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Augsburg's Mark Matzek, Ryan Valek named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V College Division Men's At-Large First Team
For Matzek, it is his third straight year being named to the Academic All-District squad, having been named to the first team in 2003 and second team in 2004. Valek was named to the Academic All-District squad for the first time in his career. One of the top lightweight wrestlers in school history, Matzek won NCAA Division III individual national titles at 133 pounds in both his junior and senior campaigns, while earning NCAA Division III All-American honors three times and compiling a 129-21 career record. He had 17 pins, 18 technical falls and 19 major decisions in his career. Finishing his collegiate career with a 42-match winning streak, Matzek dominated his weight class in the 2004-05 campaign, finishing 34-0 on the season to repeat as national champion at 133 pounds, one of four Auggies to repeat as national champions with unbeaten campaigns. In the process, he joined a select group of nine Auggie wrestlers in school history to win multiple national championships. He went 35-4 to win the national title at 133 in 2003-04, while finishing fourth nationally with a 40-7 record in 2002-03. Academically, Matzek is a mathematics and secondary education major with a 3.408 grade-point-average. He earned the school's Senior Honor Athlete award in 2005, the highest honor Augsburg gives to student-athletes. He has earned National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Scholar All-America honors three times. He was a member of Augsburg academic national teams in wrestling that ranked sixth twice (2003, 2005) and third (2004) in team grade-point-average nationally. Valek earned All-American honors for the second time in his career in the 2004-05 campaign, finishing second nationally at 165 pounds with a 34-7 record. He finished the season with six pins, a technical fall and five major decisions in his run to the national runner-up finish. He topped two wrestlers who eventually were ranked No. 1 nationally in the NAIA and NCAA Division II in a three-day span in January, and also claimed a 2-0 win over Oregon State's Matt Ellis, a Division I national meet qualifier and Pac-10 wrestling runner-up, in a January meet. In his three seasons at Augsburg, Valek has a 92-35 career record, with 24 pins, two technical falls and 14 major decisions. He finished 38-10 in his sophomore season of 2003-04 to finish seventh nationally at 165 pounds in his first trip to the national tournament. Academically, Valek is an accounting major with a 3.789 grade-point average. He has earned National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Scholar All-America honors in both 2004 and 2005. Augsburg won its ninth NCAA Division III wrestling national championship in the last 15 years this season, claiming 10 All-Americans, four individual national champions and six national finalists. The Auggies finished 14-1 in dual meets this season, while also claiming the NWCA Division III National Duals title for the second time in the tournament's four-year history. Academically, Augsburg finished in the top 10 in the NWCA's Scholar All-America team program, finishing sixth among more than 100 NCAA Division III wrestling institutions with a 3.331 team grade-point-average. Augsburg is the only school in NCAA Division III wrestling to finish in the top 10 both in competition on the mat and in the academic team competition in each of the eight years that the NWCA has awarded an academic team national championship. Augsburg had eight NWCA Scholar All-Americans in 2004-05, bringing to a national-record 89 the number of NWCA Scholar All-Americans in school history. Augsburg has had at least three Scholar All-Americans every year since 1993, and has had 66 athletes honored since 1997. The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team is part of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program, administered by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Top student-athletes from non-Division I programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ontario and Manitoba are eligible for inclusion on the district team. Student-athletes must have a grade-point average above 3.20 (4.0 scale) and have outstanding athletic credentials. College sports information directors in the district vote for the teams. First-team Academic All-District members advance to the Academic All-America ballot, voted on by a committee of CoSIDA members. The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America men's at-large team will be announced on June 14. The men's at-large team awards student-athletes in 12 sports -- golf, rifle, volleyball, gymnastics, skiing, water polo, fencing, ice hockey, swimming, wrestling, lacrosse and tennis. From other Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools, joining Matzek and Valek on the Academic All-District first team were Gustavus tennis players Roy Bryan and Pete Schwingler, St. Thomas tennis player Lynn "Tut" Fuller and swimmer Dave Linn, and St. John's hockey player Adam Hanna. St. John's hockey player Darryl Smoleroff earned a spot on the second team. 2004-05 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V College Division Men's At-Large First Team, as selected by CoSIDA: Roy Bryan, Jr., Gustavus Adolphus (tennis); Ian Carroll, Sr., Marian (Wis.) (ice hockey); Dan Cloutier, Sr., Rose-Hulman (Ind.) (rifle); Lynn "Tut" Fuller, Sr., St. Thomas (tennis); Adam Hanna, Jr., St. John's (ice hockey); Justin Hegner, Sr., Elmhurst (Ind.) (tennis); Dave Linn, Sr., St. Thomas (swimming); Mark Matzek, Sr., Augsburg (wrestling); Pete Schwingler, Sr., Gustavus (tennis); Ryan Valek, Jr., Augsburg (wrestling). 2004-05 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V College Division Men's At-Large Second Team, as selected by CoSIDA: Nathaniel Chapman, Jr., Carthage (Wis.) (swimming); John Feehan, Sr., Augustana (Ill.) (tennis); Tim Fish, Jr., Franklin (Ind.) (golf); Chris Healy, Sr., Wabash (Ind.) (wrestling); Garth Newport, Jr., Wisconsin-Stevens Point (swimming); Daryl Smoleroff, Jr., St. John's (ice hockey); Brian Soik, So., Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) (ice hockey); Matt Warren, Sr., Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (wrestling); Cory Wright, Jr., Rose-Hulman (Ind.) (golf); Allen Zutz, Sr., Bemidji State (golf). To return to Augsburg Wrestling, click here To return to Augsburg Athletics, click here Augsburg College, a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. This is the official web site for Augsburg
College athletics. |
MINNEAPOLIS
(5/26/05) -- Augsburg College wrestlers Mark Matzek (Sr., Ellsworth, Wis.) and Ryan Valek (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) were named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V College Division Men's At-Large First Team, as selected by CoSIDA, it was announced on Thursday.