"We wrestled really hard, and they wrestled good on their feet, which is what we try to do most of the time - if not all of the time - so it worked out well," Notre Dame Coach Frank Romano said.
St. Cloud's 54-match string of dual meet victories ended in the semifinals. One of those wins came at Notre Dame's expense - 17-15 in the 2013 tournament finals.
Joining the Falcons as champions Sunday were Wartburg College in Division III, hometown squad Grand View University in the NAIA, Clackamas Community College in the NJCAA and King University in the women's tournament.
Wartburg won its fourth consecutive team title, 29-6, over Concordia-Moorhead. The Knights were without Coach Eric Keller, who was pinned all weekend by the flu, but a technical fall by 2012 national champion Landon Williams and a forfeit at 197 bolstered their effort.
Assistant coach Chris Ortner said there was a benefit to the tournament beyond adding another nice trophy to the school's burgeoning display case that includes 10 NCAA Division III national titles. The weekend showed some strengths, but also some flaws.
"It was a good day, but we got exposed in some areas that we know we need to get better at," Ortner said. "There are still some weights we're trying to sort out. This is a good indicator of where we're at as far as that goes too. We won, but we like to learn as well when we win."
Grand View is building a reputation for big wins on its home turf. The Vikings won each of the last two national championships in March at the Iowa State Fair's Jacobson Center. On Sunday, the Vikings got pins from 2013 national champions Chad Lowman and Eric Thompson and major decisions from Ryak Finch at 125 and A. J. Mott at 197 in zipping past Lindsey Wilson, 32-6, in the finale. It was Grand View's third straight Duals championship.
Grand View Coach Nick Mitchell seemed to have thoughts of a hard Monday practice in his mind just to make sure the Vikings didn't have a lengthy celebration of their most recent championship.
"If we sit back and feel good about where we're at...a lot of teams want to close the gap right now," Mitchell said. "We've got two options leaving here: They can close the gap or we can widen the gap. Obviously, the goal is to widen the gap right now."
Clackamas used a weekend-long powerhouse effort, capped by a 30-13 decision over Northwest College in the championship, to win its first team title since 2011.
"We got hungry for another one," Clackamas Coach Josh Rhoden said. "We came back in (recent) years, got fourth and third, and finally clawed our way back in the finals and won this baby in dominant fashion. These kids couldn't have wrestled any better today.
In four meets, the Cougars totaled 20 pins, three major decisions and one technical fall.
"I can't say enough about how our kids performed. We were getting falls every single time, and that's how you win dual meets."
King got technical falls from Haley Augello, Sarah Hildebrandt and Ali Ragan plus a pinfrom Amanda Hendey to clip Simon Fraser, 21-19, for its first championship. Simon Fraser was led by a fall from Vicky Anthony and techs from Helen Maroulis and Justina Distasio. The women's division wrestles under freestyle rules.
The crowd was good all weekend, but the most attention was paid to Sunday morning's semifinal between Notre Dame and St. Cloud. After three lead changes, Romano's Falcons took control with the majors by Joey Davis at 165 and Garrett Lineberger at 174 and the fall by Brandonn Johnson.
Lineberger, a freshman, said he heard about St. Cloud State during his recruiting visit and also during practices this season. He did his part to rinse last year's bad taste by exploding on Dylon Braun, nearly pinning him and then scoring some tilts that gave him a 12-0 lead after the first period.
Johnson did not require frequent hearing of the Huskies' name. He remembered the loss in the finals last year. Snapping that string was mighty important to the Falcons, just as getting the team trophy was, Johnson said. And the performance might put the unpleasant bulls-eye on their backs come March, but Johnson said the Falcons are good enough to have 10 all-Americans and be the team to beat for the national title.
Romano said snapping the Huskies' run was part of a good day.
"I really wasn't real cognizant of how long their win streak was," Romano said. "They've got a great team, and I'm sure they will continue to have a great team. It was a great win for us and I feel good about the whole thing in general."
DIVISION II FINAL
NOTRE DAME COLLEGE 38, NEWBERRY 3
125 - Brian Hauser (Notre Dame) over Jeff Vesta (Newberry) Dec 9-4
133 - Marty Carlson (Notre Dame) over Nick Lankford (Newberry) Dec 10-6
141 - Maurice Miller (Notre Dame) over Bj Young (Newberry) Dec 14-10
149 - Tucker Armstrong (Notre Dame) over Seiji Borja (Newberry) SV-1 7-5
157 - Jonatan Rivera (Notre Dame) over Kayne Melko (Newberry) Dec 3-1
165 - Blake Ridenour (Newberry) over Louden Gordon (Notre Dame) Dec 6-2
174 - Joey Davis (Notre Dame) over Joe Pittman (Newberry) Maj 10-1
184 - Garrett Lineberger (Notre Dame) over Jared Holliday (Newberry) Dec 6-4
197 - Brandonn Johnson (Notre Dame) over Braden Carter (Newberry) Dec 6-1
285 - Orlando Scales (Notre Dame) over Matt Wade (Newberry) Dec 4-1
DIVISION III FINAL
WARTBURG 29, CONCORDIA-MOORHEAD 6
125 - Gilberto Camacho (Wartburg) over Gabe Foltz (Concordia) Dec 6-2
133 - Kenny Anderson (Wartburg) over Jacoby Bergeron (Concordia) Dec 14-7
141 - Connor Campo (Wartburg) over Yonas Gebreab (Concordia) Dec 8-5
149 - Jacob Long (Concordia) over Brandon Welter (Wartburg) Dec 4-1
157 - Drew Wagenhoffer (Wartburg) over Kyle Leduc (Concordia) Dec 6-0
165 - Cole Welter (Wartburg) over Brandon Haluptzok (Concordia) Dec 5-3
174 - Landon Williams (Wartburg) over Sebastian Gardner (Concordia) TF 16-0
184 - Christian Harrison (Concordia) over Sam Upah (Wartburg) Dec 5-4
197 - Punahele Soriano (Wartburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
285 - Ryan Fank (Wartburg) over Cody Kasprick (Concordia) Dec 2-0
NAIA FINAL
GRAND VIEW 32, LINDSEY WILSON 6
125 - Ryak Finch (Grand View) over Myron Bradbury (Lindsey Wilson) Maj 10-2
133 - Brandon Benvenuti (Grand View) over Keaton Thomas (Lindsey Wilson) Dec 7-6
141 - Gustavo Martinez (Grand View) over Wismit Moinius (Lindsey Wilson) Dec 2-1
149 - Brandon Wright (Grand View) over Stephen Myers (Lindsey Wilson) Dec 6-1
157 - Joe Cozart (Lindsey Wilson) over Quinten Haynes (Grand View) SV-1 4-2
165 - Chad Lowman (Grand View) over Cadyn Mckeeth (Lindsey Wilson) Fall 5:33
174 - Jimmie Schuessler (Grand View) over Erick Gomez (Lindsey Wilson) Dec 7-5
184 - Jameel Bryant (Lindsey Wilson) over Christian Mays (Grand View) Dec 3-2
197 - Aj Mott (Grand View) over Jake Maupin (Lindsey Wilson) Maj 9-1
285 - Eric Thompson (Grand View) over Jonathan Hupp (Lindsey Wilson) Fall 2:11
NJCAA FINAL
CLACKAMAS 30, NORTHWEST (WYO.) 13
125 - Cody Vichi (Northwest) over Stevan Knoblauch (Clackamas) Dec 4-3
133 - Cary Palmer (Clackamas) over Ben Jorgensen (Northwest) Dec 5-1
141 - Zach Loveless (Northwest) over Robbie Rizzolino (Clackamas) Dec 3-0
149 - Kenny Martin (Clackamas) over Zach Loveless (Northwest) Fall 3:45
157 - Eleazar Deluca (Clackamas) over Hayden Heap (Northwest) Fall 2:08
165 - Diorian Coleman (Northwest) over Kyle Bateman (Clackamas) Dec 7-5
174 - Cole Mcarthur (Northwest) over Tyler White (Clackamas) Maj 9-1
184 - Adrian Salas (Clackamas) over Miles Nixon (Northwest) Fall 4:23
197 - Ihoghama Odighizuwa (Clackamas) over Jonathan Wixom (Northwest) Inj 2:35
285 - Brandon Johnson (Clackamas) over Gabriel Escobedo (Northwest) Dec 5-1
WCWA FINAL
KING UNIVERSITY 21, SIMON FRASER 19
101- Darby Huckle (SFU) dec. Shannon Constantine 6-0
109- Victoria Anthony (SFU) pin Samantha Klingel :47
116- Haley Augello (KU) tech fall Nikkie Brar 11-0
123- Sarah Hildenbrandt (KU) tech fall Laura Anderson 10-0
130- Helen Maroulis (SFU) tech fall Kayla Brendlinger 10-0
136- Alli Ragan (KU) tech fall Mallory Veltre 10-0
143- Amanda Hendey (KU) pin Maegan Kuruvita 1:39
155- Julia Salata (KU) dec. Monika Podgoski 6-0
170- Justine DiStasio (SFU) tech fall Lorrie-Ann Ramos 10-0
191- Jenna Mclatchy (SFU) dec. Malexis Mcadoo 12-12, criteria
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