The Augustana wrestling team crowned three champions as the Vikings opened the 2006-07 season with an impressive showing at the Daktronics/WarrenWilliamson Open Saturday in Brookings, S.D.
Nate Buys won the 197-pound title, earning the Most Outstanding
Wrestler award in the process. Also winning their weight classes were
Tom Nesse that 184 pounds and Ray O'Connor at Heavyweight.
Buys, an All-American at 184 pounds last season, cruised into the
finals. He pinned Rory Miller in 4:18 before picking up a 17-2
technical fall over Myles Ulmer in the second round. He then pinned
John Jones in 3:48 before picking up a 3-1 decision over Jacob Marrs in
the finals.
Nesseth received a first-round bye before pinning Kevin Kelly in 3:13
in the second round. In the third round, he scored a 16-1 technical
fall over Northern State's Jade Cowan. In the semifinals, Nesseth edged
teammateAndrew Sorenson 3-0 before earning a 5-2 decision over Tyler
Sorenson in the finals.
O'Connor edged past Zach Covinington 2-1 and Sam Zylstra 4-2 in his
first two matches. In the finals, O'Connor downed Richard Flowers 5-1.
A fourth Viking, Chris Trampe, made it to the finals. Trampe,
a125-pounder, won his first two matches before falling to Chas Welch
7-4 in the finals.
The Vikings had two wrestlers place at 141 pounds. Jordan Burmeister finished fourth, while Mike Long was fifth.
At 157 pounds, Aaron Haddorf earned a fourth-place finish.
The Vikings will return to the mat next Saturday when they travel to Mitchell, S.D., for the Dakota Wesleyan Open.