CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKETS
TEAM STANDINGS
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – With three wrestlers competing for individual national titles in Saturday night's final round, the Augsburg College wrestling team has clinched its 11th NCAA Division III national title in the last 20 seasons, following the third session of the tournament on Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center.
Augsburg has 110.5 team points entering the final round, 22 more than second-place Wisconsin-La Crosse's 88.5. Both teams have three finalists in the final round, but the most points that the Eagles can gain in the final round is 18.
Defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa) is third with 79.5 points, and has two finalists competing. Coe (Iowa) is fourth with 71 points and one finalist, and Delaware Valley (Pa.) is fifth with 50.5 points.
Augsburg has also extended its streak of “trophy finishes” – finishing in the top four in the team race – to 22 straight years, the longest active streak of any NCAA wrestling program, regardless of division. Augsburg has finished fourth or better every year since 1989, and its 22-year streak is the second-longest top-four finish streak of any school in NCAA wrestling history, behind the 28 of Oklahoma State in Division I from 1929-59.
Augsburg 133-pounder
Paul Bjorkstrand (SR, Burnsville, Minn.), 149-pounder
Tony Valek (SO, Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West) and 165-pounder
Orlando Ponce (JR, Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS) will compete for national titles on Saturday night, after winning semifinal matches in the early session.
In his first appearance in the national tournament, Bjorkstrand qualified for the national title match at 133 pounds with a 3-2 victory over Nichalos Nothern of Cornell (Iowa). Bjorkstrand, now 39-7 on the season, converted a takedown with eight seconds left in the first period and an escape in the second, while riding Nothern for the entire third period to claim the win.
Valek also qualified for the national title match for the first time, using a three-point near-fall with 50 seconds left in the third period and 2:27 of riding time to score a 7-3 win over Jason Pyle of Luther (Iowa). In his second straight appearance in the national tournament, Valek is now 33-4 on the season, and a perfect 20-0 against Division III competition.
Ponce reached the championship match for the first time with a wild 11-9 victory over Nick LeClere of Coe (Iowa) in the semifinals. In a dramatic, back-and-forth battle, Ponce converted a takedown with 19 seconds left in the third period to win the match. Ponce is now 30-10 on the season.
Jason Adams (SR, Coon Rapids, Minn.) became the 35th Augsburg wrestler to earn three All-American honors, finishing in third place at 157 pounds. Adams won all three of his matches on Saturday – a 7-3 triumph over Matt Magill of New York University, a 5-0 win over Wartburg's Adam Weber, and a 4-3 win over Jesse Milks of Wisconsin-Platteville. He scored the match-winning takedown over Milks with 23 seconds left in the third period.
Adams finished 46-5 this season and 136-25 in his career. Adams and his father, three-time All-American Bob Adams '83, are the lone father-and-son combination in Augsburg wrestling history to both earn All-American honors.
Jared Massey (JR, Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS), last year's national champion at 197 pounds, was upset 2-1 in the first overtime tiebreaker period by Byron Tate of Wartburg in the semifinals, snapping Massey's 43-match winning streak in the process. But Massey rallied back to take third, scoring a 6-4 win in sudden-victory overtime over Zach Pizarro of Wilkes (Pa.) and a 4-3 triumph over Andy Moore of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the third-place match, scoring the deciding takedown with 24 seconds remaining in the third period.
Massey, who returned to college wrestling after a four-year absence last year following his initial year of competition at Division I Wisconsin in the 2003-04 season, finished this season 29-1 and is 59-2 in his two seasons at Augsburg, 64-4 in his overall collegiate career.
Zach Molitor (JR, Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) earned All-American honors for the second time, finishing third at 174 pounds. After a 5-2 loss to Michael Schmitz of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the semifinals, Molitor scored a 3-2 win over Dylan Azinger of Wartburg and a 5-1 win over Kyle Kwiat of Ohio Northern in the third-place match.
Molitor, who finished sixth last year, finished 31-4 this season and is 80-27 in his career (62-14 at Augsburg).
Josh Roberts (FY, Grand Forks, N.D./Grand Forks Central HS) finished fourth for the Auggies at 125 in his first appearance at the national tournament. In the semifinals, Roberts was pinned in the second period by Tyler Erdman of Elizabethtown (Pa.), but rallied back with a 9-7 win in sudden-victory overtime over Jayson Swanson of Luther, getting the deciding takedown with 29 seconds left in the one-minute extra period. In the third-place match, Elmhurst's Jake Oster topped Roberts 7-0. Roberts finished the season at 27-10.
Andy Witzel (SR, Fulda, Minn.) closed his career with his second All-American finish, placing eighth at heavyweight, falling in both of his matches on Saturday – being pinned in the second period by Allyn Plattner of Luther (Iowa) and falling 2-0 to Mitch Sander of Coe in the seventh-place match. Massey ended his final season at 28-12, and 111-47 in his Auggie career.
Among other Minnesota schools, both Concordia-Moorhead and St. John's will have one wrestler in the championship matches on Saturday night. Defending national champion Minga Batsukh of St. John's will wrestle for the 141-pound title, while defending national runner-up Phil Moenkedick of Concordia will wrestle for the 184-pound title. The Cobbers had two other placewinners, as Justin Berns placed seventh at 149 and Ross Dankers placed eighth at 174.
Top 10 Team Scores (Through 3rd Session Saturday):
1. Augsburg (Minn.) 110.5; 2. Wisconsin-La Crosse 88.5; 3. Wartburg (Iowa) 79.5; 4. Coe (Iowa) 71.0; 5. Delaware Valley (Pa.) 50.5; 6. Ithaca (N.Y.) 41.0; 7. Dubuque (Iowa) 32.5; 8. Luther (Iowa) 31.0; 9. Ohio Northern 30.0; 10. Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) 27.5.
Other Minnesota schools: 21. St. John's 18; 44. St. Olaf 1.
Saturday's results – Augsburg and other Minnesota college wrestlers:
125 – Tyler Erdman (Elizabethtown) pinned Josh Roberts (Augsburg) 3:31; Roberts dec. Jayson Swanson (Luther) 9-7 (OT-SV1). Third-Place Match: Jake Oster (Elmhurst) dec. Roberts 7-0.
133 – Paul Bjorkstrand (Augsburg) dec. Nichalos Nothern (Cornell) 3-2. Championship Match: Bjorkstrand vs. Bebeto Yewah (Wisconsin-La Crosse).
141 – Minga Batsukh (St. John's) dec. Matt Kelly (Wartburg) 3-2. Championship Match: Batsukh vs. Jeremy Stierly (Ithaca).
149 – Tony Valek (Augsburg) dec. Jason Pyle (Luther) 7-3; John Marsh (Bridgewater State) pinned Justin Berns (Concordia-Moorhead) 3:49. Championship Match: Valek vs. Issac Dukes (Case Western Reserve). Seventh-Place Match: Berns dec. Charlie Curran (Elmhurst) 7-5.
157 – Jason Adams (Augsburg) dec. Matt Magill (New York Univ.) 7-3; Adams dec. Adam Weber (Wartburg) 5-0; Third-Place Match: Adams dec. Jesse Milks (Wisconsin-Platteville) 4-3.
165 – Orlando Ponce (Augsburg) dec. Nick LeClere (Coe) 11-9. Championship Match: Ponce vs. Vincent Renaut (Merchant Marine).
174 – Michael Schmitz (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Zach Molitor (Augsburg) 5-2; Dylan Azinger (Wartburg) maj. dec. Ross Dankers (Concordia-Moorhead) 12-4; Molitor dec. Azinger 3-2. Third-Place Match: Molitor dec. Kyle Kwiat (Ohio Northern) 5-1. Seventh-Place Match: Seth Rehn (Coe) dec. Dankers 10-3.
184 – Phil Moenkedick (Concordia-Moorhead) dec. Josh Wake (Oneonta State) 5-0. Championship Match: Moenkedick vs. Brennan Ward (Johnson and Wales).
197 – Byron Tate (Wartburg) dec. Jared Massey (Augsburg) 2-1 (OT-TB1); Massey dec. Zach Pizarro (Wilkes) 6-4 (OT-SV1). Third-Place Match: Massey dec. Andy Moore (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 4-3.
HWT – Allyn Plattner (Luther) pinned Andy Witzel (Augsburg) 4:05. Seventh-Place Match: Mitch Sander (Coe) dec. Witzel 2-0.
