MINNEAPOLIS (2/5/00) -- Augsburg College split its wrestling squad on Saturday and came away with nine individual champions at the All-Lutheran Tournament at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational in Eau Claire, Wis.

With 13 wrestlers at Eau Claire, the Auggies dominated the 11-school meet to claim the title, besting second-place Wisconsin-Eau Claire by a 106.5 to 78.0 margin. Wrestling just 10 individuals (just two from the varsity 10) at the seven-team All-Lutheran meet, Augsburg placed fourth with 82.0 points. Wartburg College, the defending Division III national champions, won the meet with a 174.0-point total.

Augsburg claimed seven individual titlists at the Eau Claire meet, led by Josh Cagle (Sr., Faribault, Minn.), who used three technical falls and a pin to sweep through the 149-pound weight class. Cagle, rated No. 1 in the national rankings at 149, improved to 33-0 on the season, with 19 wins coming from technical falls.

Nik Lewandowski (Jr., Hastings, Minn.), the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 184, swept through four matches to win the title at Eau Claire. Two major decisions and a technical fall were included in Lewandowski's total, improving him to 24-7 overall.

Darin Bertram (So., Herman, Minn./Herman-Norcross HS), top-ranked in the nation at 125 pounds, improved to 23-1 with three wins for his weight-class title. Brian Jones (Sr., Alexandria, Minn.) moved to 27-4 with his title at 141 pounds, and Ben Bauer (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) moved to 32-1 with two pins and two decisions for the title at heavyweight. He now has 12 pins on the season.

Jeremy Jirele (So., Owatonna, Minn.) and Mark Peterson (Jr., Eyota, Minn./Dover-Eyota HS) shared the title at 157 pounds, as both reached the championship match after each won two matches in the championship bracket.

At the All-Lutheran Tournament, Nick Slack (So., Belle Plaine, Minn.) earned tournament MVP honors with two victories and the tournament title at 174 pounds. Slack improved to 25-0 on the season, joining Cagle as the lone unbeaten wrestlers on the Auggie squad.

Josh Clausen (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) scored two wins -- a pin and major-decision -- and the tournament title at 197 pounds. Clausen is now 24-1 on the season with eight pins.

Joe Kunshier (Fr., Forest Lake, Minn.) earned the trophy for most pins in the least amount of time at the All-Lutheran meet. He had two pins in 3:41, en route to his fourth-place finish at 165 pounds.

Augsburg, rated No. 1 in the latest Division III national rankings, hosts Wisconsin-Stevens Point in its final home dual meet of the season on Friday (2/11) at 7 p.m. at Si Melby Hall.