Wrestling 2/11/05 -- Augsburg 31, Wisconsin-Stevens Point 9
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (2/11/05) -- Augsburg College's
Marcus LeVesseur * (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) extended his consecutive-match winning streak to 115 straight victories with a first-period pin, as the Auggies' four top-ranked wrestlers all claimed wins in a 31-9 triumph over Wisconsin-Stevens Point in a wrestling dual meet Friday night at UWSP's Berg Gym.
Augsburg, winners of eight of the last 14 NCAA Division III national titles, is ranked No. 1 in the latest national rankings and improves to 14-1 on the season with the win. Wisconsin-Stevens Point, ranked No. 11 nationally, drops to 12-7 in dual meets.
Against UWSP all-time, Augsburg is now 12-1, with UWSP's lone win in the series a 25-16 triumph in the 1993-94 season. Augsburg has won the last 11 meetings in a row over the Pointers.
Augsburg is now 199-13 against teams from Divisions II and III since the 1989-90 season. Augsburg has lost just eight matches to non-Division I opponents since the 1995-96 season. Against strictly Division III opponents, Augsburg is 218-17 since the 1979-80 season and 142-7 since 1989-90.
LeVesseur, the two-time defending national champion and current top-ranked wrestler nationally at 157, improved to 31-0 on the season. His 115-match winning streak is the second-longest streak in college wrestling history, behind the 159 straight wins by Cael Sanderson of Iowa State from 1998-2002. LeVesseur has yet to lose a collegiate wrestling match. Of LeVesseur's 31 victories this season, 20 have come by pin.
Augsburg's top-ranked and defending national champion lightweights both claimed easy wins to open the match.
Matt Shankey (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) improved to 18-0 on the season with a major-decision win at 125 pounds to extend his winning streak to 31 straight matches, while
Mark Matzek * (Sr., Ellsworth, Wis.) improved to 29-0 on the season and extended his winning streak to 37 straight matches a third-period technical-fall victory.
Augsburg's
Joe Moon * (Sr., Ellendale, Minn./New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva HS), the defending national champion and current top-ranked wrestler at 174 pounds, moved up a weight class to 184 and got a major test from the Pointers' Al Stacilauskas. The match went to overtime, with Moon claiming a takedown in the final minute of the sudden-victory session for a 6-4 triumph. Moon is now 8-0 on the season.
Jamell Tidwell * (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS), ranked No. 2 at 141 pounds, used a riding-time point to edge UWSP's Joel Burdick to improve to 27-4 on the season. Augsburg's No. 3-ranked 197-pounder,
Justin Sorensen (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.), claimed a major decision to improve to 23-9 on the season.
Ryan Valek (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.), ranked No. 3 nationally at 165, improved to 29-6 with a 5-0 win, and
Ryan Stroud (Jr., Park Falls, Wis.), a national qualifier at 149 pounds in 2003, improved to 13-7 on the season with a 9-2 decision victory.
Two Augsburg reserves dropped matches to UWSP's ranked wrestlers. Cody Koenig, ranked No. 5 nationally at 174, topped Augsburg's
Robbie Gotreau (Fr., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) 7-5, rallying from a 4-1 deficit to post his 11th straight win and improve to 22-2 on the season. Mike Hayes, ranked No. 5 at heavyweight, closed the match with a pin near the end of the first period over Augsburg's
Andrew Neumann (So., Somerset, Wis.).
Augsburg now has a week break before it hosts the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional tournament next Saturday (1/19) at Si Melby Hall. Action begins at 9 a.m., as the Auggies attempt to qualify their full squad of 10 wrestlers to the Division III national championships. Wisconsin-Stevens Point closes its dual-meet season on Saturday (2/12) at 11 a.m., hosting Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Wrestling -- No. 1 D-III Augsburg (14-1) 31, No. 11 D-III Wisconsin-Stevens Point (12-7) 9
February 11, 2005 – Berg Gym, Stevens Point, Wis.
125 – No. 1 Matt Shankey (AUG, 18-0) maj. dec. David Davila (UWSP) 12-4 (Augsburg 4-0).
133 – No. 1 Mark Matzek * (AUG, 29-0) tech. fall Jake Calhoun (UWSP) 18-2 at 6:17 (Augsburg 9-0).
141 – No. 2 Jamell Tidwell * (AUG, 27-4) dec. Joel Burdick (UWSP) 3-2 (Augsburg 12-0).
149 – Ryan Stroud (AUG, 13-7) dec. Jon Burdick (UWSP) 9-2 (Augsburg 15-0).
157 – No. 1 Marcus LeVesseur * (AUG, 31-0) pinned Greg Metzler (UWSP) 1:17 (Augsburg 21-0).
165 – No. 3 Ryan Valek (AUG, 29-6) dec. Nate Kurszewski (UWSP) 5-0 (Augsburg 24-0).
174 – No. 5 Cody Koenig (UWSP) dec. Robbie Gotreau (AUG, 16-10) 7-5 (Augsburg 24-3).
184 – No. 1 (174) Joe Moon * (AUG, 8-0) dec. Al Stacilauskas (UWSP) 6-4 (1OT) (Augsburg 27-3).
197 – No. 3 Justin Sorensen (AUG, 23-9) maj. dec. Mitch Szwet (UWSP) 8-0 (Augsburg 31-3).
HWT – No. 5 Mike Hayes (UWSP) pinned Andrew Neumann (AUG, 16-6) 2:57 (Augsburg 31-9).
