovich (Homer Glen, Ill., Lockport Township HS) earned a varsity letter as a freshman with an 8-9 campaign. In his lone appearance in the dual lineup, he registered a fall against William Penn University.
           
"David had a really good offseason," Van Kley said. "He comes from a terrific high school background at the same school Coach Radcliffe is from."
           
Sam Wolff (senior, Chaska, Minn.) has a career 3-16 record in tournaments.
           
"He's looking to contribute this year," Van Kley said. "He's done good things in this program."
           
After wrestling at 133 pounds last year, Colin Suyko (senior, Cary, Ill., Cary-Grove HS) can drop to this weight class. He went 5-10 last season.
           
"Colin may get some opportunities at 125 or 133," Van Kley said.

133
 An injury cut Brock Beck's (senior, Grinnell) junior season short after a hot start. He was 15-4 and won the Millikin Open and finished runner-up at three other tournaments.
           
"Brock is planning to go back 133 again," Van Kley said. "We're just a different team with him in the lineup and we saw it in the first half of the season. He's had a good offseason of training and has big goals for the upcoming season."

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Bursting onto the scene with a 23-7 freshman campaign, Pierre Baldwin (Carol Stream, Illinois, West Chicago HS) is a returning American Rivers All-Conference honoree and fifth-place finisher at the NCAA Division III Lower Midwest Regional.
           
"Pierre had a tremendous season," Van Kley said. "He was as good as any freshman we've had in a long time. He's got very high aspirations for year two."
           
Trenton Harper (sophomore, Norwalk) was 6-14 as a freshman and gives Central another option.

149
There's no clear returning starter at 149 pounds but there are two upper classmen with loads of experience to choose from. Both Duncan Delzell (senior, Burlington) and Cael Cox (junior, Ankeny) have competed in varsity duals and open tournaments at 141 and 149 pounds. Cox even dropped to 133 to replace Beck in the second half of 2022-23. Dezell has a 40-17 career mark and Cox has 24-28 for his career.
           
"They're both going to get opportunities at 149 and Cael could also see some action at 141," Van Kley said.
           
Kevin Hogan (sophomore, Peotone, Ill.) provides more depth after finishing his freshman season with an 11-13 record and a pair of top-six finishes at tournaments.                                     

157/165
There are options for the Dutch in the middle of the lineup and it starts with Colby Tool (junior, Reasnor, PCM HS) sliding down a weight class.  The junior was 16-13 at 165 pounds last year but is prepared to take over at 157.
           
Tool's move frees up Jason Hermann (junior, Stockton, Ill.) and Lincolb Holub (sophomore, Mount Vernon, Lisbon HS) to compete at 165 pounds.
           
"We have great depth in the middle," Van Kley said. "Colby is going down to a weight that I think is better for him. Jason had a really great year coming off an injury and Lincoln was out last year but has had a great offseason.'
           
Landon Kirby (junior, Grinnell), Elijah Belzer (sophomore, Wapello) and Kale Downey (sophomore, Clarinda) give Central even more returning options in the middle.
           
"The middle weights will sort themselves out," Van Kley said. "There are some guys that are hungry and need to prove themselves."

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Junior Austin Roos (Atkins, Benton HS) was 12-12 at 174 pounds in 2022-23. He finished strong in the dual matches, winning in the last four duals of the season.                                        
           
"He stepped up last year," Van Kley said. "He won some big matches us for us. He really committed himself to wanting to be the guy at 174 pounds again this season."                                     

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As a freshman, Sam West (sophomore, Burlington, Notre Dame HS) won a pair of tournament titles at 165 pounds and finished the season 14-9 overall. He's likely to make his varsity dual debut at 184 pounds.
           
"We think he's going to make some noise there," Van Kley said. "He had as good of a summer as anybody on our team both in the weight room and on the mat."
           
Austin Totty (sophomore, American Canyon, Calif.) returns for his sophomore season in a reserve role.

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A two-time national qualifier, Gage Linahon (senior, Newton) is looking to make his way to the All-American podium in his senior year. He's won 20 matches in each of the last two seasons, pinning nine opponents as a junior.
           
"He's improved since last year," Van Kley said. "He grew his confidence in the offseason training and is still growing as a leader. He's working hard to achieve his goals."
           
Sophomores Justin Dallas (Dixon, Ill.) and Nathan Rosas (Harvard, Ill.) are additional options after going 4-9 and 12-10 as freshman, respectively.

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Sophomores Michael Esquivel, Jr. (Aurora, Ill., Yorkville Christian HS) and Hayden Hearne (Urbandale) bring the experience to what is the deepest weight class on the roster with three freshmen also joining the team. Esquivel was 7-6 and Hearne was 8-8 in tournament matches during their freshman season.
           
"We're excited with what we have coming back," Van Kley said. "We're also excited to get our freshmen some opportunities. They are all going to get a lot of matches and we'll see who steps up."
The season
           
The schedule looks a little different for the Dutch this year with nine non-conference duals on the slate. A November trip to Muhlenberg College's (Pa.) Scotty Wood Duals and a a trip to Nebraska Wesleyan University's Prairie Wolf Duals in December will be the site for seven of them. Central also will make a trip to Augustana College (Ill.) on November 30 and William Penn University on January 30.
           
"Our team loves wrestling duals," Van Kley said. "There's a team score and it brings our team together. We're also a developmental program and the dual tournaments guarantee our starters more matches.
           
"It's always fun going out to Pennsylvania. We haven't competed at the end of finals week in December in a long time so the trip to Nebraska will be fun to have something to look forward to."
           
The eight American Rivers Conference duals will be as tough as ever for the Dutch.
           
"There's never an easy night in our league," Van Kley said. "We know we are in the best conference in the country and we want it that way. We're going to be more prepared for those duals this year.
           
Central has five invitationals on the schedule for the regular season, including two at home on January 6 and February 9. The team has November trips to the Pointer Open at Wis.-Stevens Point, the Millikin (Ill.) Open and the Augsburg (Minn.) Invitational. The Milwaukee School of Engineering Invitational is December 2 in Milwaukee.
           
The Dutch open the season at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Pointer Open in Stevens Point, Wisconsin