In the Division I championship match, it was top-seeded Oklahoma State vs. second-seeded Minnesota. Two national wrestling powers. Two schools that have won the last five NCAA team titles, wrestling in a seesaw battle, where every point scored was crucial, and would eventually come down to match between the top-two heavyweights in the land.
Steve MoccoKonrad and Mocco battled to a scoreless first period. The two behemoths traded escapes in the second and third periods. But less than thirty seconds into the final period, Konrad secured a body lock and executed a beautiful inside trip to put Mocco to his back for the pin. For his efforts, Konrad was named Most Outstanding Wrestler in Division I.
Freshman Phenom
With the exception of Konrad, Minnesota's talented freshman Dustin Schlatter had perhaps the biggest win of the dual against Oklahoma State, when he defeated defending NCAA champion Zack Esposito, 8-7.
Dustin Schlatter"I just came into this thing as a heavy underdog," said Schlatter. "I seem to perform well when I'm put in that situation. We've been training really hard as a team, especially over Christmas break, and I think it's really paying off."
Sigman and Co. Win Second Straight Title
In Division II, top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha won its second straight title by defeating Minnesota State-Mankato in the finals, 20-10.
Les Sigman (photo by Johnnie Johnson)Sigman is currently 9-0 on the season -- and has won tournament titles at the Kaufman-Brand Open and Midlands Championships against Division I competition. According to Nebraska-Omaha coach Mike Denney, Sigman is still undecided about whether or not he'll wrestle freestyle after his collegiate career is over.
"We're not sure yet if he'll wrestle freestyle. He hasn't wrestled a lot of freestyle. There's an adjustment there. You know, he might try it. He wants to finish strong, and we'll see after the season."
Some Things Never Change
In Division III, Wartburg and Augsburg have traded national titles since 1995 -- and have met in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals finals every year since 2002. This year, however, according to the seeds, it wasn't supposed to happen. Augsburg was seeded third, behind No. 1 Wartburg and No. 2 UW-La Crosse. But Augsburg defeated UW-La Crosse, 21-15, in the semifinals to face their arch rival in the finals.
Wartburg made a statement in the finals by blasting Augsburg, 29-6. With the victory, Wartburg is 17-0 on the season and ranked No. 1 in the country.
"We just wrestled really tough," said heavyweight Blake Giills, who closed out the dual with a 16-0 technical fall over Andrew Neumann. "We had two guys who won by seven points, so we could have gotten a few more majors. As a whole, we wrestled tough. It's not over yet. We still have nationals. But I'm happy for today, anyway.
According to Gillis, it's never tough to get up for a match against the Auggies.
"Augsburg, that's our rival. It's been that way forever. It's probably going to be that way forever. This whole week in practice, that's all we were thinking about, Augsburg, Augsburg, Augsburg."
The two teams will meet again on Feb. 1 in Waverly, Iowa.
Gillis, who is ranked sixth nationally in the RevWrestling.com All-Division Rankings at heavyweight (and No. 1 in Division III), believes this could be a very special Wartburg team.
"If everybody does what they should, and we're capable of, this could be one of the best Wartburg teams ever."
Amazingly, Wartburg lost only four individual matches all weekend.
NAIA Action
Dana College, who entered the event seeded third, claimed the NAIA title over fifth-seeded University of the Cumberlands, 22-13.
Cumberlands won three of the first four matches to open the dual, but Dana won five of the remaining six matches -- and picked up a big pin at 174 by two-time NCAA qualifier Marshall Marquardt.
Labette Wins NJCAA Title
The Labette Cardinals, the reining junior college national champions, won the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals title by defeating top-seeded Northwest Wyoming in the finals, 18-16.
Championships Finals Results:
Division I: Minnesota 21, Oklahoma State 14
125 -- Coleman Scott (OSU) maj. dec. Travis Lang (MN), 11-0
133 -- Nathan Morgan (OSU) dec. Mack Reiter (MN), 6-4
141 -- Manuel Rivera (MN) dec. Daniel Frishkorn (OSU, 9-4
149 -- Dustin Schlatter dec. Zack Esposito (OSU), 8-7
157 -- C.P. Schlatter (MN) dec. Kevin Ward (OSU), 2-0
165 -- Johny Hendricks (OSU) dec. Matt Nagel (MN), 8-3
174 -- Gabriel Dretsch (MN) dec. Brandon Mason (OSU), 3-1
184 -- Roger Kish (MN) dec. Brent Parkey (OSU), 7 -3
197 -- Jake Rosholt (OSU) maj. dec. Mitch Kuhlman (MN), 13-5
Hwt -- Cole Konrad (MN) pinned Steve Mocco (OSU), 5:26
Division II: Nebraska-Omaha 20, Minnesota State-Mankato 10
125 -- Cody Garcia (Neb-Omaha) dec. Nick Smith (MSU), 6-1
133 -- Dan Hilario (Neb-Omaha) dec. Jeff Pfaffinger (MSU), 3-2
141 -- Mitch Waite (Neb-Omaha) dec. Zach Stevens (MSU), 9-3
149 -- Shane Unger (Neb-Omaha) dec. Travis Puig (MSU), 8-7
157 -- Patrick Allibone (Neb-Omaha) dec. Matt Bitz (MSU), 1-0
165 -- Andy Pickar (MSU) dec. Ross Tapin (Neb-Omaha), 9-7
174 -- JD Naig (Neb-Omaha) dec. Tim Matheson (MSU), 9-3
184 -- John Koons (MSU) dec. Nate Oviatt (Neb-Omaha), 11-0
197 -- Ben Janike (MSU) dec. Nick Edmonds (Neb-Omaha), 5-0
Hwt -- Les Sigman (Neb-Omaha) dec. Tim Kraemer (MSU), 5-1
Division III: Wartburg 29, Augsburg 6
125 -- Tyler Hubbard (WAR) dec. Seth Flodeen (AUG), 12-5
133 -- Zach McKray (WAR) dec. Ben Moss (AUG), 8-1
141 -- Dustin Hinschberger (WAR) maj. dec. Josh Hansen (AUG), 12-2
149 -- Jacob Naig (WAR) dec. Jared Evans (AUG), 3-0
157 -- Jeremy Anderson (AUG) dec. Justin Hanson (WAR), 7-4
165 -- Ryan Valek (AUG) dec. Dustin Bliven (WAR), 8-6
174 -- Scott Kaufmann (WAR) maj. dec. Robbie Gotreau (AUG), 17-5
184 -- Akeem Carter (WAR) dec. Brad Tupa (AUG), 6-3
197 -- T.J. Miller (WAR) maj. dec. Wally O'Connor (AUG), 13-0
Hwt -- Blake Gillis (WAR) tech. fall. Andrew Neumann (AUG), 16-0, 5:00
NAIA: Dana 22, Cumberlands 13
125 -- Craig Trampe (Dana) dec. Delrico Choates (Cumb), 3-2
133 -- Mikeal Brooks (Cumb) dec. Sonny Silva (Dana), 10-9
141 -- Bradley Cooper (Cumb) dec. Terrence Almond (Dana), 12-3
149 -- Dustin Center (Cumb) dec. Jason Lozier (Dana), 6-2
157 -- Ben Henderson (Dana) dec. Tommy Hutchinson (Cumb), 9-6
165 -- Trent Leichleiter (Dana) dec. Nathanal Jolly (Cumb), 5-2
174 -- Marshall Marquardt (Dana) pinned Todd Allen (Cumb), 1:59
184 -- Nick Wilkes (Dana) maj. dec. Matt Reis (Cumb), 9-1
197 -- Eric Flinchum (Cumb) dec. Willie Parks (Dana), 12-6
Hwt -- Blair Alderman (Dana) dec. Matt Bishop (Cumb), 5-3
NJCAA: Labette 18, Northwest Wyoming 16
125 -- Tim Elliott (Lab) pinned Kalen Wilson (NW), 6:34
133 -- Josh Baldridge (Lab) dec. Eric Tapia (NW), 9-6
141 -- Ross Montour (NW) maj. dec. Cavin Cooper (Lab), 15-3
149 -- Cody Moulton (NW) dec. Cory Allison (Lab), 4-3
157 -- Luke Elmore (Lab) dec. Eric Coxbill (NW), 3-1
165 -- Christopher Riding (NW) dec. Alvin Metcalf (Lab), 9-4
174 -- Julius Rios (NW) dec. Tommy McCarty (Lab), 5-3
184 -- Alex Saunders (Lab) dec. Shawn Vincent (NW), 10-8
197 -- Elijah Martinez (Lab) dec. Avery Rodgers (NW), 4-3
Hwt -- Spencer Bowles (NW) dec. Willie Weber (Lab), 8-3
Final Brackets:
Division I Bracket
Division II Bracket
Division III Bracket
NAIA Bracket
NJCAA Bracket
Related Article:
NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals Day-One Recap
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