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No. 1 seed Augsburg attempts to claim title at National Duals this weekend in Cleveland, Ohio
January 20, 2005
Augsburg College will attempt to win its second National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III National Duals championship this weekend as the top seed at the tournament, held at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Auggies, the NCAA Division III national runner-up the last two seasons and winners of eight of the last 14 national championships, are currently the top-ranked team in the latest Division III national poll, ahead of defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa) and third-ranked Luther (Iowa). Eight of the top 10 teams in the latest national rankings, and 13 of the top 30, are competing in the 16-team Division III bracket.
The NWCA National Duals is in the fourth year of a new format, where teams from all three NCAAdivisions compete in separate 16-team tournaments at one site, along with separate four-team tournaments for junior colleges, NAIA schools and women's wrestling teams. More than 100 dual meets will be wrestled in the three-day format, with Division II and Division III competition on Friday and Saturday, Division I competition on Saturday and Sunday, and NAIA and women's competition on Sunday. In the old format, the defending Division II, Division III and NAIA national champions were invited to compete in the 16-team Division I National Duals.
After the first two years of the multi-division National Duals were held at Ohio State University, the tournament was moved north last season to Cleveland State, where the tournament is held at the CSU Convocation Center and Woodling Gym.
Augsburg's first match is against Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) (unranked in the latest Division III national poll) on Friday at 11 a.m. (Eastern time). The second round will be held at 3 p.m., with semifinals set for Saturday at 9 a.m. Championship match is at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. Augsburg will provide continuous updates on its website at <www.augsburg.edu/athletics/wrestling/> throughout the weekend tournament.
Augsburg is currently 6-1 in dual meets this season. Against teams from Divisions II and III, Augsburg is 19113 since 1989-90, losing just eight matches since the 1995-96 season. Against teams from Division III, Augsburg is 212-17 since the 1979-80 season and 136-7 since 1989-90.
The last two seasons, Augsburg has finished second to Wartburg in the National Duals. 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 NCAADivision III national championship race every year since 1990. Augsburg has won eight of the last 14 Division III national titles (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002), while Wartburg won national titles in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2004, finishing second six times.
Augsburg has eight individuals nationally ranked, including three top-ranked wrestlers -- Marcus LeVesseur (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) at 157, Matt Shankey (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) at 125 and Mark Matzek (Sr., Ellsworth, Wis.) at 133.
Jamell Tidwell (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS) is ranked No. 2 at 141; Ryan Valek (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.) is ranked No. 2 at 165; Justin Sorensen (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.) is ranked No. 4 at 197; Mark Simmonds (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Edison HS) is ranked No. 4 at heavyweight; and Travis Birhanzl (Jr., Montevideo, Minn./Yellow Medicine East HS) is ranked No. 8 at 174.