2005 NCAA Div. III Wrestling National 
Championships Preview

BY MATT PFIFFNER
Publisher, The Predicament

Imagine you're the defending National Champions, return six All-Americans 
(including two champs and two second-place finishers) and you're not even 
favored to win the title this year.

That's the case for the Wartburg Knights, who are looking to win a third 
NCAA Div. III National Championship in a row this weekend at St. Olaf 
College in Northfield, Minn. The action begins Friday and concludes Saturday 
night.

As is usually the case, the Knight's biggest roadblock to the title will be 
perennial power Augsburg. The Auggies have edged the Knights in a pair of 
duals this season and bring back a lot of firepower themselves from last 
year's NCAA Championships.

It appears to be a two-team race once again for the title, but don't forget 
about another very strong Iowa Conference team, Luther. The Norse have 
several outstanding individuals and could walk away with All-American 
finishes from all seven of their qualifiers, including a few National 
champion hopefuls.

Wartburg and Augsburg are the only two teams that qualified all 10 of their 
wrestlers. UW-LaCrosse has eight, while Luther and The College of New Jersey are next with seven each. Loras brings six wrestlers, Coe qualified five, Simpson has three and Buena Vista and Dubuque have one each.

Nine of Wartburg's wrestlers received top 8 seeds, including top seeds and 
defending NCAA Div. III champs Dustin Hinchberger at 141 and Akeem Carter at 197. Three other Knights are No. 2 seeds. The Knights would likely have 
another No. 1 seed at 184, but returning champ Ryan Sturm was injured this 
season. His replacement, Iowa transfer Scott Kauffman, is seeded fourth.

All 10 of Augsburg's wrestlers are seeded. To show how tough it may be to 
defeat the Auggies this weekend, half of the weights have Augsburg wrestlers 
as the No. 1 seed. Four of them are defending champs.

The following is a brief weight-by-weight breakdown of the upcoming NCAA 
Div. III National Championships and a look at how the Iowa Conference 
wrestlers may fare.

NCAA Div. III Wrestling Championships
March 4-5 at Northfield, Minn.

125
Iowa College Qualifiers - #3 Justin McClintock, Wartburg; #6 Terry Morgan, 
Loras; Ryan Gotto, Coe.

Bracket Breakdown
McClintock (26-4), a fifth-place finisher last season, is seeded fourth and 
that means he could face No. 1 Matt Shankey (21-0) of Augsburg in a key 
semifinal bout. Morgan (24-5) defeated McClintock in the Iowa Conference 
Tournament and is seeded seventh. He and Gotto are both looking for their 
first All-American honors.

133
Iowa College Qualifiers - #3 Tyler Hubbard, Wartburg; #6 Jestin Hulegaard, 
Buena Vista; #8 Mike Lopez, Luther.

Bracket Breakdown
Hubbard (25-3) has done very well in replacing 2004 NCAA Div. III runner-up 
Ozzie Saxson and will look to do the same if not better at this weekend's 
tournament. If Hubbard is to win a title, it's likely he would eventually 
have to go through the same man who took down Saxson in last year's title 
bout, No. 1 seed Mark Matzek (30-0) of Augsburg. Hulegaard (13-6) is a 
talented freshman for the Beavers and took second to Hubbard at the Iowa 
Conference Tournament. We could very easily see a trio of Iowa Conference 
All-Americans at this weight, with Lopez (26-7) a threat for the Norse.

141
Iowa College Qualifiers - #1 Dustin Hinschberger, Wartburg; #3 Jeff Patzke, 
Luther; Mark Carey, Coe; Dustin Brewer, Simpson.

Bracket Breakdown
This weight should come down to the same two men who met for the title last 
season, top-ranked Hinschberger (38-1) and No. 2 Jamall Tidwell (31-4) of 
Augsburg. The Knight claimed a 9-1 title win over the Auggie last season, 
but there matches have been closer this year. Look for Luther's Patzke (29-9) to take his best shot at Tidwell in the semifinals, if they both make it that far. Brewer finished third at 125 last season, but will probably find the going much tougher at Nationals, up two weight classes.

149
Iowa College Qualifiers - #1 Clint Manny, Simpson; #2 Matt Pyle, Luther; #3 
Jacob Naig, Wartburg; #5 Jared Creason, Coe.

Bracket Breakdown
Four of the top five ranked individuals at 149 come from the Iowa Conference, including the two many people feel will meet for the title, returning runner-up Manny (30-4) and 2004 third-place finisher Pyle (13-2). The two met a couple weeks ago in the Iowa Conference finals, with Pyle winning a decision. Manny still has the No. 1 seed at the NCAA's, with Pyle seeded second. Expect them to meet one more time this year for the big prize. Naig (8-3) has been solid since he took over in the Wartburg lineup and don't count him out of making a run at the title. Creason (34-8) has had a very solid sophomore campaign for the Kohawks, but did not receive a top 8 seed.

157
Iowa College Qualifiers - #2 Cory Connell, Wartburg; #3 Ryan LeBeau, Luther.

Bracket Breakdown
There is one man at this weight head and shoulders above the rest and he is 
junior Marcus LeVesseur (36-0) of Augsburg. All he has done in his college 
career is go undefeated and claim a pair of NCAA Div. III titles. This former University of Minnesota recruit has been remarkable at Augsburg and it would be the upset of the tournament if he doesn't win again. His championship match foe could be one of two Iowa Conference rivals. Connell (28-6) lost 8-4 to LeVesseur in the title match last season and is seeded second for the NCAA's. But LeBeau (33-9) defeated Connell in the conference finals and could do it again as the No. 3 seed and be the one to face the undefeated Auggie.

165
Iowa College Qualifiers - #1 Garrett South, Luther; Cole Williams, Dubuque; 
Andrew Knaack, Wartburg; Brad Bishop, Loras.

Bracket Breakdown
South (33-5) is another title hopeful for the Norse. He finished second at 
the NAA Championships by a slim two points last season and returns in his 
senior year as the favorite to win it all. He became the first Luther wrestler to place at the prestigious Midlands earlier in the season and is a threat to pin his opponent at any time. Look for South to get off the mat as quickly as possible the first couple rounds and have plenty of energy for the semifinals and finals. Williams received the No. 7 seed after a strong performance in the Iowa Conference Tournament, where he finished second to South. South's biggest threat to a title could be No. 2 Nick Ammerman. With only nine matches on the year, Ammerman hasn't wrestled much this season, but he is undefeated.

174
Iowa College Qualifiers - #4 Mark Sturm, Wartburg; Adam Reid, Coe; Ryan
Hagerty, Loras.

Bracket Breakdown
Sturm (28-5) finished fifth at the NCAA's last season and enters the  tournament this year as the No. 2 seed. He could meet up with second-ranked Chris Healy (42-1) of Wabash in the semifinals. The man to beat here is once again an Auggie. Defending champ Joe Moon (12-0) hasn't had a lot of action this season, but is still the No. 1 seed and favorite to win it all. A possible Moon vs. Sturm title bout could be for all the team race marbles.

184
Iowa College Qualifiers - #3 Scott Kauffman, Wartburg; #4 Dan Adams, Luther; Tom Andrews, Loras.

Bracket Breakdown
Kauffman (23-1) has had a very successful first season for the Knights and
has done a good job of replacing returning champ Ryan Sturm. The Knight is
seeded fourth, which means he could face the only wrestler to beat him this
season, No. 1 seed Brad Tupa (26-5) of Augsburg, in the semifinals. Adams
(23-9) is seeded sixth and will be looking to help the Norse to another top 3 team finish.

197
Iowa College Qualifiers - #1 Akeem Carter, Wartburg; #7 Mike McCabe, Coe;
Mitch Hager, Loras; Wyatt Reyerson, Luther.

Bracket Breakdown
Carter (26-2) won an NCAA title last season and is a big favorite to repeat. He is the lone top 4 place finisher from last season back, and he's still only a junior. Reyerson finished sixth at the NCAA's last season, but a fourth-place finish at the iowa Conference has him limping into the championships and he will be unseeded as a returning all-American. McCabe is slotted into the No. 8 seeded position, which means a possible quarterfinal bout against Carter. Hager had a very good Iowa Conference Tournament, finishing second to Carter. He hopes to build on that performance heading into the NCAA's.

285
Iowa College Qualifiers - #2 Blake Gillis, Wartburg; Brett Christensen,
Simpson; Ben McCready, Loras.

Bracket Breakdown
Gillis (31-3) finished second to top-ranked Ryan Allen (41-5) of
Wisconsin-LaCrosse at least year's NCAA Championships and it appears as
though we could see that same title bout again. Allen is a huge favorite to
repeat as champ, while Gillis should be able to make another run at the  finals. Third seed Mike Blair (25-0) of Trinity could be a roadblock in Gillis' way. Christensen and McCready are solid heavyweights and could be
fighting for All-American spots on Saturday.