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No. 1 Augsburg 18, No. 2 Wartburg 15
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Cleveland, Ohio -- Marcus LeVesseur extended his consecutive-match winning streak to 108 straight matches with his fourth straight pin victory on the weekend, providing the eventual match-winning points in Augsburg College's 18-15 victory over Wartburg College (Iowa) in the championship match of the National Wrestling Coaches Association/Cliff Keen Division III National Duals presented by Hershey's SmartZone on Saturday night at Cleveland State University.
LeVesseur, the two-time defending national champion and current top-ranked wrestler nationally at 157, improved to 24-0 on the season with a 2:09 pin of Cory Connell, giving Augsburg a commanding lead in the dual at 15-3. LeVesseur was named the Division III tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
Augsburg led 18-3 after six matches and held on as Wartburg claimed decision wins in the final four bouts.
Augsburg, the top-ranked team in the Division III national rankings and winners of eight of the last 14 Division III national titles, is now 10-1 on the season in dual meets. Wartburg, winners of the last two Division III national titles, is now 20-2 in dual meets this season. Augsburg broke a four-match dual losing streak over the last two seasons to Wartburg with Saturday's win, and the Auggies are now 9-5 all-time against the Knights.
Wartburg and Augsburg have now split the four NWCA Division III National Duals held since the competition went to an exclusively Division III format, with the two powerhouses meeting in the tournament final each year. Augsburg won in 2002, and Wartburg won the title in 2003 and 2004.
The top two teams in Division III wrestling will face each other again this season, in a Feb. 3 dual (7 p.m.) at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall.
Against opponents from Divisions II and III, Augsburg is 195-13 since the 1989-90 season, and has lost just eight matches to non-Division I opponents since the 1995-96 season. Against strictly Division III opponents, Augsburg is 216-17 since the 1979-80 season and 140-7 since 1989-90. Of the seven losses since 1989, five have been to Wartburg.
Before the Wartburg match, Augsburg had an easy time with its first two wins on Friday, a 47-0 win over Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) and a 40-3 triumph over national No. 10 John Carroll (Ohio), and its 35-3 win over national No. 4 Delaware Valley (Pa.) in Saturday's semifinals. Augsburg won 33 of 40 individual matches in its four victories in the National Duals.
Of LeVesseur's 24 wins without a loss this season, 16 have come by pin. His 108-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.
The LeVesseur-Connell duel was one of three meetings of top-two ranked wrestlers in the dual, with Augsburg winning two.
Augsburg's Matt Shankey, the top-ranked wrestler and defending national champion at 125, improved to 8-0 on the season with a 6-1 decision over Wartburg's No. 2 Justin McClintock, scoring his third victory over the Wartburg wrestler in the last two seasons.
Wartburg's top-ranked 141-pounder, Dustin Hinschberger, claimed his third straight victory over Augsburg's No. 2-ranked Jamell Tidwell in another classic match between the two wrestlers, a 4-2 overtime decision. Tidwell, now 22-3 on the season, won his three prior matches at the National Duals by technical falls, giving him 11 on the season.
Mark Matzek, the defending national champion and current top-ranked wrestler at 133 pounds, improved to 22-0 on the season and extended his winning streak to 30 straight matches by the narrowest of margins -- a three-second riding-time advantage after three overtime periods -- in his 2-2 match with Wartburg's No. 5 Tyler Hubbard. After three overtime periods in the new college wrestling overtime format produced no winner, the match went to the riding-time tiebreaker.
Augsburg's Ryan Valek, the No. 2-ranked wrestler at 165, improved to 17-4 on the season with a 5-0 win over Wartburg's Andrew Knaack.
Wartburg's two other top-ranked wrestlers scored wins over Augsburg foes. At 197, Akeem Carter topped Augsburg's Justin Sorensen, ranked No. 4, by a 6-1 count for Sorensen's second loss on the day. Scott Kaufmann topped Augsburg's Brad Tupa 7-6 at 184.
Wartburg No. 2-ranked Blake Gillis claimed a 5-0 win over Augsburg's Mark Simmonds, ranked No. 4 at heavyweight.
In the other two matches on the day, Augsburg's Jared Evans scored a decision victory at 149 over Jacob Naig, and Wartburg's Mark Sturm topped Augsburg's Casey Flaherty at 174.
Augsburg returns to action next weekend with a trip to Nebraska. Next Friday (1/28) at 7 p.m., the Auggies will face Nebraska-Omaha, the No. 1-ranked team in the NCAA Division II national rankings. Next Sunday (1/30) at 1 p.m., the Auggies will face Dana College (Neb.), ranked No. 4 in the NAIA national rankings.