No. 2 Augsburg at NWCA Division III National Duals
January 11, 2008
Augsburg College will attempt to win its fourth championship at the
National Wrestling Coaches Association/Cliff Keen Division III National
Duals presented by CSG Sports Coatings, this weekend as the No. 2 seed
at the tournament, held at the University of Northern Iowa’s UNI-Dome
in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The defending national champion Auggies, winners of 10 of the last 17
national championships, are currently the No. 2 ranked team in the
latest Division III national poll (Jan. 7). Wartburg (Iowa), last
year’s national runner-up, isthe current top ranked team nationally.
The top seven teams in the latest national rankings, and 10 of the top
20, arecompeting in the 16 team Division III bracket at the National
Duals.
The NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals is in the seventh year of its
current format, where teams from all threeNCAA divisions compete in
separate tournaments at one site, along with separate tournaments for
junior colleges, NAIA schools and women's wrestling teams. In the old
format, the defending Division II, Division III and NAIAnational
champions were invited to compete in the 16 team Division I National
Duals.
This is the third year the multidivision National Duals has been held
at Northern Iowa’s UNI-Dome; the tournament was held in 2002 and 2003
at Ohio State University and in 2004 and 2005 at Cleveland State
University.
Augsburg's first match is against Johns Hopkins (Md.) (unranked in the
latest Division III national poll) on Saturday at 11 a.m. The second
round will be held at 1 and 3 p.m., with semifinals set for Sunday at
11 a.m.Championship match is at p.m. on Sunday. Augsburg will provide
updates on its website at www.augsburg.edu/athletics/wrestling throughout the weekend tournament.