After standing in third place after the opening session, the Auggies took the lead in the second session, with 75.5 team points.Augsburg won 17 of its 21 individual bouts on Friday. Wartburg (Iowa), the defending national champion, is in second place with 62.5 points and has six individuals remaining in the competition, including five in championship contention. Wisconsin-La Crosse, last year's national runner-up, is in third place with 51.5 points, with six individuals remaining in the competition, including three in championship contention. Luther (Iowa) is fourth with 47.0 points, and the College of New Jersey is in fifth with 32.5 points.
Augsburg will attempt to win its Division III-record 10th national title in a 17-year span on Saturday (3/3) at the Five Flags Center. Tomorrow's opening round begins at 10:30 a.m., with championship semifinals and wrestlebacks. The final round begins at 4 p.m. with placing matches. The championship finals are slated to begin at 7 p.m.
Friday's performance marks the fourth time in school history that Augsburg has claimed nine or more All-Americans; the Auggies also had nine All-Americans in 1998 and 2004, and had All-Americans in all 10 weight classes in 2005. Augsburg has had five or more All-Americans every season since 1989.
Top-ranked Marcus LeVesseur (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) continued his quest to become the first Division III wrestler ever to win four national titles, scoring two convincing victories on Friday. In his opening match, LeVesseur scored a first-period pin of David Early of Loras (Iowa). In his second round, he secured All-American honors for the fourth time in his career with a third-period, 23-7 technical fall of Zach Bogardus of Cortland State (N.Y.).
LeVesseur, who won Division III national titles at 157 pounds three times (2003, 2004, 2005), improved to 29-0 on the season and improved his collegiate career record to 153-0, the second-longest winning streak in college wrestling history, behind the 159 of Cael Sanderson at Iowa State (1998-2002).
Quincy Osborn (Jr., Grand Rapids, Minn.), ranked No. 1 nationally at 141, also had a strong opening to his first national tournament appearance as an Auggie, with a 21-6, technical-fall victory over Travis Grawin of Luther (Iowa) in his opening match, and a 11-6 win over Tyler Branham of the College of New Jersey in the quarterfinals. For Osborn, now 42-2 this season and 102-35 in his collegiate career, it is his first All-American honor in his third national tournament as a collegian; he competed in the Division I national tournament in both 2004 and 2005 at Minnesota.
Defending 157-pound national runner-up Jeremy Anderson (Jr., Thief River Falls, Minn.) scored a 9-3 win in his opening match over Mark DeCiccio of Springfield (Mass.), then blanked Pat McAuley of Cornell (Iowa) 5-0 to secure All-American honors for the second time. Anderson is now 37-2 overall and 81-5 in his two seasons as an Auggie.
At 133, defending national runner-up Jafari Vanier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) claimed Division III All-American honors for the second straight year, improving to 19-1 on the season with a 3-1 win in his opening match against Nichalos Nothern of Cornell (Iowa), and a 10-3 triumph over Sean Cullen of Lycoming (Pa.) in the quarterfinals. Vanier has finished twice in his career in national tournaments; in addition to his second-place finish last year, he was also a national runner-up in 2002 at Iowa Central Community College.
At 149, Jared Evans (Sr., Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS), earned All-American honors for the third straight year. In his opening match, he scored a 5-2 win over Matthew Shank of Gettysburg (Pa.), and in the quarterfinals, he scored a 10-4 win over Ryan Higgins of Wisconsin-Platteville. Evans is now 36-3 overall and 138-35 in his Auggie career. Evans finished seventh nationally in 2005 and fourth in 2006.
At 174, Robbie Gotreau (Jr., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) opened his tournament run with an 8-3 victory over Eric Bath of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, then clinched his second All-American honor with a 1-0 win over Andrew Winfield of McDaniel (Md.). Gotreau, who finished fourth nationally at 174 last year, is now 40-4 overall and 108-24 in his career.
Seth Flodeen (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.), making his first national tournament appearance, went to overtime in his opening match, claiming a 4-2 win over Felipe Queiroz of Wilkes (Pa.). But he clinched his first All-American honor with a 5-2 win over Robert Struthers of Wartburg (Iowa) in the quarterfinals. It was the third time Flodeen had faced Struthers this season, and Flodeen's second victory.Flodeen, ranked No. 3 nationally in his weight class, is now 24-4 overall.
Heavyweight Andrew Neumann (Sr., Somerset, Wis.) was edged 2-0 by Trevor Hiffa of Oneonta State (N.Y.) in his opening match, but claimed two convincing wins in the wrestlebacks to earn All-American honors for the first time in his second trip to the national tournament. Neumann claimed a first-period pin of Kyle Bilquist of Delaware Valley (Pa.), then scored an 11-0, major-decision win of Jacob Taylor of Oswego State (N.Y.) Neumann is now 37-9 on the season and 91-39 in his career.
At 197, Wally O'Connor (Jr., Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh West HS) was pinned in his opening match by Alec Bonander of Luther (Iowa), but the unseeded Auggie scored a 5-4 win over No. 3-seed James Swanson of Wisconsin-La Crosse to secure All-American honors for the first time He is now 21-15 on the season.
The lone Auggie to be eliminated on the first day was 184-pounder George Lynaugh (Jr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS). Lynaugh was edged in his opening match, falling 3-2 to Ryan Summers of John Carroll (Ohio), then fell 7-1 to Nick Coleman of New York University. Lynaugh finished 31-7 on the season and is 37-10 in his Auggie career.
Fellow Minnesota school St. John's is in 26th place, with one wrestler remaining in the field. At 157, Jacob Malone won a "pigtail" match in the 17-wrestler bracket, but fell in his second match to drop to the wrestlebacks. He then won two matches to secure All-American honors. Minga Batsukh won his opening match at 141 pounds, but lost two straight matches to be eliminated. Mogi Baatar lost his opening match at 125, won his first wrestleback match but lost his second to be eliminated.
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