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Wrestling 3/3/06 -- Augsburg at NCAA Division III National Championships -- Session 2 AUGSBURG
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS WEBSITE -- CLICK HERE EWING, N.J. (3/3/06) -- Claiming six All-Americans, with four remaining in the championship bracket, the Augsburg College wrestling team wrapped up its first day of competition in third place at the NCAA Division III national championships on Friday evening at The College of New Jersey's Student Recreation Center. Wartburg (Iowa), which finished second to Augsburg in last year's championship race, leads the competition after the first day with 73.0 points. The Knights have six wrestlers alive in championship brackets and three in consolation brackets. Wisconsin-La Crosse, with six wrestlers alive in the championship bracket and one in the consolation bracket, is in second place with 61.5 points. Augsburg is in third with 43.0 points, with six of its eight qualified wrestlers still alive in the tournament. St. John's, with two of its three competitiors still alive in consolation brackets, stands in 17th place with 12 points. Augsburg, winners of an NCAA-record nine Division III team national titles in wrestling, has had at least six All-Americans every year since 1996, at least five All-Americans every year since 1989 and at least one All-American every year since 1977. The tournament concludes on Saturday (3/4), with the third session beginning at 10:30 a.m. (Eastern time) and the finals beginning at 4 p.m. Ryan Valek (Sr., Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West) earned All-American honors for the third straight year at 165 pounds. After receiving a first-round bye, Valek claimed a 9-0, major-decision win over Donald Williams of Brockport State (N.Y.). Valek, now 41-3 on the season, finished second at 165 pounds last season and seventh in 2004. Brad Tupa (Sr., Dundas, Minn./Faribault HS) earned All-American honors for the second straight year with two victories at 184 pounds, a 4-2 win in his opening match over Benjamin Plowman of Ohio Northern and a 5-2 win over Robert Stubbs of Ithaca (N.Y.) in the quarterfinals. He scored an escape and takedown in the third period to clinch the win. Tupa is now 20-3 on the year. He finished fourth at 184 last season. Jafari Vanier (So., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS), entering his first NCAA Division III national tournament as an unseeded wrestler, claimed two wins over seeded foes to earn All-American honors. In his opening match, he claimed a 3-1 overtime win over sixth-seed David Morgan of Kings (Pa.), then dominated in a 19-5, major-decision win over third-seed Matthew Smith of Johnson and Wales (R.I.) in the quarterfinals. He converted six takedowns and two 3-point near-falls in the quarterfinal win. Vanier, now 18-2 on the year, is in his first season at Augsburg after finishing second at the national junior college championships as a competitor at Iowa Central Community College in 2002. Jeremy Anderson (So., Thief River Falls, Minn.), a transfer from the University of Minnesota, improved to 43-2 on the season and earned All-Ameican honors for the first time at 157 pounds, scoring a 9-4 victory over Joseph Duca of Ithaca (N.Y.) in the opening match and an 8-3 win over Elliot Spence of Mt. St. Joseph (Ohio). Two Auggies survived in wrestleback matches to earn All-American honors. At 149, Jared Evans (Jr., Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS) rallied from a 4-3, opening-round loss to Kyle Forness of Buena Vista (Iowa) with two wins in the wrestlebacks. Evans topped Jaryd Steinbacher of Delaware Valley (Pa.) 5-1, then topped Jared Creason of Coe (Iowa) 4-2 to earn All-American honors for the second time. Evans, now 36-7 on the season, finished seventh nationally at 149 pounds in 2005. At 174, Robbie Gotreau (So., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) opened his tournament with a 7-1 win over David Kraus of Johns Hopkins (Md.), but fell 4-2 in the second sudden-victory overtime period to Josh Chelf of Wisconsin-La Crosse. But he rallied back with a 10-5 win over Tim Kelly of Mt. St. Joseph in the wrestlebacks to earn All-American honors for the first time. Two Auggies ended their seasons with wrestleback losses. At heavyweight, Andrew Neumann (Jr., Somerset, Wis.) lost his opening match 13-5 to Ryan Allen of Wisconsin-La Crosse, ranked No. 2 nationally, to fall to the wrestlebacks. He lost his second match 7-3 to Brett Christensen of Simpson (Iowa) to finish his season 25-10. He is now 54-30 on his career. At 141, Augsburg's Josh Hansen (Jr., Albert Lea, Minn.) was eliminated by losing twice in the opening session. He fell 9-5 to Garrett Pino of Wabash (Ind.) in an opening-round "pigtail" match, then lost 6-4 in overtime to Joel Burdick of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in a first-round wrestleback match. Hansen finished his season 32-10 and is 68-36 in his career. St. John's 184-pounder Dan Willaert claimed a 9-4 win at 184 pounds to open the tournament, but fell 15-7 in his quarterfinal match. He rallied back with a 6-5 win over Mitch Hager of Loras (Iowa) in the wrestlebacks to earn All-American honors. Johnnie Jacob Malone claimed a first-period pin at 157 to open his tournament, but fell 5-2 in his second match. In the wrestlebacks, he scored a 6-0 win over Ryan Herwig of Delaware Valley to earn All-American honors. At 197, Dan Fiecke opened his tournament with a 6-4 overtime win, but fell 4-2 in his second-round match to drop to the wrestlebacks. He lost 10-5 to Ben Strandberg of Buena Vista in the wrestlebacks to end his season. Wrestling -- Augsburg at NCAA Division III National
Championships -- Session 2 Top 10 team standings: 1. Wartburg (Iowa) 73.0; 2. Wisconsin-La Crosse 61.5; 3. Augsburg (Minn.) 43.0; 4. York (Pa.) 37.5; 5. Luther (Iowa) 36.5; 6. Brockport State (N.Y.) 24.0; 7t. Ithaca (N.Y.) 22.0; 7t. Cortland State (N.Y.) 22.0; 9. Heidelberg (Pa.) 20.0; 10. Wilkes (Pa.) 19.0. Other Minnesota school: 17. St. John's 12.0. Friday's results involving Minnesota wrestlers: 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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