FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (12/29/00) -- For the second year in a row, Augsburg College claimed the team championship at the Orange Bowl Sunshine Open wrestling meet, held at the Broward County Convention Center Thursday and Friday.

Augsburg, the lone NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) team in the field, won the title with 162 points, bettering second-place James Madison's (Va.) 132, third-place Maryland's 121.5 and fourth-place Navy's 83.5. Augsburg's White Team (junior varsity) placed fifth wth 74 points.

Augsburg had two individual champions in the meet -- defending national champion Nick Slack (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) at 174 pounds and Nik Lewandowski (Sr., Hastings, Minn.) at 184.

The Auggies had four other placewinners. Ben Bauer (Sr., Faribault, Minn.) finished second at heavyweight, Darin Bertram (Jr., Herman, Minn./Herman-Norcross HS) placed third at 125 pounds, Tony Abbott (Jr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS) placed third at 165 and Mark Anderson (Sr., Corcoran, Minn. /Rockford HS) placed fifth at heavyweight.

Augsburg returns to action with a dual meet at Augustana College (S.D.) on Friday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. in Sioux Falls, S.D.