T.J. Miller is beginning his fourth season as the head wrestling coach at Loras College (Photo/Loras College Athletics)Augsburg and Wartburg.
Wartburg and Augsburg.
For the past quarter-century, one of the Burgs has been the king of NCAA Division III wrestling.
But is this the year another team finally breaks through?
The Loras College Duhawks certainly hope that is the case.
Loras starts this season ranked No. 1 nationally in Division III. Wabash is ranked second in the preseason poll followed by Wartburg and Augsburg.
"We return five All-Americans, so we bring back some experienced and proven guys," Loras coach T.J. Miller said. "We've never been ranked No. 1 before in wrestling at Loras, so it's huge for our program. It's pretty cool to have that type of recognition, but we still have to wrestle and take care of business."
Since Ithaca won the Division III national championship in 1994, the Burgs have won every title while dominating at the small-college level.
Over the last 25 years, Wartburg has captured 14 national titles and Augsburg 11. The Auggies have won 13 championships since 1991 and earned the most recent DIII crown in 2019.
Wartburg struggled to a sixth-place finish at the 2019 NCAA tournament, but the Knights are expected to be back in the mix this season.
Loras returns a strong group of wrestlers from the team that finished second in the country last season.
The Duhawks have six wrestlers ranked in the nation's top seven in their respective weight classes.
Clint Lembeck starts the season ranked No. 2 at 141 pounds (Photo/Loras College Athletics)Loras is led by Clint Lembeck (141 pounds) and Brandon Murray (157), who are each ranked second in the country. Guy Patron Jr. is No. 3 at 197 with Eddie Smith fourth at 165, Jacob Krakow sixth at 174 and Brice Everson seventh at 133.
The second-place national tournament finish by Loras last season was the best in program history. Lembeck placed third at the 2019 NCAAs in Roanoke, Va., with Murray and Smith each finishing fourth, Patron sixth and Krakow eighth.
"We're really excited to compete," Miller said. "We have a lot of firepower coming back from last year and we're chomping at the bit for this season to start. We're looking forward to it."
Patron is one of the leaders on a veteran Duhawk squad. He finished as NCAA runner-up in 2018 after placing third as a freshman in 2017.
"Guy Patron is trying to become the first four-time All-American in school history," Miller said. "I knew him from when I coached down in New Orleans -- he was at a rival high school. When I came up here to Loras, he was a top priority for me in recruiting. Guy had some other offers and we were lucky to have him come up here. It's been great to have him in our program. He's pretty fired up about this season. He can beat anybody. When he's on, he's on. He's really evolved with his wrestling."
Miller is beginning his fourth season as the head wrestling coach at Loras. He was an NCAA Division III champion for Wartburg College and was a member of three national championship teams with the Knights.
Miller wrestled collegiately for his father, Jim, who led the Knights to 10 DIII national titles. Jim Miller is now retired from coaching and running the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum in Waterloo, Iowa.
"Obviously, I grew up around the sport and saw what my dad did as a coach. I have lived it since I was a kid," T.J. Miller said. "I wrestled for my dad in college and then I coached with him for two years at Wartburg. I saw how he coached and what his approach was. I saw first-hand how hard he worked and how dedicated he was. Seeing that and living it, I learned how you do it."
It's not all about wrestling for the Millers. T.J. has three daughters and many of their conversations now revolve around their families.
But T.J. also knows his father is always there to provide coaching advice.
"It's huge to have my dad as a resource," T.J. Miller said. "If there's something I need, he's very good at helping me with anything I ask him about. He's one of the best college coaches ever at any level. I know he still helps a lot of other coaches and teams as well. He obviously knows what it takes to be successful."
T.J. Miller is fully aware it will take a special effort to end the long streak of national tournament dominance by Wartburg and Augsburg this season.
The Duhawks will compete at the 2020 NCAA Division III Championships in nearby Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 13-14. A month before that, Loras wrestles its final dual meet of the season at perennial power Wartburg.
"It's like the old saying -- we have to be the best to beat the best," Miller said. "We focus day-to-day on ourselves. We don't talk to our team about Wartburg or Augsburg. We work on how Loras College can get better. It's going to take 10 guys fighting their butts off for us to reach our goals. You know Wartburg and Augsburg will have strong teams -- they always do. You have to be good at every weight class to beat those teams."
Craig Sesker has written about wrestling for more than three decades. He's covered three Olympic Games and is a two-time national wrestling writer of the year.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now