Wrestling 3/2/02 --NCAA Division III National Championships -- Session IV -- Augsburg wins eighth national championship in 12 years!

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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (3/2/02) -- In the end, it came down to one match.

When Tony Abbott (Sr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS) beat Upper Iowa University's Jorge Borgen 2-1 in the 164-pound championship match Saturday night, it clinched Augsburg College's eighth NCAA Division III wrestling team national title in the last 12 seasons.

The Auggies, leading by six points going into the final session and by just two points in the team race after the consolation finals, won by six points over both Upper Iowa and Wartburg (Iowa) on the final day of the championships, held at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza.

Augsburg accumulated 87 points to win the national title for the third season in a row, a feat unprecedented in the 29-year history of the Division III tournament. Augsburg's eighth national title is also the most in Division III history. Upper Iowa and Wartburg finished with 81 points each, while Wisconsin-La Crosse finished fourth with 68 points and Buena Vista (Iowa) placed fifth with 63.5.

Abbott's was the lone individual national titlist for the Auggies, who had three wrestlers in championship matches and six who earned All-America honors.

"He was the most improved wrestler we had as a freshman, from freshman to sophomore, from sophomore to junior and from junior to senior," said Augsburg head coach Jeff Swenson. "Tony Abbott just kept on getting better and better. He epitomizes the one-percent-improvement-a-day philosophy that our program has." 

Abbott scored a second-period escape and held on for 1:31 of riding time to gain an extra point and the 2-1 decision, which was enough to overcome two stalling calls for a penalty point in the third period.

"I knew it was close, and I knew that one or two of us were going to have to win, for sure," Abbott said. "My match was really important, because I was wrestling a guy from Upper Iowa, and that's a big swing either way, whoever wins. I knew if I would win, it would help seal the deal, which is the case now."

Augsburg's two other finalists fell short of their goals of winning national titles in Saturday's finals.  

Nick Slack (Sr., Belle Plaine, Minn.), the 174-pound national champion in 2000 and national runner-up last year, lost in the championship match 12-8 to Ed Aliakseyenka of Montclair State (N.J.). Aliakseyenka built a 6-2 first-period lead and, though Slack cut the advantage to 8-7 early in the second period, the Montclair State wrestler remained in control throughout the match.

Slack, a three-time All-American and holder of the second-longest win streak in school history (60 from 2000-01), had his current 31-match win streak end with the championship loss, falling to 43-2 on the year. He finished with a career record of 130-13, though he lost just three matches in his last three seasons.

Ricky Crone (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.), a transfer from Northern Iowa, gave up a reversal and takedown in the second period to lose 4-2 to Andy Kazik of Lawrence (Wis.) in the 184-pound final. Crone, who earned All-American honors for his first time as an Auggie this season, finished his initial Auggie season at 34-3.

Brad Fisher (Sr., Austin, Minn.) placed fourth for the Auggies at 141, losing the third-place match to Wartburg's Wil Kelly 2-1 in controversial fashion. Fisher and Kelly wrestled to a 1-1 tie after the first overtime, and Kelly won the flip for the second overtime, taking the down position. Fisher, who had to protect the top position for 30 seconds to claim the win, was called for stalling twice in the period, including a call with one second remaining that gave a penalty point -- and the win -- to Kelly.

Fisher finished his season 41-3 -- with two of his losses this season to Kelly -- and his career at 118-30. He earned All-American honors for the third time in his career. 

Kevin Rasmussen (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.) moved up a spot from his sixth-place finish last season with 8-3 win over Tom Mulchy of SUNY-Oswego (N.Y.) in the fifth-place match at 197 pounds. Rasmussen dominated the match with two takedowns and built an impressive riding-time advantage to score the victory in his final collegiate match. 

Rasmussen ended his season at 32-7 and his career at 92-26. Rasmussen had lost twice in overtime earlier Saturday to drop to the consolation round.

Mike Flanagan (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS), seeded eighth at heavyweight and a first-time All-American at Augsburg, dropped a 5-2 match in the seventh-place match to Upper Iowa's Brian Black. Though Flanagan attempted several shots, he gave up two escapes and two takedowns to drop the match. Flanagan, who wrestled at the University of Minnesota before transferring to Augsburg at the semester break, finished his season at 11-6.

The only other Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference wrestler alive in the tournament on Saturday, St. John's 125-pounder Matt Vos (Jr., Hopkins, Minn./Sibley East HS) placed third with a 2-1, second-overtime tiebreaker win over Calvin Johnson of Springfield (Mass.), gaining an escape with two seconds remaining in the 30-second period.

2002 NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships
Saturday, March 2, 2002 at Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Final results
Top 10 teams: 1. Augsburg 87.0, 2t. Upper Iowa 81.0, 2t. Wartburg (Iowa) 81.0, 4. Wisconsin-La Crosse 68.0, 5. Buena Vista (Iowa) 63.5, 6. Ithaca (N.Y.) 54.0, 7. Loras (Iowa) 47.5, 8. Manchester (Ind.) 39.5, 9t. Montclair State (N.J.) 31.5, 9t. SUNY-Oswego (N.Y.) 31.5. 
Other MIAC schools: 23. St. John's 16.5, 42. St. Olaf 2.0.

Saturday's results involving Augsburg and MIAC wrestlers:
125 pounds -- Carlos Restrepo (Ithaca) dec. Matt Voss (St. John's) 2-1; Vos pinned Heath Ropp (Wartburg) 3:43. Third-place match: Vos dec. Calvin Johnson (Springfield) 2-1 (second overtime).
141 pounds -- Jesus Wilson (Buena Vista) dec. Brad Fisher (Augsburg) 13-7; Fisher dec. Taylor Wood (Buena Vista) 7-3. Third-place match: Wil Kelly (Warburg) dec. Fisher 2-1 (second overtime).
165 pounds -- Tony Abbott (Augsburg pinned Pat Wilsbacher (Buena Vista) 4:33. Championship match: Abbott dec. Jorge Borgen (Upper Iowa) 2-1.
174 pounds -- Nick Slack (Augsburg) maj. dec. Anthony Stewart (SUNY-Cortland) 13-4. Championship match: Ed Aliakseyenka (Montclair St.) dec. Slack 12-8.
184 pounds -- Ricky Crone (Augsburg) dec. Sonny Alvarez (Wartburg) 2-1. Championship match: Andy Kazik (Lawrence) dec. Crone 4-2.
197 pounds -- Yan White (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) dec. Kevin Rasmussen (Augsburg) 3-2 (second overtime); Alain Djorunessi (Wartburg) dec. Rasmussen 6-4 (first overtime). Fifth-place match: Rasmussen dec. Tom Mulchy (SUNY-Oswego) 8-3.
Heavyweight -- Dax Doran (Buena Vista) dec. Mike Flanagan (Augsburg) 2-0. Seventh-place match: Brian Black (Upper Iowa) dec. Flanagan 5-2.