Augsburg College to celebrate 50th anniversary of wrestling program this weekend

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MINNEAPOLIS (07/28/99) -- Augsburg College will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its wrestling program with several special events this weekend.

The celebration, "Our Weekend Together: 50 Years of Augsburg Wrestling," will be highlighted by a celebration banquet and dance, to be held at the Christensen Center on the Augsburg campus Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (social time begins at 6 p.m.) Cost for the banquet is $20.

Other wrestling anniversary events include:
-- The annual John Grygelko/Augsburg Wrestling Golf Classic, to be held Friday starting at 12 noon at Bluff Creek Golf Course in Chanhassen. Cost is $65.
-- A celebration weekend kickoff social at Grandma's Saloon and Deli in the Seven Corners area, to be held Friday at 8 p.m. Beverages are complimentary.
-- A free family pig roast, to be held in Murphy Square park on the Augsburg campus, on Sunday starting at 11:30 a.m.

For more information on the Auggie wrestling 50th anniversary events, contact Augsburg wrestling coach Jeff Swenson at (612) 330-1241.

Augsburg has built a tradition of excellence in small-college wrestling during the past half-century. The Auggies have won five NCAA Division III team national championships in the 1990s and have finished in the top four 11 straight years, the most of any Division III team. Augsburg has had 22 individual national champions over the past 50 years and 125 All-American wrestlers.

The Auggies have won 23 of the last 25 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference wrestling championships, including the last 13 in a row, and have produced 71 MIAC individual titlists in the last 10 years.

Augsburg has also been a success in the classroom. While finishing second in the nation on the mats in 1999, the Auggies were academic national champions, with a team grade-point average of 3.48. Augsburg was second academically in 1998, the year it won its fifth national championship on the mat. Over the past 17 years, Augsburg has produced 48 National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-Americans (37 in the last seven years).