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Augsburg wins battle of number ones
January 28, 2005
Omaha, Neb. -- Claiming seven of 10 matches, the Augsburg College wrestling team claimed a 26-10 victory over the University of Nebraska-Omaha in a battle of the top-ranked teams in the latest rankings in NCAA Division III and Division II, before 850 fans on Friday at UNO's Lee and Helene Sapp Fieldhouse.
Tied 6-6 after the first five matches, Augsburg won five of the last six matches to improve to 11-1 in dual meets this season. Augsburg, the top-ranked team in the Division III national rankings and winners of eight of the last 14 Division III national titles, improved to 196-13 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.
Nebraska-Omaha, the defending Division II national champions and current top- ranked team in the latest Division II national rankings, is now 4-1 in dual meets this season.
Augsburg's Marcus LeVesseur (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) extended his consecutive-match winning streak to 109 straight matches with a 6- 1 victory over Patrick Allibone at 157 pounds. LeVesseur, the two-time defending national champion and current top-ranked wrestler nationally at 157, improved to 25-0 on the season. His 109-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.
LeVesseur's win was the first of five straight victories for the Auggies, capped by two impressive wins by No. 4-ranked Auggies. Brad Tupa (Jr., Dundas, Minn./Faribault HS) scored a 15-0, second-period technical-fall victory at 184 pounds, and Justin Sorensen (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.) with a 1:18 pin of UNO's Ben Strandberg at 197, the lone pin of the match.
Augsburg's Ryan Valek (Jr., Belle Plaine, Minn.), ranked No. 3 nationally at 165, scored a major upset with a 7-1 victory over UNO's J.D. Naig, the top- ranked wrestler in Division II in the weight class. Valek converted a second- period two-point near-fall and got a reversal and takedown in the third period to pull away, improving to 18-4 on the season.
Casey Flaherty (Sr., Big Lake, Minn.) improved to 21-7 on the year with a 3-1, overtime victory over UNO's Steve Conlin, converting the match-winning takedown with nine seconds left in the first extra session.
Augsburg opened the match with two straight victories by unbeaten, top-ranked wrestlers. Matt Shankey (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.), the defending Division III national champion at 125, improved to 9-0 on the season with a 6-5 win over UNO's Dustin Tovar, ranked No. 6 in Division II. The two dueled in a wild final minute of the third period. Shankey took the lead with a takedown with 47 seconds left, but Tovar escaped six seconds later, then scored a takedown with 12 seconds left to tie the match at 5-5. But Shankey escaped with five seconds left to clinch the win.
Mark Matzek (Sr., Ellsworth, Wis.), the defending national champion at 133 pounds, improved to 23-0 on the season and extended his winning streak to 31 straight matches with a 10-5 decision over UNO's Mitch Waite, ranked No. 5 in Division II.
Nebraska-Omaha tied the match at 6-6 with two straight victories in the lower weights, as Eli Dominguez, ranked No. 4 in Division II, scored a 9-6 win over Augsburg's No. 2-ranked Jamell Tidwell (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS). Tidwell escaped early in the third period to cut the advantage to 7-6, but Dominguez scored a pin with 22 seconds left to clinch the match.
Shane Unger, ranked No. 2 in Division II, claimed a 5-3 win over Augsburg's Jared Evans (So., Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS), ranked No. 3 in Division III at 149.
The match closed with UNO's only extra-point win of the evening, as its top- ranked heavyweight, Les Sigman, claimed a 10-2, major-decision win over Augsburg's Mark Simmonds (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Edison HS), ranked No. 4 in Division III. Three 3-point near-falls in the second period broke a scoreless tie and clinched the win for the Mustang wrestler.
Augsburg's varsity finishes its trip to Nebraska on Sunday (1/30) at 1 p.m., facing Dana College (Neb.), ranked No. 4 in the NAIA national rankings. Augsburg's White Team (junior varsity) will compete at the Great Plains Open in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday (1/29).