CHICAGO, Ill. (2/18/06) -- With six weight-class champions, the Augsburg College wrestling team won its fourth straight NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional on Saturday at the University of Chicago, qualifying eight wrestlers to competition at the upcoming NCAA Division III national championships.

Augsburg, the defending Division III national champions and current No. 2-ranked team in the Division III national poll, won the regional meet with 162.0 points, ahead of No. 12-ranked Elmhurst (Ill.), which scored 134.5 points and qualified four wrestlers to the national meet.

No. 23-ranked St. John's (Minn.) finished third with 89.0 points and qualified three wrestlers to the national meet, while North Central (Ill.), ranked No. 8 nationally, finished fourth in the regional with 85.0 points, qualifying three wrestlers to the national meet.

Augsburg's weight-class champions were: No. 2-ranked Ryan Valek * (Sr., Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West) at 165 pounds; No. 3-ranked Jared Evans (Jr., Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS) at 149; No. 5-ranked Jeremy Anderson (So., Thief River Falls, Minn.) at 157; No. 6-ranked Brad Tupa * (Sr., Dundas, Minn./Faribault HS) at 184; Jafari Vanier (So., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) at 133 and Josh Hansen (Jr., Albert Lea, Minn.) at 141.

Augsburg's wild-card national meet qualifiers were: Andrew Neumann (Jr., Somerset, Wis.), who finished second at heavyweight; and No. 6-ranked Robbie Gotreau (So., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS), who finished third at 174 pounds.

Valek scored three victories, including one by technical fall, to improve to 38-3 on the season in winning the 165-pound class and qualifying for the national meet for the third straight year. He finished second nationally at 165 last season and seventh nationally in 2004.

Tupa recorded two technical falls en route to his weight-class win at the regional, improving to 20-3 in the process. Tupa is making his second trip to the national tournament, after finishing fourth nationally last year at 184 pounds.

Evans is also making his second trip to the national tournament, after finishing seventh last season at 149 pounds. He had a major decision among his three wins at the regional, improving to 34-7 on the season.

Anderson, a transfer from the University of Minnesota, opened the regional with two major-decision victories at 157 and topped No. 8-ranked Jacob Malone of St. John's 6-4 in the finals to qualify for the national tournament for the first time.

Vanier, who finished second at 133 pounds at the 2002 NJCAA national championships as a junior-college wrestler at Iowa Central Community College, won his four matches, including one by technical fall, to qualify for the NCAA national tournament for the first time. He is now 16-2 on the season.

Hansen improved to 33-5 on the year with his weight-class title, scoring two pins to advance to the national tournament for the first time in his career. Gotreau and Neumann are also advancing to the national tournament for the first time in their careers.

St. John's three national tournament qualifiers are: Dan Fiecke, who finished third at 197 and who is currently ranked No. 3 in the class; Jacob Malone, who finished second at 157 and who is currently ranked No. 8 in the class; and Dan Willaert, who finished second at 184 and who is currently ranked No. 5 in the class.

The NCAA Division III national championships will be held March 3-4 at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, N.J., a suburb of Trenton, N.J.