The season continues for three determined Saint John’s University
wrestlers as they prepare to compete at the NCAA Division III
Championships on Friday and Saturday, March 7-8. The meet is scheduled
to begin at 11 a.m. and 10 a.m. respectively, at the U.S. Cellular
Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
SJU Finishes Fifth At NCAA Regional
Collegeville, MN -- Saint John’s finished fifth out of 15 teams at the
NCAA Great Lakes Regional last Saturday, Feb. 23. SJU has now placed in
the top five in each of the past six seasons at the regional. A total
of six individual Johnnies finished in the top six of their respective
weight classes, including three that are headed to nationals: freshman
Dustin Baxter (28-9 record at 184; Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley),
sophomore Mogi Baatar (28-7 record at 125; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St.
Benedict’s, N.J.) and junior Matt Schrupp (25-7 record at 165;
Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer). SJU has now qualified two or more
wrestlers to the NCAA Championships 18 of the last 19 seasons.
Baatar will be making his second consecutive appearance at nationals
after posting a 3-1 to finish third overall and earn an at-large bid.
An exhausted Schrupp wrestled a total of seven matches on the day (5-2
record). The 165-pounder lost the true-second match to finish third
overall and earned an at-large bid to compete at the national
tournament.
Baxter was the highlight of the tournament for SJU last Saturday.
At 184 lbs., Baxter finished 2-1 to grab second-place honors, including
a pin over Augsburg’s Robert Gotreau, ranked fourth nationally, in the
semifinals. He lost in the championship match to North Central’s Gabe
Youel, ranked third nationally, by a 9-6 decision.
Three freshmen wrestlers earned top-six honors, including one fourth-
and two sixth-place finishes. Drew Larson (Willmar, Minn.) fell
to Justin Berns (Concordia-Moorhead) twice and finished with a 3-2
record on the day to earn fourth-place honors at 149 lbs. At 197 lbs.,
James Carlson (Royalton, Minn.) upset the No. 3-seed Wally O’Connor of
Augsburg in the first round, 9-6. Carlson then went on to pin the
No. 6 seed Nick Locke (Pacific) before ending the day with a 2-2 record
and a sixth-place finish. John Linn (Foley, Minn.) earned sixth-place
honors and went 2-2 at heavyweight.
Head Coach Brandon Novak
Brandon Novak is in his fourth season as head coach of the SJU
wrestling program in 2007-08. Last year, Novak led the Johnnies to a
23rd place finish (63 teams) at the NCAA Championships. Keeping the
academic standards high in 2005-06, Novak's SJU wrestling team had the
fifth-highest team grade point average in NCAA Division III at 3.334.
Prior to becoming the head coach in 2004-05, Novak assisted 2007 NCAA
Division III Wrestling Coaches’ Hall of Fame inductee John Elton, who
was head wrestling coach from 1981-2004. Novak, a 2001 graduate
of SJU, won the NCAA Wrestling Championship at 197 pounds in 2001 and
was a three-time All-American. Novak currently owns a 25-31 career dual
record as head coach of the Johnnies.
For all the latest news on Johnnie Wrestling and other SJU sports, Visit the Saint John’s athletic Web site at gojohnnies.com