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Wrestling 3/4/05 -- Augsburg at NCAA Division III National Championships -- Session 1 AUGSBURG NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS WEBSITE -- CLICK HERE NORTHFIELD, Minn. (3/4/05) -- Augsburg College's Marcus LeVesseur (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) extended his consecutive-match winning streak to 121 straight victories with a first-period pin, one of eight Augsburg wrestlers to win their first-round matches in the first session of the NCAA Division III national championships on Friday afternoon at the Tostrud Fieldhouse After the first session, Augsburg leads with 17 points, ahead of Luther (Iowa) with 12 points. Wisconsin-La Crosse, Wisconsin-Stevens Point and two-time defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa) have nine points to tie for third. Augsburg won eight of its nine matches in the first round, with one Augsburg wrestler taking a first-round bye into tonight's quarterfinals. Wartburg, the only other school with 10 qualifiers, won just seven of its matches in the opening round. The second session of the national tournament begins at 6 p.m. tonight at the Tostrud Fieldhouse. The second session eliminates the field to the final eight in each weight class, who earn All-American honors. LeVesseur scored a pin with five seconds remaining in the first period over Joe Galante of The College of New Jersey to advance to tonight's quarterfinals. LeVesseur is now 37-0 on the season, extending his collegiate unbeaten streak to 121, the second-longest winning streak in college wrestling history behind the 159 of Cael Sanderson at Iowa State (1998-2002). Of his 37 wins this season, 23 have come by pin. Augsburg claimed four major-decision victories in the opening round, led by defending 133-pound national champion Mark Matzek (Sr., Ellsworth, Wis.), who claimed a 14-5 win over Matt Sganga of Cortland State (N.Y.). Matzek, the top-ranked wrestler at 133 poiunds, is now 31-0, extending his winnning streak to 39 straight matches dating to last season. Jamell Tidwell (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS), the defending national runner-up at 141 pounds, improved to 32-4 on the season with his 24th bonus-point victory of the season, an 11-0 major-decision win over Mark Carey of Coe (Iowa). Tidwell claimed his 10th major decision victory of the season to advance to tonight's quarterfinals. Defending national champion Joe Moon (Sr., Ellendale, Minn./New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva HS) improved to 13-0 with a 12-2 win over Adam Reid of Coe (Iowa). A flurry of action in the final 35 seconds of the second period, with a takedown and two near-falls, gave Moon an 8-0 advantage, and he cruised to the easy win. Brad Tupa (Jr., Dundas, Minn./Faribault HS) extended his impressive late-season run with an 11-2 win over Tom Andrews of Loras (Iowa). A takedown and three-point near-fall near the end of the first period gave Tupa a 5-0 advantage, which he never surrendered. Tupa is now 27-5 on the season. Mark Simmonds (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Edison HS) claimed his 100th collegiate victory with a 6-2 win over Kyle Brown of Thiel in his first match at heavyweight. Simmonds, who has wrestled for two seasons at Augsburg after transferring from Division II Southwest State, is now 100-48 in his career. At Augsburg, he is now 30-7 on the season, 66-16 the last two seasons. Ryan Valek (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) improved to 32-6 on the season with a 10-4 victory over Brad Bishop of Loras (Iowa) in his opening-round match at 165, and Jared Evans (So., Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS) improved to 21-5 on the season with a 4-3 win over Mike Kemble of Thiel (Pa.) in his opening match. Evans took an early 3-0 lead and held off a late takedown attempt by Kemble to score the victory. The lone Augsburg loss in the first round came against 197-pounder Justin Sorensen (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.), who lost 10-7 to Jim Swanson of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Sorensen will have to win his wrestleback match tonight in order to remain alive in the tournament. Defending national champion Matt Shankey (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) received a first-round bye at 125 pounds, and will wrestle No. 8 seed Brandon McDonough of Johnson and Wales (R.I.) in the quarterfinals tonight. Shankey is 20-0 on the season. Fellow Minnesota school St. John's has two wrestlers in the championship field, with one winning a first-round match. Dan Fiecke claimed a 6-4 win over Wyatt Reyerson of Luther (Iowa) in his first match at 197 pounds, while 157-pounder Jacob Malone lost to third-seed Ryan LeBeau of Luther (Iowa), 4-2. Wrestling -- Augsburg at NCAA Division III National Championships -- Session 1 Top 10 team standings: 1. Augsburg (Minn.) 17.0; 2. Luther (Iowa) 12.0; 3t. Wisconsin-La Crosse 9.0; 3t. Wisconsin-Stevens Point 9.0; 3t. Wartburg (Iowa) 9.0; 6. Delaware Valley (Pa.) 8.0; 7. College of New Jersey 7.0; 8t. Oswego State (N.Y.) 6.0; 8t. Simpson (Iowa) 6.0; 10. Williams (Mass.) 5.5. Other area teams: 14t. Wisconsin-Whitewater 4.0; 19t. Wisconsin-Eau Claire 2.0; 27t. St. John's 1.0. First-round results involving Minnesota/Wisconsin wrestlers (number before wrestler's name is tournament seed): 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
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