WATERLOO, Iowa (3/3/01) -- With one of the most dominant performances in collegiate wrestling history, the Augsburg College wrestling team claimed its seventh national championship in the past 11 seasons, repeating as national champions with a 47.5-point victory at the national meet, completed Saturday evening at Young Arena in Waterloo.

The Auggies earned three individual national championships and scored 119.5 points, the sixth-largest margin of victory in Division III history. Montclair State (N.J.) holds the championships scoring record, 143 points, set in 1976. Augsburg had the second-highest point total, 136 points, in winning the national title last season.

The 47.5-point margin of victory is the third largest in championship history. Wilkes' 49-point margin of victory in the first national championship, held in 1974, is the largest, followed by Augsburg's 48-point margin last season.

Wisconsin-La Crosse finished second with 72.0 points, followed by SUNY-Brockport's 68.5, Luther's 60 and the College of New Jersey's 58.5.

Augsburg claimed its second national championship in a row and NCAA Division III-record seventh in the last 11 years.

Defending national champion Ben Bauer (Sr., Faribault, Minn.) became the fifth Auggie in school history to earn consecutive national titles, claiming the championship at heavyweight with a 2-1 win over Jamie Salazar of Manchester (Ind.) in the championship match.

Bauer took advantage of a stalling call against Salazar early in the third period, then scored an escape with 1:16 left to secure the margin of victory. Bauer finished his career at 36-3 overall and his career at 136-16, finishing ninth in school history in career wins.

He advanced to the final Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Eric Urdzik of John Carroll (Ohio) in the heavyweight national semifinal.

Nik Lewandowski (Sr., Hastings, Minn.), who became the fourth Auggie ever to earn four All-American honors in Friday's first day of action, claimed the first national championship of his career with a dramatic 7-5, overtime victory in the 184-pound final.

Down 5-1 after two periods to Wisconsin-LaCrosse's Jeremy Miller, Lewandowski ralled with an escape, a takedown and a stalling penalty call against Miller with 15 seconds left in regulation. Fourteen seconds into the extra session, Lewandowski scored his title-winning takedown to end the match.

Lewandowski, who finished second in the nation his freshman and sophomore years and third in the country in his senior season, ended his season with a 33-6 record and his career with a 124-34 mark.

Lewandowski reached the national championship match with a 3-0 triumph over Edward Aliaksegenka of Montclair State (N.J.) in the national semifinal.

Two-time national runner-up Darin Bertram (Jr., Herman, Minn./Herman-Norcross HS) earned his first national championship, using a takedown with 24 seconds left and a match-ending three-point near-fall to rally for a 7-4 win over Anthony Conte of the College of New Jersey in the 125-pound final. He finished the season with a 41-2 record and will take a 104-12 career mark into his senior season.

In the semifinals Saturday, Bertram scored a 3-0 win over Carlos Restrepo of Ithaca (N.Y.).

Defending national champion Nick Slack (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) saw his unbeaten streak end in the national championship match at 174 pounds, when Simpson's (Iowa) Nick Ackerman claimed a dramatic 13-11 triumph. Ackerman, who had both his legs amputated when he was two years old due to an illness, was voted the Most Valuable Wrestler of the tournament by coaches at the meet.

Slack finished his season at 29-1 and saw his two-season, consecutive-match winning streak end at 60. The streak is the second-longest in school history; the school-record streak, 64, was set by two-time national champion Henry Gerten from the 1996-98 seasons.

Brad Fisher (Jr., Austin, Minn.), who finished sixth in the nation at 141 two seasons ago, took second in the country this year at 141, falling 5-3 in overtime to Lenny Baker of SUNY-Brockport (N.Y.). Leading 2-1 with six seconds remaining in regulation, Fisher gave up a takedown to trail 3-2. However, Baker was called for a clasped-hands penalty, forcing overtime tied 3-3. However, 10 seconds into overtime, Baker caught Fisher's legs near the boundary and claimed the match-ending takedown.

Fisher earned the trip to the national final for the first time on Saturday with a 4-2 win over Brady Cudd of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the semifinals. Fisher, a two-time All-American, finished the season 27-5 and will carry a 77-27 record into his senior season.

In his second trip to the national tournament, Tony Abbott (Jr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS) earned a spot in the third-place match at 165 pounds with two overtime victories in the wrestlebacks, a 6-1 extra-session triumph over Bill Barclay of Luther and a 5-4 win over Danny Anderson of Mount Union (Ohio).

In the third-place match, a first-period takedown gave Robert Padilla of SUNY-Brockport (N.Y.) the lead, and he accumulated nearly two minutes of riding time to gain a point needed to top Abbott 4-3.

Kevin Rasmussen (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.) scored the only Augsburg pin of the tournament so far with a first-period match-ender over Wade Chapman of Muskingum (Mich.) in the 197-pound wrestlebacks. But he was knocked to the fifth-place match with a 6-2 loss to Bart Bly of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the consolation semifinals.

In the fifth-place match, Rasmussen battled Jarrod Martin of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) to a 1-1 tie through overtime, but in the second overtime, Martin escaped with 12 seconds remaining in the 30-second session, gaining a 2-1 win.

Bryan Miller (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.), still suffering the effects of a severe ankle sprain suffered in Friday's action, fell 13-8 to Wisconsin-La Crosse's Josh Habeck in a 133-pound wrestleback match. Miller was injury-defaulted in the seventh-place match and finished eighth overall.

Among other Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools, St. John's University finished 18th overall with 19.0 points. Brandon Novak won the Johnnies' third national title in school history with a 7-3 triumph over Matt Buskohl of Wartburg (Iowa) in the 197-pound final. Novak topped Wisconsin-La Crosse's Bart Bly 3-2 in the national semifinal match.

Augsburg College at NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships
At Young Arena, Waterloo, Iowa
Saturday, March 3, 2001
Final Results (Results include Augsburg College and MIAC wrestlers)

Team Scores: 1. Augsburg 119.5; 2. Wisconsin-La Crosse 72, 3. SUNY-Brockport 68.5, 4. Luther (Iowa) 60.0, 5. College of New Jersey 58.5, 6. Wartburg (Iowa) 55, 7. Montclair State (N.J.) 40, 8. Buena Vista (Iowa) 36.5, 9. Loras (Iowa) 33.5, 10. Lawrence (Wis.) 31.0. 18. St. John's 19; 51t. St. Olaf 0.5; 55t. Concordia-Moorhead 0; 55t. St. Thomas 0.

125 Pounds
Championship Semifinals: Darin Bertram (Augsburg) dec. Carlos Restrepo (Ithaca) 3-0.
Championship Match: Darin Bertram (Augsburg) dec. Anthony Conte (College of New Jersey) 7-4.

133 Pounds
Consolation Wrestlebacks: Josh Habeck (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Bryan Miller (Augsburg) 13-8.
Seventh-Place Match: Joe Havig (Wartburg) by injury default over Bryan Miller (Augsburg).

141 Pounds
Championship Semifinals: Brad Fisher (Augsburg) dec. Brady Cudd (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 4-2.
Championship Match: Lenny Baker (SUNY-Brockport) dec. Brad Fisher (Augsburg) 5-3 (overtime).

165 Pounds
Consolation Wrestlebacks: Tony Abbott (Augsburg) dec. Ben Barclay (Luther) 6-1 (overtime).
Consolation Semifinal: Tony Abbott (Augsburg) dec. Danny Anderson (Mount Union) 5-4 (overtime).
Third-Place Match: Robert Padilla (SUNY-Brockport) dec. Tony Abbott (Augsburg) 4-3.

174 Pounds
Championship Semifinals: Nick Slack (Augsburg) maj. dec. Justin Dix (Cornell) 11-3.
Championship Match: Nick Ackerman (Simpson) dec. Nick Slack (Augsburg) 13-11.

184 Pounds
Championship Semifinals: Nik Lewandowski (Augsburg) dec. Edward Aliaksegenka (Montclair State) 3-0.
Championship Match: Nik Lewandowski (Augsburg) dec. Jeremy Miller (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 7-5 (overtime).

197 Pounds
Championship Semifinals: Brandon Novak (St. John's) dec. Bart Bly (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 3-2.
Consolation Wrestlebacks: Kevin Rasmussen (Augsburg) pinned Wade Chapman (Muskingum) 1:21.
Consolation Semifinal: Bart Bly (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Kevin Rasmussen (Augsburg) 6-2.
Fifth-Place Match: Jarrod Martin (Mount St. Joseph) dec. Kevin Rasmussen (Augsburg) 2-1 (2 overtimes).
Championship Match: Brandon Novak (St. John's) dec. Matt Buskohl (Wartburg) 7-3.

Heavyweight
Championship Semifinals: Ben Bauer (Augsburg) dec. Eric Urdzik (John Carroll) 2-0.
Championship Match: Ben Bauer (Augsburg) dec. Jamie Salazar (Manchester) 2-1.