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11/1/01
Augsburg College, winners of the last two NCAA Division III wrestling national titles and seven of the last 11 crowns, is the top-ranked team in the first national poll of the 2000-01 season, released by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
The Auggies have two individuals ranked No. 1 in the nation in individual weight classes, and have individuals ranked in the top eight in eight of the 10 weight classes.
Augsburg is first in the team rankings, followed by perennial rival Wartburg (Iowa). Wisconsin-La Crosse, which placed second in last year's national tournament, is ranked third, followed by Luther (Iowa) and the College of New Jersey. Fellow Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference school St. John's, which finished 18th in the national tournament last year, is ranked 27th in the NWCA poll.
The poll is conducted by a committee of Division III coaches.
Defending national champion Darin Bertram (Sr., Herman, Minn./Herman-Norcross HS) leads the Augsburg parade of individual ranked wrestlers, ranked at the top spot at 125 pounds in the initial NWCA poll. After finishing as national runner-up his first two seasons, Bertram won the national crown last year and will enter this season with a 104-12 career record.
Also ranked in the top spot is Nick Slack (Sr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) at 174 pounds. Slack, who won the national title at 174 in 2000, was upset in the national championship match in 2001, as his personal 60-match winning streak, the second-longest streak in school history, was snapped. The two-time All-American, who has lost just one match in the last two seasons, will enter the 2001-02 campaign with a 87-11 career record.
Augsburg has two individual wrestlers ranked second in the nation -- Brad Fisher (Sr., Austin, Minn.) at 141 pounds and Tony Abbott (Sr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS) at 165. Fisher, a two-time All-American, placed second in the nation at 141 last season, losing in overtime in the national title match. He will enter this season with a 77-27 career record. Abbott, a two-time national qualifier, earned All-America honors for the first time in his career last year with a fourth-place finish at 165. He will enter his year with a 85-25 career record.
Kevin Rasmussen (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.), who finished sixth last season at 197 pounds, is ranked third at that weight class this year. He has a 60-19 career record.
Brian Miller (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville HS), who finished his first Auggie season last year with an eighth-place national finish at 131 pounds, is ranked sixth at 131. He was 22-10 last year. Also ranked sixth is Jeremy Jirele (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.) at 157 pounds, a national qualifier for the first time last season. He will enter his senior season with a 65-20 career record. Tony Quance (Sr., Stillwater, Minn./Totino-Grace HS), a national qualifier for the first time last season, is ranked eighth at 149 pounds. He will enter this season with a 47-24 career record.
Among other MIAC wrestlers, St. John's 125-pounder Matt Vos is ranked eighth in the initial NWCA poll.
Augsburg opens its 2001-02 campaign with the annual intrasquad meet and parent's night on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m., and opens intercollegiate competition with the annual Auggie-Brute-Adidas Open on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. Both events are at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis. Augsburg's first dual meet will be a double dual on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at Si Melby Hall, with the White Team (junior varsity) hosting Itasca Community College at 6 p.m., and the varsity squad hosting Minnesota State-Moorhead at 7:30 p.m.