ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (2/22/03) -- Augsburg College claimed seven individual champions and qualified individuals in all 10 weight classes to the NCAA Division III wrestling national championships, en route to winning the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional on Saturday at Augustana College (Ill.).

The Auggies won the 16-team meet with 173.0 points, topping host Augustana's 102.0 points. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools crowned nine of the 10 weight-class champions in the meet. St. John's finished third with 77.0 points, St. Olaf finished sixth with 49.0 points and Concordia-Moorhead finished seventh with 43.0 points.

The MIAC dropped its conference tournament this year, forcing the four conference wrestling schools to attempt to advance wrestlers via regional competition. A total of 22 wrestlers -- 10 weight-class champions and 12 at-large selections -- qualified for the national tournament at the Great Lakes Regional. A total of 12 MIAC wrestlers -- 10 from Augsburg, one from St. John's and one from St. Olaf -- qualified for the national meet.

The NCAA Division III national tournament will be held March 7-8 at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. Augsburg, ranked second nationally behind Wartburg (Iowa), has won the last three Division III national titles in a row and eight of the last 12 national crowns.

Augsburg's Marcus LeVesseur (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS), ranked No. 1 in the nation at 157 pounds, earned Most Outstanding Wrestler honors by breezing through the competition to win the regional title at his weight class. He opened with a 17-1, third-period technical fall win, then won his next three matches by first-period pins, including the championship match with a 1:59 pin of Brian Daly of Augustana.

LeVesseur, a transfer from the Division I University of Minnesota, is Augsburg's lone unbeaten wrestler at 38-0 on the season and qualified for his first national tournament.

Ricky Crone * (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.), ranked second nationally at 184, qualified for the national championships for the second year in a row by going 4-0, with a major decision, technical fall and third-period pin among his wins. Crone, now 34-5, topped Wheaton's (Ill.) David Hirt, ranked eighth nationally at 184, 4-0 in the championship match. Last year, Crone finished second nationally at 184.

Jamell Tidwell (So., Burnsville, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS), ranked fourth in Division III at 141, won three matches to claim his weight class and improve to 41-2 on the year, qualifying for the national tournament for the second straight year.

Joe Moon * (So., Ellendale, Minn./NR-H-E-G HS), ranked fifth in Division III at 174, dominated his weight class to advance to the national tournament, winning four matches -- two by major decision, one by technical fall and one by a first-period pin. He won his championship match 12-1 over Pacific Lutheran's (Wash.) Josh Rhoden. Moon, now 33-5, will compete in his first national tournament.

Greg Brendemuehl (Fr., Medford, Minn.), ranked sixth nationally at 125, qualified for his first national tournament by going 3-0 with a pin to win his weight class. He is now 28-9 on the season.

Ryan Stroud (So., Park Falls, Wis.), who entered the tournament seeded second at 149, qualified for his first national tournament with a 5-2 win over Wheaton's Sean Collins, ranked eighth nationally at 149, in the championship match. Stroud, who went 4-0 with two major decisions in the regional, is now 28-9 on the year.

Also qualifying for his first national tournament is Mark Matzek (So., Ellsworth, Wis.), who had two major decisions in his three wins to claim the title at 133. Matzek is now 34-5 on the year.

Three Auggies qualified to the national meet as at-large selections.

Mike Flanagan (Sr., St. Paul, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS) placed second at heavyweight, as he was upset 2-1 in two overtimes by Matt Schoenherr of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) in the title match. Flanagan, now 35-8, qualified for his second national tournament. Last year, Flanagan finished sixth at the national meet to earn All-American honors; he is currently ranked fifth nationally.

Billy Morgan (So., Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central HS) placed second at 165 pounds, going 3-1 on the day with a pin. He lost by a 13-3 major decision to St. Olaf's Jason Moore in the title match. Morgan is now 22-9 and qualified for the national meet for the first time.

Auggie 197-pounder Justin Sorensen (Fr., Owatonna, Minn.) placed third in his weight class and qualified as an at-large selection, going 3-1 on the day with two major decision victories. He is now 32-22 on the season and will compete at nationals for the first time.

Among the other MIAC schools, St. Olaf's Moore won the title at 165 to reach the national meet, and St. John's Dan Fiecke pulled off the biggest upset of the meet, as the No. 6 seed at 197, winning the championship in his weight class with a 2-1, two-overtime win over the top seed, MSOE's Matt Huset.

Augustana (Ill.), ranked 21st in the latest Division III national rankings, qualified three individuals to the national meet, all as second-place regional finishers. Wheaton (Ill.) qualified two individuals to nationals, as did the Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.). Concordia-Wisconsin, the University of Chicago and Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) all qualified one wrestler each to the national meet.

Augsburg at NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional
February 22, 2003 -- Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.

Most Outstanding Wrestler: Marcus LeVesseur, Augsburg (157).
Team results: 1. Augsburg 173.0; 2. Augustana (Ill.) 102.0; 3. St. John's 77.0; 4. Concordia-Wisconsin 61.0; 5. Univ. of Chicago (Ill.) 52.0; 6. St. Olaf 49.0; 7. Concordia-Moorhead 43.0; 8. North Central (Ill.) 42.5; 9. Wheaton (Ill.) 41.5; 10. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) 39.5; 11. Pacific (Ore.) 35.0; 12. Elmhurst (Ill.) 34.5; 12t. Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) 34.5; 14. Marantha Baptist Bible (Wis.) 28.0; 15. Lakeland (Wis.) 6.0; 16. Knox (Ill.) 0.0.

Regional Champions (NCAA Division III National Championship Automatic Qualifiers):
125 -- Greg Brendemuehl, Augsburg.
133 -- Mark Matzek, Augsburg.
141 -- Jamell Tidwell, Augsburg.
149 -- Ryan Stroud, Augsburg.
157 -- Marcus LeVesseur, Augsburg.
165 -- Jason Moore, St. Olaf.
174 -- Joe Moon *, Augsburg.
184 -- Ricky Crone *, Augsburg.
197 -- Dan Fiecke, St. John's.
HWT -- Matt Schoenherr, Milwaukee School of Engineering.

At-Large Qualifiers to NCAA Division III National Championship:
125 -- Nick Kehagias, Chicago.
133 -- Larry Amedio, Augustana.
141 -- Matt Kapraun, Augustana.
149 -- Sean Collins, Wheaton; Sam Rugg, Concordia-Wisconsin.
157 -- Brian Daly, Augustana.
165 -- Billy Morgan, Augsburg.
174 -- Josh Rhoden, Pacific Lutheran.
184 -- David Hirt, Wheaton.
197 -- Matt Huset, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Justin Sorensen, Augsburg.
HWT -- Mike Flanagan, Augsburg.

NCAA Division III National Championship Alternates:
125 -- Dan Stanton, Augustana.
133 -- Garrett Miyake, Pacific.
174 -- Shamar Bailey, Maranatha Baptist Bible.