MINNEAPOLIS (1/27/01) -- For the 11th season in a row, the Augsburg College wrestling team swept through its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference competition to claim the championship at the 11th annual MIAC Team Duals Wrestling Tournament, completed Saturday afternoon at Si Melby Hall.

Augsburg, the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division III national rankings, went 5-0 in the two-day, round-robin dual tournament to improve to 13-1 on the season in dual meets. St. John's University went 4-1 to place second, while Concordia-College Moorhead went 3-2, St. Olaf College went 2-3, St. Olaf College went 1-4 and Carleton College went 0-5.

Outscoring their opponents by a 253-18 margin in the five matches, the Auggies continued an impressive winning streak over MIAC competition. In the 11-year history of the MIAC Team Duals, Augsburg has a perfect 58-0 record, winning all 11 tournaments and outscoring MIAC foes by a 2,771-124 margin. Augsburg has a 15-season, 78-match dual-meet winning streak against MIAC opponents, its last loss a 25-21 defeat to St. John's in 1986. Since 1975, Augsburg is 177-2 against MIAC opponents. Against Division III and Division II scholarship opponents, Augsburg is 146-7 since 1989-90, and has just lost two matches against non-Division I competition (both to Division II opponents) since the 1995-96 season.

Nick Slack earned tournament Most Valuable Wrestler honors for the Auggies, winning all three matches he wrestled, with two pins and one major decision. The defending NCAA Division III national titlist at 174 pounds, Slack is Augsburg's only unbeaten wrestler (21-0 this season), and has a personal 52-match winning streak, dating two seasons. The school's record winning streak is 64, set by Henry Gerten from 1996-98.

Darin Bertram went 5-0 in the two-day tournament for Augsburg at 125 pounds, moving to 29-2 on the season. Top-ranked in the nation at 125, Bertram won three of his five matches by pin and the other by a major decision. Also going 5-0 on the meet was Brad Fisher, ranked second in the nation at 141 pounds, to improve to 18-1 on the season. Ben Bauer, the nation's top-ranked wrestler at heavyweight, went 4-0 for the Auggies, all by pin, to improve to 28-2 on the year. The Auggies' other top-ranked wrestler, Nik Lewandowski at 184, won both his matches on Saturday to move to 22-4 overall.

Tony Abbott, ranked fourth in the nation at 165 pounds, won all four of his matches to imporove to 23-3 overall. Kevin Rasmussen went 4-1 on the tournament at 197 to move to 22-6 on the season.

St. John's University went 4-1 on the weekend, with its lone loss coming to Augsburg. The Johnnies outscored their opponents by a 179-77 margin in the tournament. St. John's was led by the performance of Brandon Novak, the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 197 pounds, who won all three of his matches in the tournament, two by pin. He is now 12-0 on the season. Also going unbeaten was Chuck Griffith, who went 5-0 in his matches, one win by pin, to improve to 15-7 overall. Matt Vos went 4-1, with two technical falls and a pin, at 125 to move to 20-4; and Brian Vetter also went 4-1, with three pins at 141, to move to 19-6 overall.

Concordia-Moorhead went 3-2, with its lone losses coming to Augsburg and St. John's. Zack Schroeder went 4-1 on the weekend at 133 pounds, as did Rory Olson at 174, incluidng three wins by pin. Peter Grossarth went 3-2 at 125 and Jared Sannes went 3-2 at 197, all three wins by pin.

St. Olaf went 2-3, topping Carleton and St. Thomas. Alex Morf went 3-0 at 149 pounds, Shaun Murphy went 3-1 at 165, including a pin and technical fall; and Andy Brown went 3-2, winning all three of his matches on Saturday.

St. Thomas' lone win came against Carleton. Mitch Becker had a strong tournament for the Tommies, going 4-1 with three pins at 184 pounds. Eric Pertz also had a good tournament at heavyweight, with a 4-1 mark and two pins.

Carleton was only able to compete with five wrestlers on the weekend, and the numerous forfeits resulted in a winless record during the tournament. But Joel Stark went 4-1 at 174, winning three of his matches by pin. Sean Bryan went 3-2 at 141, including one pin, and Cody Brown went 2-3 at 197, winning both by pin.