CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (3/6/09) -- With seven wrestlers earning All-American honors, the Augsburg College wrestling team finished the first day of the NCAA Division III national championships standing in second place behind defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa), in action on Friday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

Augsburg has four individuals remaining in championship contention -- 149-pounder Willy Holst (SR, Prescott, Wis.), 157-pounder Jason Adams (JR, Coon Rapids, Minn.), 174-pounder Zach Molitor (SO, Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) and 197-pounder Jared Massey (JR, Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS).

Three Auggies remained alive in consolation brackets and also earned All-American honors -- 125-pounder Seth Flodeen (JR, Cannon Falls, Minn.), 133-pounder Travis Lang (SR, Bismarck, N.D.) and heavyweight Andy Witzel (JR, Fulda, Minn.).

Augsburg stands in second place with 61.5 points, behind Wartburg's 64.0 points. Wartburg also earned seven All-Americans on Friday, with six remaining in championship contention. Wisconsin-La Crosse sits in third place with 46 points, Delaware Valley (Pa.) is in fourth with 43, and Coe (Iowa) is in fifth place with 42.5 points.

With seven All-Americans, it marks the 21st straight year that Augsburg has had at least five All-Americans in national competition -- every year since 1989.

Saturday's action begins at 10 a.m., with championship semifinals, consolation quarterfinals and semifinals, and placing matches for third, fifth and seventh places. National championship matches will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Holst advanced to the championship semifinals and earned All-American honors for the second straight season with an 8-2 win over Kevin Sutherland of Rhode Island College, dominating the match from start to finish while building 3:11 in riding time. Holst is now 27-1 on the season, and combined with his earlier major-decision win in Friday's first session, now has 16 bonus-point victories (nine pins, six major decisions, one pin).

Adams, a national runner-up at 141 pounds last season, improved to 37-5 on the season at 157 with two victories on Friday -- both come-from-behind triumphs. In Friday's quarterfinal match, Adams scored a 4-3 win over Mike Martini of Rhode Island College, rallying from a 3-2 second-period deficit with two escapes, one at the end of the second period and one early in the third period. Early in the day, Adams rallied from a 6-2 deficit to score a 7-6 win over Zach Mizer of Heidelberg (Ohio).

In his first season with the Auggies after transferring from Division I North Dakota State, Molitor earned his first All-America honors by claming an 8-3 win over Kyle Vanderhyde of Olivet (Mich.) in the 174-pound quarterfinals. Molitor also rallied from an early deficit, a 2-0 setback early in the first period, to claim the win and improve to 31-7 on the season.

Massey, also in his first year at Augsburg, earned All-American honors for the first time with two dominating performances -- a 3:52 pin in his opening match and a 12-1, major-decision win over Rob Kramer of Coe (Iowa) in the 197-pound quarterfinals. He took advantage of two takedowns, a reversal, a three-point near-fall and 2:52 of riding time to earn the win, improving to 28-1 on the year. Massey is in his first season with the Auggies after a four-year absence from collegiate wrestling; he wrestled for Division I Wisconsin in the 2003-04 season.

Lang, the top-ranked wrestler entering the tournament at 133, suffered just his second loss of the year in the quarterfinals, as he was upset 7-5 by Nichalos Nothern of Cornell (Iowa). But Lang rallied to improve to 33-2 with a first-period pin of Phillip Greene of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (N.Y.), earning All-American honors for the second time.

Flodeen, the defending national champion at 125, was defeated 7-3 in the quarterfinals by Seth Ecker of Ithaca (N.Y.), but rallied to earn All-American honors for the third time in his career with a second-period pin of Jerrad Hoxie of Heidelberg (Ohio), earning his 100th collegiate career victory in the process. Flodeen is now 22-6 on the year and 100-33 in his Auggie career.

Witzel received a bye in Friday's first session, but dropped a 2-0 decision to Kyle Bilquist of Delaware Valley (Pa.) in the quarterfinals. Witzel rallied to earn All-American honors for the first time with an overtime victory, as he scored an escape in the first tiebreaker session to score a 4-3 win over Allyn Plattner of Luther (Iowa). Plattner had scored an escape in his tiebreaker period, but was also called for stalling, and the penalty point kept the match tied at 3-3, leading to Witzel's escape with 23 seconds left in his tiebreaker period.

Two Auggies saw their seasons end in Friday's evening session. After opening with a technical-fall victory in his first match, Augsburg's Tony Valek (FY, Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West HS) lost twice at 141 pounds to end his inital Auggie season at 32-13. Orlando Ponce (SO, Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS) lost his opening match at 165 pounds, but rallied with a 7-6 win in his first wrestleback match before falling 5-3 to end his first Auggie campaign at 28-14.

Among other Minnesota Schools, St. John's stands in 13th place with 14.0 points, with two wrestlers remaining in action -- 141-pounder Minga Batsukh and 184-pounder Dustin Baxter. Concordia-Moorhead is in 19th place with 9.0 points with one wrestler still in action -- 184-pounder Phil Moenkedick.

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2009 NCAA Division III National Championships -- Top-10 Standings after Friday's action:
1. Wartburg (Iowa) 64.0, 2. Augsburg (Minn.) 61.5, 3. Wisconsin-La Crosse 46, 4. Delaware Valley (Pa.) 43, 5. Coe (Iowa) 42.5, 6. Ithaca (N.Y.) 31, 7. Wisconsin-Whitewater 23.5, 8. Cornell (Iowa) 23.0; 9. Dubuque (Iowa) 19.0; 10. Luther (Iowa) 17.5. Other Minnesota schools -- 13t. St. John's 14.0; 19t. Concordia-Moorhead 9.0.

Friday's Augsburg/St. John's/Concordia-Moorhead results at NCAA Division III National Championships:
125 -- Seth Flodeen (Augsburg) pinned Lloyd McKinney (Wis.-La Crosse) 4:37; Seth Ecker (Ithaca) dec. Flodeen 7-3; Flodeen pinned Jerrad Hoxie (Heidelberg) 4:27.
133 -- Travis Lang (Augsburg) maj. dec. Tony Lawler (Heidelberg) 17-5; Nichalos Nothern (Cornell) dec. Lang 7-5; Matt Kelly (Wartburg) dec. Mogi Baatar (St. John's) 6-1; Lang pinned Phillip Greene (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) 1:19; Chad Winowich (Ithaca) dec. Baatar 8-3 (Baatar eliminated).
141 -- Tony Valek (Augsburg) tech. fall Kevin Donahue (Cornell) 17-2 at 7:00; Minga Batsukh (St. John's) dec. Nick Garber (Waynesburg) 14-9; Zach McKray (Wartburg) dec. Valek 6-5; Batsukh dec. Jordan Loy (Loras) 9-3; John Paxos (Ithaca) maj. dec. Valek 10-1 (Valek eliminated).
149 -- Willy Holst (Augsburg) maj. dec. Frank Cammisa (Bridgewater State) 15-3; Holst dec. Kevin Sutherland (Rhode Island College) 8-2.
157 -- Jason Adams (Augsburg) dec. Zach Mizer (Heidelberg) 7-6; Craig Gin (Messiah) dec. Matt Baarson (St. John's) 5-2; Adams dec. Mike Martini (Rhode Island College) 4-3; Baarson maj. dec. Jonas Flok (Lakeland) 14-5; William Horwath (Ithaca) dec. Baarson 9-6 (Baarson eliminated).
165 -- Michael Morin (Southern Maine) dec. Orlando Ponce (Augsburg) 8-5; Ponce dec. Vincent Renaut (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) 7-6; Tyler Burkle (Coe) dec. Ponce 5-3 (Ponce eliminated).
174 -- Zach Molitor (Augsburg) dec. Sam Engelland (Wis.-Oshkosh) 2-1; Molitor dec. Kyle Vanderhyde (Olivet) 8-3.
184 -- Dustin Baxter (St. John's) dec. Scott Kelley (College of New Jersey) 6-2; Phil Moenkedick (Concordia-Moorhead) dec. Seth Rehn (Coe) 6-0; Michael Wilcox (Delaware Valley) dec. Baxter 5-4 (OT-TB1); Moenkedick dec. Bryan Lenhardt (Johnson and Wales) 8-7; Baxter dec. Romeo Djoumessi (Wartburg) 13-11 (Djoumessi eliminated).
197 -- Jared Massey (Augsburg) pinned Joseph Silverman (Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.) 3:52; Corbin Semple (Waynesburg) dec. Anthony Neumann (Concordia-Moorhead) 7-2; Massey maj. dec. Rob Kramer (Coe) 12-1; Neumann dec. Brian Scher (Hunter) 7-1; Rob Kramer (Coe) dec. Neumann 3-2 (Neumann eliminated).
HWT -- Kyle Bilquist (Delaware Valley) dec. Andy Witzel (Augsburg) 2-0; Witzel dec. Allyn Plattner (Luther) 4-3 (OT-TB1).