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MINNEAPOLIS (11/25/02) -- Augsburg College and Wartburg College (Iowa), two of the top small-college wrestling programs in the nation, will face each other in a dual meet on Wednesday night (11/27) at 7 p.m. at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis.
The Augsburg-Wartburg meet will be preceded by a dual between Augsburg's White Team (junior varsity) and Itasca Community College (Minn.) at 6 p.m. The Augsburg-Wartburg meet will also be audio-cybercast on the Minnesota Sports Update website at www.minnesotasportsupdate.com.
Augsburg will attempt to extend its 25-match, three-season dual-meet winning streak on Wednesday. Augsburg has won 71 straight matches against NCAA Division III opponents, and against teams from Divisions II and III, Augsburg is 166-7 since 1989-90 (losing just two matches since 1995-96).
This season, Wartburg, returning seven All-Americans, supplanted Augsburg, which returns only three national qualifiers and two All-Americans, as the top-ranked team in the Division III national rankings for the first time in four years. Wartburg is top-ranked in the Oct. 30 preseason national poll, with Upper Iowa second and Augsburg third.
Both teams opened their dual-meet seasons with wins last week. Augsburg (1-0) opened with a 33-3 win at Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead on Friday night, while Wartburg (1-0) blanked Simpson (Iowa) 47-0 on Thursday to extend its Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference winning streak to 67 straight matches.
Augsburg has won the last seven duals in the series and is 8-1 in the all-time dual-meet series with Wartburg, dating back to the 1990-91 season. Augsburg won twice in dual meets over the Knights last season, winning a 27-11 dual on Jan. 6 at Wartburg, then winning 29-12 in the championship match of the Division III National Duals at Ohio State on Jan. 20. Wartburg's lone win in the series was a 22-12 triumph in the 1993-94 season.
Augsburg and Wartburg have been the powers of small-college wrestling over the past decade. Either Augsburg or Wartburg, or both teams, have finished in the top two in the NCAA Division III national championship race every year since 1990. Augsburg has won eight of the last 12 Division III national titles (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002), including the last three crowns in a row, while Wartburg won national titles in 1996 and 1999, finishing second six times.
Last season, Augsburg won the national title by six points over Wartburg and Upper Iowa, which tied for second.
Augsburg has three individuals ranked nationally in the Oct. 30 preseason national poll -- Ricky Crone (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.), top-ranked at 184 pounds; Mike Flanagan (Sr., St. Paul, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS), ranked fifth at heavyweight; and Jamell Tidwell (So., Burnsville, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS), ranked eighth at 141.
Meanwhile, Wartburg has nine ranked wrestlers, including three top-ranked in their weight classes -- Wil Kelly (Jr., Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert HS) at 141, Kevin Bratland (Sr., Dakota City, Iowa/Humboldt HS) at 157 and LeRoy Gardner (Sr., Golden Valley, Minn./Hopkins HS) at heavyweight. Ranked second are Heath Ropp (Jr., Kalona, Iowa/Mid-Prairie HS) at 125, and Alain Djournessi (Jr., Quest, Cameroon) at 197; ranked third are Mark Sturm (So., Armstrong, Iowa/Emmetsburg HS) at 174 and Sonny Alvarez (Sr., Aledo, Ill./Davenport Assumption HS) at 184. Anthony Ganas (Sr., Des Plaines, Mill/Maine West HS) is ranked sixth at 149 and Tyler Hubbard (So., Blue Springs, Mo.) is ranked seventh at 133.