Photo identification:
Four Cornell wrestling All-Americans coached against each other at the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 3 in Tipton, Iowa. They are, from left, Nick Dohrmann (Wilton), Justin Dix (Mount Vernon), former Cornell Coach Steve DeVries, Shawn Voigt (West Branch), Dean Miller (Durant). Photo by Darren Miller, Cornell College

Together they won 418 college wrestling matches for Cornell College, registered more than 100 falls and qualified for the NCAA Division III national championship 10 times, bringing home nine All-American honors. 

Dean Miller 1986, Shawn Voigt '90, Nick Dohrmann '99 and Justin Dix 2001 remain connected by more than their alma mater. They are all still involved with wrestling, coaching at the high school level. But more amazing is that all four are coaching in the same small conference - the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye - that produced both Voigt and Dix at Mount Vernon High School.

Miller is currently the head coach at Durant, Voigt at West Branch and Dohrmann at Wilton. Dix is the top assistant at Mount Vernon. All four wrestled under Cornell Coach Steve DeVries, who compiled a school-record 130 victories and 10 Midwest Conference championships from 1982-2000. He was the coach who led the Rams into the rugged Iowa Conference during the 1997-98 season.

"It's great that they're all still making a contribution to the sport of wrestling at the high school level," DeVries said. "They were always real self-motivated guys and they were team leaders in one way or another. I remember them being willing to do the extras to be All-Americans and they continued to get better and better and better every year." 

Voigt was the most successful as a collegian, posting a school-record 148 wins and 19 technical falls. A four-time All-American, Voigt is Cornell's most recent national champion, winning the 150-pound class in 1990. Dix, a two-time national qualifier, won 115 career matches and was 69-9 with 39 falls as a junior and senior. He placed fourth at nationals at 174 in 2001 and owns the school record for career falls with 53. Miller won 95 matches from 1982-86 at Cornell and was fourth in the NCAA championship at 134 pounds as both a junior and senior. 

Dohrmann, a transfer from the University of Iowa, compiled a 60-5 record in two seasons as a Ram, placing sixth at 126 as a junior in 1998 and fifth at 133 as a senior in 1999. Dohrmann is the only Cornell wrestler ever to win an Iowa Conference individual championship (126-pound title in 1998). Voigt was a four-time champion in the Midwest Conference and Miller won two crowns in the MWC.

The resumés of the foursome are extensive and impressive:

 Dix, an assistant vice president at Mount Vernon Bank and Trust Company, is a 1997 graduate of Mount Vernon High School. He has assisted at his alma mater since 2001-02. Dix was a two-time state qualifier (113 total wins) and finished fourth as a senior in 1997 at 160 pounds. 

 Dohrmann had his first stint as head coach at Wilton from 1999-2002, winning the Class 1A state championship in 2002. This is his first season back with the Beavers. In high school, Dohrmann, a 1994 graduate of Iowa City West, was a state qualifier in 1993 at 119 pounds and finished runner-up at 119 in 1994. 

 Miller has been at Durant since 2005. Prior to that, he was an assistant at Mount Vernon (1986-87), Cornell (1987-88) and Upper Iowa University (1988-95). From 1995-97 Miller was head coach at Clovis, Calif., where he led five state qualifiers and three state placewinners. From 1997-2000 he was head coach at Golden West High School in Visalia, Calif., before returning to Iowa to coach Springville High School from 2000-05. Miller, a 1982 graduate of Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School, was a three-time state qualifier as a prep, placing fifth his senior season. 

 Voigt has been rebuilding the program at West Branch since 2000. He has also been well-traveled in the coaching ranks, beginning at Simla, Colo., in 1990 where he had two state qualifiers. From 1991-93 Voigt was at Louisa-Muscatine (Iowa) High School, where he also had two state qualifiers. He was head coach at Des Moines Roosevelt in 1993-94 and was an assistant at West Des Moines Dowling from 1994-97. Voigt assisted at Cornell from 1997-99 while earning his master's degree in sports psychology from the University of Iowa in 1998. Voigt graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1986 and was a three-time state placewinner in high school, finishing second at 126 pounds in 1984, winning the championship in 1985 at 138 and placing third in 1986 at 138.

Under Dohrmann, Wilton has advanced to the state dual tournament twice, placing third in 2002. Mount Vernon has qualified for the dual tournament in 2004 and 2005 with Dix on its staff. The West Branch wrestling roster has increased from eight to 22 in Voigt's seven years at the school.

DeVries cited another significant factor about these four Cornell alumni.

"They were all solid students," he said. "They were able to use their motivation to help them not only on the wrestling mat, but in the classroom as well."

A fifth Cornell All-American - Scott Jehle, who was fourth in the nation at 118 pounds in 1984 - is a volunteer assistant on Miller's staff at Durant. Jehle competed at Cornell for one season (1983-84), winning 12 of 16 matches and capturing a Midwest Conference championship.

The Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference includes the following schools - Clear Creek-Amana, Durant, Iowa City Regina, Mid-Prairie, Mount Vernon, Solon, Tipton, West Branch, West Liberty, Williamsburg and Wilton. 

DeVries handed the head coaching reigns at Cornell to Curt Heideman in 2000. Heideman was replaced by Drew Pariano from 2003-05, and the current coach of the Rams is Mike Duroe, who is completing his second season.

Dean Miller
bachelor's degree: health and physical education, 1986
master's degree: sports science from United States Sports Academy, 1995
occupation: 9-12 physical education teacher, Durant High School
residence: Anamosa
Year	W-L	F-TF	Nationals
1982-83	20-11	
1983-84	22-10	5-0
1984-85	26-4	8-6	fourth, 134
1985-86	27-4	8-5	fourth, 134
Total	95-29	21-11

Shawn Voigt
bachelor's degree: history and education, 1990
master's degree: sports psychology, Univ. of Iowa, 1998
occupation: 11-12 U.S history, U.S. government teacher, West Branch
residence: Iowa City
Year	W-L	F-TF	Nationals
1986-87	30-11	3-3	sixth, 142
1987-88	37-2	6-8	third, 142
1988-89	39-3	9-4	third, 150
1989-90	42-3	17-4	first, 150
Total	148-19	35-19

Nick Dohrmann
bachelor's degree: physical education, 1999
occupation: 9-12 physical education teacher, Wilton High School
residence: Wilton
Year	W-L	F-TF	Nationals
1997-98	31-1	0-8	sixth, 126
1998-99	29-4	4-6	fifth, 133
Total	60-5	4-14

Justin Dix
bachelor's degree: economics and business/secondary education, 2001
occupation: assistant vice president, Mount Vernon Bank and Trust Company
residence: Mount Vernon
Year	W-L	F-TF	Nationals
1997-98	23-16	8-1
1998-99	23-7	6-2
1999-2000	34-6	16-0
2000-01	35-5	23-0	fourth, 174
Total	115-34	53-3