LA CROSSE, Wis. — With seven wrestlers remaining in the competition, including five in championship contention, the Augsburg College wrestling team stands in second place after the opening round of the NCAA Division III National Championships on Friday morning.
After the first session of the tournament, Augsburg stands in second place with 15 points, while defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa) leads with 17 points. Johnson & Wales (R.I.) is in third with 11 points, and Cortland State (N.Y.) is in fourth place with 9.5 points. Augsburg has seven of its eight qualifiers still in the competition, while Wartburg has all 10 of its qualifiers still alive, with seven in championship contention.
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Four Auggies opened their tournament runs with pins, including top-seeded 184-pounder Owen Webster (FY, Shakopee, Minn.), who claimed his 27th straight win with a 1:58 pin of Derek Beitz of Messiah (Pa.). Now 30-1 on the season, Webster now has 23 bonus-point victories (10 major decisions, four technical falls, nine pins). Webster is now 21-0 against NCAA Division III opponents.
No. 3-seeded heavyweight Donny Longendyke (SR, Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) opened his third national tournament run with a 2:23 pin of Zac Rieger of Adrian (Mich.). The 2015 Division III heavyweight national champion and 2016 national runner-up, Longendyke is now 25-3 on the season with 19 bonus-point wins (16 pins, three major decisions). He is now 149-29 in his collegiate career with 112 bonus-point wins (85 pins, four technical falls, 23 major decisions), including a 108-8 record with 82 bonus-point wins (62 pins, four technical falls, 16 major decisions) in three seasons at Augsburg.
No. 4-seeded 125-pounder Victor Gliva (FY, Farmington, Minn.) built a 12-0 lead over Brenden Velez of Delaware Valley (Pa.) before converting a 4:48 pin, extending his winning streak to 22 straight matches. Gliva is now 31-4 on the season with 16 bonus-point wins (six major decisions, four technical falls, six pins), and is now 26-1 against Division III competition.
No. 5-seeded 141-pounder Dave Flynn (FY, Jordan, Minn./Scott West) began his tournament run with a 4-2 victory over Gregory Warner of York (Pa.). Scoreless entering the third period, Flynn surrendered a two-point near-fall, but rallied with an escape and a takedown with four seconds left in the match to claim the win, adding a bonus point for 1:40 riding time.
Lucas Jeske (FY, St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS) claimed one of his biggest victories of the opening session for the Auggies, scoring a 9-3 win over No. 8-seed Andrew Steiert of Wartburg. The turning point of the match came late in the second period, when Jeske claimed a reversal, then quickly scored a four-point near-fall to close the period. He improved to 22-7 on the season with the victory.
No. 8-ranked 149-pounder Ryan Epps (FY, Cannon Falls, Minn.) opened his first national tournament with a 4:25 pin of Dallas O’Green of Heidelberg (Ohio) in a pigtail match, but dropped an 8-3 decision to Carter Armendarez of Wesleyan (Conn.) in his second match of the day, dropping to the wrestlebacks. Epps is now 33-6 on the season with five pins.
Sam Bennyhoff (SO, Mound, Minn./Mound-Westonka HS) opened with an 8-6 pigtail victory at 133 pounds over Owen Doster of Wabash (Ind.), building a 7-2 lead after two periods and holding on for the win. But he dropped to the wrestlebacks in his next match, suffering a third-period pin to fifth-seeded Jay Albis of Johnson & Wales (R.I.).
Grant Parker (SR, Onalaska, Wis.) suffered two losses in the first session at 157 pounds — an 11-2 major-decision loss to No. 4-seed Derek Arnold of Ursinus (Pa.) and a 6-3 loss to Erik Beshada of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (N.Y.). An All-American with a seventh-place national finish last year, Parker finished his senior season 22-12 and his career at 88-61 in his career with 30 bonus-point wins (15 pins, one technical fall, 14 major decisions).
UP NEXT: The Auggies return to action Friday at 6 p.m. with the “All-American Round,” in which the field is narrowed to eight wrestlers in each weight class, each of whom earn All-America honors.
TOP 10 TEAM SCORES AFTER ROUND 1:
1. Wartburg (Iowa) 17.0, 2. Augsburg (Minn.) 15.0, 3. Johnson & Wales (R.I.) 11.0, 4. Cortland State (N.Y.) 9.5, 5. Wabash (Ind.) 7.5, 6. Brockport State (N.Y.), 7t. Delaware Valley (Pa.) 6.5, 7t. Ithaca (N.Y.) 6.8, 9t. Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) 5.0, 9t. Lycoming (Pa.) 5.0, 9t. Millikin (Ill.) 5.0. Other Minnesota schools: 54t. Saint John’s 0.0.
FRIDAY’S ROUND 1 RESULTS FROM AUGSBURG & MINNESOTA COLLEGE WRESTLERS:
125 — Victor Gliva (Augsburg) pinned Brenden Velez (Delaware Valley) 4:48; Aaron Dick (Concordia-Moorhead) pinned Carlos Fuentez (Wheaton) 5:33; James Kashian (Ithaca) pinned Dick 2:35.
133 — Sam Bennyhoff (Augsburg) dec. Owen Doster (Wabash) 8-6; Jay Albis (Johnson & Wales) pinned Bennyhoff 5:46; Nathan Pike (New York Univ.) tech. fall Noah Becker (Saint John’s) 18-2 at 6:41.
141 — David Flynn (Augsburg) dec. Gregory Warner (York) 3-2; Devin Broukal (Wabash) dec. Adam Presler (Concordia-Moorhead) 5-4.
149 — Ryan Epps (Augsburg) pinned Dallas O’Green (Heidelberg) 4:25; Dan Del Gallo (Southern Maine) maj. dec. Ty Johnson (Concordia-Moorhead) 13-1; Carter Armendarez (Wesleyan) dec. Epps 8-3.
157 — Derek Arnold (Ursinus) maj. dec. Grant Parker (Augsburg) 11-2; Cole Sladek (Concordia-Moorhead) dec. Nicholas Racanelli (Wilkes) 9-4; Sladek dec. Keone Derain (Elmhurst) 5-4; Erik Beshada (U.S. Merchant Marine) dec. Parker 6-3 (Parker eliminated).
165 — Lucas Jeske (Augsburg) dec. Andrew Steiert (Wartburg) 9-3; Nick Herring (College of New Jersey) dec. Teddy Erickson (Saint John’s) 7-6; Steiert maj. dec. Erickson 16-5 (Erickson eliminated).
174 — Benjamin Schweiger (Delaware Valley) dec. Jake Johnson (Concordia-Moorhead) 6-0.
184 — Owen Webster (Augsburg) pinned Derek Beitz (Messiah) 1:58; Ryan Shank (Waynesburg) dec. Luke Dodd (Saint John’s) 11-10; Deuly Espinal (Cortland State) maj. dec. Dodd 13-5 (Dodd eliminated).
197 — Riley Lefever (Wabash) pinned Robert Tait (Saint John’s) 0:36.
HWT — Donny Longendyke (Augsburg) pinned Zac Rieger (Adrian) 2:23; Jacob Evans (Waynesburg) dec. Justice Davis (Concordia-Moorhead) 10-5; Quin Gilliam (Loras) maj. dec. Davis 13-1 (Davis eliminated).
Visit The Guillotine College Tournament Time Page for brackets, results, and live video links.
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