ST. CLOUD, Minn. (12/11/04) -- Marcus LeVesseur * (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) extended his unbeaten streak to 95 straight matches, leading the Augsburg College wrestling team to the championship at the St. Cloud State Invitational on Saturday.

Augsburg, ranked No. 1 nationally in the latest Division III rankings, placed individuals in the top three in nine weight classes, with four individual titlists, four runners-up and one third-place finisher, easily winning the 14-team competition with 145.0 points. Augsburg won the team title for the 11th time in the 34-year history of the St. Cloud State meet. Minnesota State-Mankato, ranked seventh nationally in Division II, placed second with 119.5 points, and Minnesota State-Moorhead was third with 93.5.

Augsburg's White Team (junior varsity) placed eighth at the Wartburg (Iowa) Dick Walker Invitational on Saturday at Waverly, Iowa. More details are at the end of this story.

At St. Cloud, LeVesseur continued his season-long domination, improving to 11-0 on the season with two first-period pins, a 22-7 technical-fall and a 12-6 major-decision victory. In the title match, LeVesseur claimed an 18-second pin of Minnesota State-Moorhead's Josh Jansen, currently ranked No. 7 nationally in the Division II rankings.

LeVesseur, the two-time defending NCAA Division III national titlist at 157, has yet to lose a college match in his three seasons.

Defending 133-pound national champion Mark Matzek * (Sr., Ellsworth, Wis.), the top-ranked wrestler in his class in the national rankings, improved to 11-0 on the season by winning three matches and the title at 133. Matzek claimed a second-period pin, a major decision and a 5-0 win over Kurt Smith of Southwest Minnesota State in the finals.

Ryan Valek (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.), ranked third nationally at 165 pounds, remained unbeaten at 13-0 by winning four matches to claim his weight-class title. Valek claimed a pin in his quarterfinal match, then scored a 15-2, major-decision win over John Zamora of Dickinson State (N.D.), ranked sixth in the NAIA national rankings.

Brad Tupa (Jr., Dundas, Minn./Faribault HS) continued his impressive start to the season, claiming the weight class title at 184. He scored a 16-0 technical fall in his first match, a first-period pin in his second match, a major-decision win in the semifinals and a 5-3 win over John Koons of Minnesota State-Mankato, currently ranked eighth nationally in Division II.

Jamell Tidwell * (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS), a two-time All-American currently ranked No. 2 nationally at 141 pounds, suffered his first loss of the season in the finals, falling 5-1 to Brandon Girtz of Minnesota State-Mankato. Girtz earned the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler award. Tidwell had claimed a 1:12 pin and a 15-0 technical fall in his two matches prior to falling to Girtz. Tidwell is now 11-1 on the season and 132-13 on his career.

Justin Sorensen (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.), ranked fourth nationally at 197 pounds, went 2-1 to finish second in his weight class. He scored a second-period pin and 7-0 win before falling to Josh Janousek of Minnesota State-Mankato, currently ranked fifth in Division II. Sorensen is now 12-2 on the season.

Mark Simmonds (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) has faced plenty of tough competition at heavyweight this season, and the fourth-ranked wrestler nationally placed second in his class. Simmonds scored a 15-0 technical fall and 1-0 win in his first two matches, before dropping a 4-2 decision to Mike Englemann of Minnesota State-Mankato in the finals.

Ryan Stroud (Jr., Park Falls, Wis.) reached the finals at 149, courtesy of a 5-1 decision and 9-7 overtime win. He lost 4-2 in overtime to Jason Rhoten of Minnesota State-Mankato, currently ranked No. 3 in Division II.

Travis Birhanzl (Jr., Montevideo, Minn./Yellow Medicine East HS), ranked eighth nationally at 174 pounds, finished third in the class at St. Cloud. He scored a major-decision win in his opening match before being pinned in the third period by Eric Hageman of Minnesota State-Moorhead. However, Birhanzl won his two matches in wrestleback competition to place third.

Wartburg Dick Walker Invitational

Augsburg's Kirk Rall (Jr., West St. Paul, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) led the White Team (junior varsity) with a second-place finish at 165 pounds at the Dick Walker Invitational at Wartburg College. Rall claimed two decision wins before falling to Brian Daly of Augustana (Ill.), ranked sixth nationally in Division III, by a 3-1 count in the championship match.

Andrew Neumann (So., Somerset, Wis.) placed fourth for Augsburg at heavyweight, Wally O'Connor (Fr., Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh West HS) placed fifth at 197, Greg Brendemuehl (Jr., Medford, Minn.) placed sixth at 141 and Josh Hansen (So., Albert Lea, Minn.) placed sixth at 141.

Augsburg now takes a break for the holidays, and will return to action Jan. 7-9 with a trip west to Oregon. On Friday, Jan. 7, the Auggies will compete at the Oregon Classic Duals tournament at Redmond, Ore., while the White Team will compete on Sunday, Jan. 9 at the Pacific University (Ore.) Open.