College Wrestling 1/10/01 -- Augsburg 44, St. Cloud State 0 -- Augsburg's Jeff Swenson claims 250th career coaching victory

MINNEAPOLIS (1/10/01) -- Augsburg College wrestling head coach Jeff Swenson earned his 250th career collegiate dual-meet victory in dominating fashion Wednesday night, as his Auggies rolled to a 44-0 shutout victory over St. Cloud State University in a nonconference dual meet Wednesday night at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.

Swenson is in his 19th season coaching at Augsburg (1981-84, 1987-present), and has recorded winning seasons in each of his years at the school. Augsburg has a current streak of 36 straight seasons with a winning dual-meet record. Under Swenson's leadership, the Auggies have won six NCAA Division III national championships in the past 10 seasons (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000).

Swenson, a five-time NWCA Division III National Coach of the Year (1983, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000), is one of a handful of coaches in the nation to win at least 100 matches as a collegiate wrestler and 250 as a college head coach. A 1979 Augsburg graduate and a NAIA national champion at 167 pounds in 1979, Swenson finished his wrestling career with a 102-17 competitive record. His career coaching record is now 250-31.

With the shutout win, Augsburg, currently the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division III national rankings, improves to 5-0 this season in dual meets. St. Cloud State, a Division II program, drops its first dual of the year to fall to 2-1 overall. Since 1989-90, Augsburg is 138-7 against Divisions II and III opponents, and has lost just two matches to Division II opponents since the 1995-96 season.

Augsburg is now 12-4 all-time in dual meets against the Huskies (dating back to the 1980-81 season), and has won the last 10 meets in a row in the series.

Augsburg notched two pins in the victory, from Nick Slack (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) at 174 pounds and from Tony Quance (Jr., Stillwater, Minn./Totino-Grace HS) at 149 pounds. Slack, the defending Division III national champion at 174, improved his current winning streak to 45 straight matches over two seasons. The school record for consecutive wins is 64, set by Henry Gerten during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. Slack is now 14-0 on the year, while Quance improved to 9-3.

Nik Lewandowski (Sr., Hastings, Minn.), who moved to the top spot in the national rankings at 184 pounds this week, moved to 16-2 overall with a major-decision win. Jeremy Jirele (So., Owatonna, Minn.), ranked seventh in Division III at 157, also claimed a major-decision win, a 10-2 triumph over SCSU's Matt Neumueller (So., Medford, Wis.), ranked seventh in Division II at 157.

In the other meeting of ranked wrestlers, Augsburg's Ben Bauer (Sr., Faribault, Minn.) improved to 19-1 with a 10-5 win over Dustin Darveaux (So., Pipestone, Minn./Pipestone-Jasper HS). Bauer, the defending Division III heavyweight national champion, is the top-ranked wrestler in the most recent national rankings; Darveaux entered the week ranked sixth in the Division II national rankings at heavyweight.

Augsburg also benefitted from two forfeits in cruising to the easy win. Kevin Rasmussen (Jr., Owatonna, Minn., 197 pounds), Blaine Kuhlman (Fr., Medford, Minn., 141) and Tony Abbott (Jr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS, 165) had decision victories for the Auggies.

Augsburg returns to action on Friday (1/12) at the Oregon Classic Duals Tournament at Portland (Ore.) State University. The Auggies will wrestle four duals on Friday, against Pacific (Ore.), Central Washington, Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) and the University of Oregon. St. Cloud State hosts Northern Colorado in a North Central Conference dual meet on Thursday (1/11) at 7 p.m.

Augsburg (5-0 dual meets) 44, St. Cloud State (2-1) 0
1/10/01 at Si Melby Hall, Minneapolis, Minn.
Attendance: 250
Action begins at 174 pounds
174 -- Nick Slack (AUG, 14-0) pinned Tom Giltner (SCSU, 0-3) 1:39 (Augsburg 6-0).
184 -- Nik Lewandowski (AUG, 16-2) maj. dec. Nate Whiting (SCSU, 7-9) 16-2 (Augsburg 10-0).
197 -- Kevin Rasmussen (AUG, 15-4) dec. Luke Wren (SCSU, 4-1) 3-2 (Augsburg 13-0).
HWT -- Ben Bauer (AUG, 19-1) dec. Dustin Darveaux (SCSU, 23-6) 10-5 (Augsburg 16-0)
125 -- Darin Bertram (AUG, 18-1) wins by forfeit (Augsburg 22-0).
133 -- Bryan Miller (AUG, 14-4) wins by forfeit (Augsburg 28-0).
141 -- Blaine Kuhlman (AUG, 8-5) dec. Joe Sathre (SCSU, 5-10) 7-2 (Augsburg 31-0).
149 -- Tony Quance (AUG, 9-3) pinned Matt Wilson (SCSU, 8-11) 2:53 (Augsburg 37-0).
157 -- Jeremy Jirele (AUG, 13-2) maj. dec. Matt Neumueller (SCSU, 22-7) 10-2 (Augsburg 41-0).
165 -- Tony Abbott (AUG, 14-1) dec. Paul Arens (SCSU, 9-6) 3-0 (Augsburg 44-0).

Play-By-Play - Time is time remaining on clock.
174 -- Nick Slack (AUG, 13-0) vs. Tom Giltner (SCSU, 0-2)
1st Period -- 2:42 AUG takedown (AUG 2-0), 2:23 AUG 3 near fall (AUG 5-0), 1:21 AUG pin.

184 -- Nik Lewandowski (AUG, 15-2) vs. Nate Whiting (SCSU, 7-8)
1st Period -- 0:42 SCSU takedown (SCSU 2-0), 0:37 AUG escape (SCSU 2-1).
2nd Period -- AUG defers, SCSU down -- 1:28 AUG 3 near fall (AUG 4-2), 1:00 AUG 3 near fall (AUG 7-2), 0:30 AUG 3 near fall (AUG 10-2), 0:00 AUG 3 near fall (AUG 13-2).
3rd Period -- AUG down -- 1:53 AUG escape (AUG 14-2), 0:10 AUG illegal hold (AUG 15-2), AUG 1:48 riding time advantage (AUG 16-2).

197 -- Kevin Rasmussen (AUG, 14-4) vs. Luke Wren (SCSU, 4-0)
1st Period -- No scoring.
2nd Period -- SCSU defers, AUG down -- 1:45 AUG escape (AUG 1-0), 1:12 SCSU stall warning, 0:21 AUG takedown (AUG 3-0).
3rd Period -- SCSU down -- 1:28 SCSU reversal (AUG 3-2).

HWT -- Ben Bauer (AUG, 18-1) vs. Dustin Darveaux (SCSU, 23-5)
1st Period -- 1:52 SCSU takedown (SCSU 2-0), 1:43 AUG escape (SCSU 2-1),
2nd Period -- AUG defers, SCSU down -- 1:48 SCSU escape (SCSU 3-1), 1:32 AUG takedown (TIED 3-3), 0:40 AUG stall warning, 0:27 SCSU stall warning, 0:12 SCSU escape (SCSU 4-3), 0:05 SCSU stalling penalty (TIED 4-4).
3rd Period -- AUG down -- 1:54 AUG escape (AUG 5-4), 1:34 AUG takedown (AUG 7-4), 1:20 SCSU escape (AUG 7-5), 0:51 AUG takedown (AUG 9-5), AUG 2:24 riding time (AUG 10-5).

125 -- Darin Bertram (AUG, 17-1) wins by forfeit.

133 -- Bryan Miller (AUG, 13-4) wins by forfeit.

141 -- Blaine Kuhlman (AUG, 7-5) vs. Joe Sathre (SCSU, 5-9)
1st Period -- 1:19 AUG takedown (AUG 2-0).
2nd Period -- SCSU down -- 1:24 SCSU escape (AUG 2-1).
3rd Period -- AUG down -- 1:52 AUG reversal (AUG 4-1), 1:05 SCSU escape (AUG 4-2), 0:16 AUG takedown (AUG 6-2), AUG 2:52 riding time advantage (AUG 7-2).

149 -- Tony Quance (AUG, 8-3) vs. Matt Wilson (SCSU, 8-10)
1st Period -- 2:27 SCSU takedown (SCSU 2-0), 1:13 AUG escape (SCSU 2-1), 0:55 AUG takedown (AUG 3-2), 0:07 AUG pin.

157 -- Jeremy Jirele (AUG, 12-2) vs. Matt Neumueller (SCSU, 22-6)
1st Period -- 0:38 SCSU takedown (SCSU 2-0), 0:29 AUG escape (SCSU 2-1), 0:11 AUG takedown (AUG 3-2).
2nd Period -- SCSU defers, AUG down - 1:46 AUG escape (AUG 4-2), 1:24 AUG takedown (AUG 6-2), 0:37 SCSU stall warning.
3rd Period -- SCSU neutral -- 0:37 AUG takedown (AUG 8-2), 0:10 SCSU stalling penalty (AUG 9-2), AUG 1:49 riding time advantage (AUG 10-2).

165 -- Tony Abbott (AUG, 13-1) vs. Paul Arens (SCSU, 9-5)
1st Period -- 1:02 AUG takedown (AUG 2-0).
2nd Period -- AUG defers, SCSU down -- 0:36 AUG stall warning.
3rd Period -- AUG down -- 1:26 SCSU stall warning, AUG 1:01 riding time advantage (AUG 3-0).