Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- The Johnnies
finished 30th out of 60 teams at the NCAA Division III Championships
last weekend, March 7-8, at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa.
SJU sent freshman Dustin Baxter (29-11 final record at 184; Fairbanks,
Alaska/West Valley), sophomore Mogi Baatar (31-9 final record at 125;
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict’s Prep, N.J.) and junior Matt
Schrupp (26-9 final record at 165; Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) to
compete at the event.
Baatar was seeded seventh at the meet and began the event with a 10-4
win over unseeded Rob Miller of Thiel (Pa.). Baatar fell to the #2
seed, Clayton Rush of Coe (Iowa) 3-2. Rush would go on to finish second
overall. With the loss, Baatar fell to the lower bracket where he
defeated David Penny of Ohio Northern 7-1 to clinch All-America honors.
Baatar started Saturday’s competition with an 11-7 loss to the #3 seed,
Jake Oster of Elmhurst (Ill.). Baatar was ahead 7-1 but could not hold
on. Baatar then defeated Jon Gregory of Ithaca (N.Y.) 11-7 to finish
seventh overall and become the 16th Johnnie in school history to earn
All-America honors (24th All-American performance overall).
Baxter started the championships with a 5-2 win over Ben Engelland
(Wis.-Stevens Point), ranked fifth nationally. In the first match,
however, Baxter suffered a high ankle sprain that prevented him from
competing at 100 percent the rest of the meet. Baxter then fell to the
#4 seed, Joshua Zabel (Wis.-La Crosse), by major decision 9-1. Baxter’s
first national meet then ended on Saturday with a 12-5 loss to Bryan
Lenhardt of Johnson and Wales (R.I.).
Schrupp began the meet with a 3-2 loss to the #8 seed, Trent Zempel of
Messiah (Pa.). Schrupp went on to defeat Julian Mancha of Buena Vista
(Iowa) 8-1 before falling to Justin Hanson of Wartburg (Iowa), 7-2.
With the success of their three NCAA Championship competitors, SJU tied
for 30th with an overall score of 8.5. Wartburg won the championship
for the sixth time since 1996 with a total of 127 points.
Head Coach Brandon Novak
Brandon Novak ended 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