MINNEAPOLIS - Augsburg College will attempt to win its 10th NCAA Division III wrestling national championship in a 17-season span this weekend, entering the national championship tournament at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa, as the No. 2-ranked team in the national polls.

The Auggies, winners of nine of the last 16 national championships, enters the weekend tournament ranked second behind top-ranked and defending national champion Wartburg College (Iowa).

Augsburg has qualified wrestlers in all 10 weight classes to compete in the national tournament, as has Wartburg. Wisconsin-La Crosse, ranked No. 3 nationally, and Luther College (Iowa), ranked No. 4 nationally, both have eight individuals competing in the national meet. Cortland State University (N.Y.), ranked No. 5, has six individuals competing in the national meet.

Augsburg College was ranked No. 1 in the Division III wrestling national rankings for most of the season, before falling in a dual meet to Wartburg (Iowa) 19-13 on Feb. 1. The Auggies topped the Knights in an earlier dual meet, 22-10 on Jan. 14. Augsburg finished the season 11-1 in dual meets.

The Division III national tournament will be held at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa. The Five Flags Center also hosted the event in 2004. Friday's two sessions (11 a.m. and 6 p.m.) eliminate the field to the final eight in each weight class, which earn All-American honors. Saturday's 10:30 a.m. session includes championship semifinals and wrestlebacks, with placing matches scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Championship finals begin at 7 p.m.

Augsburg will provide continuous updates on its website at www.augsburg.edu/athletics/wrestling/ during the tournament.
Loras' tourney website is at: http://depts.loras.edu/sports/2007ncaawrestling/index.html

Augsburg is one of only six NCAA schools -- and the only Division III school -- to have won eight or more wrestling team national championships. In Division I, Oklahoma State has won 34 team titles, while Iowa has won 20 and Iowa State has won eight. In Division II, California State-Bakersfield and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo have won eight national titles apiece. In NAIA history, two schools have won eight national titles -- Adams State (Colo.) and Central State (Okla.).

Augsburg and Wartburg have been the powers of small-college wrestling over the past decade. Either Augsburg or Wartburg, or both teams, have finished among the top two in the NCAA Division III national championship race every year since 1990. Augsburg has won nine of the last 16 Division III national titles (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005), finishing second seven times; while Wartburg won national titles in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2006, finishing second seven times.

Augsburg has two top-ranked wrestlers in the latest Division III national rankings (Feb. 20) -- Marcus LeVesseur (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) at 165 pounds and Quincy Osborn (Jr., Grand Rapids, Minn.) at 141 pounds. Augsburg's Jafari Vanier (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS, 133 pounds) and Jeremy Anderson (Jr., Thief River Falls, Minn., 157 pounds) are ranked No. 2 in their weight classes. Seth Flodeen (So., Cannon Falls, Minn.,
125 pounds) and Robbie Gotreau (Jr., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS, 174 pounds) are ranked No. 3 in their weight classes. Jared Evans (Sr., Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area HS) is ranked No. 4 at 149 pounds.

Also competing at the national tournament for Augsburg are: George Lynaugh (Jr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) at 184 pounds, Wally O'Connor (Jr., Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh West HS) at 197 pounds, and Andrew Neumann (Sr., Somerset, Wis.) at heavyweight.

Augsburg's wrestling team has dominated small-college competition in last decade.

Augsburg has finished among the top two teams in national competition 18 times since 1975, winning national titles nine times in NCAA Division III competition and earning runner-up honors eight times (seven in Division III, once in NAIA). Augsburg has finished among the top four teams nationally in Division III competition every year since 1989.

Against opponents from Divisions II and III, Augsburg is 218-17 in dual meets against teams from Divisions II and III since the 1989-90 season. Augsburg has lost just 12 matches to non-Division I opponents since the 1995-96 season.

Against strictly NCAA Division III opponents, Augsburg is 229-20 since the 1979-80 season. Since the 1989-90 season, Augsburg is 153-10 against Division III opponents.

Against opponents from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Augsburg is 190-2 since the 1975-76 season. In winning each of the 14 MIAC Team Dual Meet tournaments, Augsburg outscored its conference opponents by a 3,266-145 margin in going 68-0. Following a 43-0 win over St. John's on Nov. 22, Augsburg now has a 21-season, 91-match dual-meet winning streak against MIAC opponents. The MIAC no longer sponsors an individual tournament and ended the MIAC Team Duals in the 2003-04 season. Augsburg is one of the most dominant wrestling teams in Minnesota.

The Auggies have won nine NCAA Division III national championships in the last 16 years (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005), the most in Division III history and just one of seven teams among all NCAA divisions to win at least six national championships in wrestling. Augsburg also finished second six times since 1990, in the top four nationally the last 18 seasons in a row (the only NCAA school in any division that can currently make that claim) and in the top 20 nationally (NCAA from 1983 to present, NAIA pre-1983) every year since 1971.

Minnesota has had a reputation of being the "state of hockey." In fact, it could also be properly termed the "state of wrestling." Augsburg has won nine NCAA Division III national titles, including three in a row from 2000-02; Minnesota won Division I national titles in 2001 and 2002, and North Dakota State, with most of its wrestlers from Minnesota, won Division II titles in 2000 and 2001 and finished second in 2002 and 2004 before moving to Division I two seasons ago. In the latest Division II national rankings, Minnesota State Mankato is ranked No. 3, with 10 qualifiers for the national championships. Minnesota State Moorhead has six national qualifiers. Augsburg has a record of individual success nationally, both on the mat and in the classroom.

Since Pat Marcy won the school's first NAIA national title at 150 pounds in 1972, Augsburg wrestlers have earned 39 individual national championships, including 35 NCAA Division III national titles, the most in Division III history. Augsburg surpassed the old Division III record of 28 national titles by Montclair State (N.J.), which has competed in every Division III tournament since it began in 1974 (Augsburg has only been in NCAA Division III since 1983).

Augsburg has earned 178 All-Americans in school history (since 1969), including 149 under current head coach Jeff Swenson. Augsburg has had at least one All-American in national wrestling competition (NAIA and NCAA) every season since 1977, at least six All-Americans every year since 1996, at least five All-Americans every year since 1989. At the 2005 NCAA Division III national championships, Augsburg earned All-Americans in all 10 weight classes for the first time in program history and just the second time in Division III history (Wartburg also accomplished the feat in 2003).

Augsburg College has also been a success in the classroom. Over the past 23 seasons, Augsburg has produced 95 National College Wrestling Association (NWCA) Scholar All-Americans, the most of any college in any division in the nation. Augsburg had six Scholar All-Americans last season, has had at least three Scholar All-Americans every year since 1993, and has had 72 athletes honored since 1997. Over the past nine seasons the NWCA has awarded Division III academic team national championships, Augsburg has finished second three times and first once (1998-99). Last season, the Auggies finished second nationally with a team grade-point average of 3.42 (4.00 scale). Augsburg is the only college to finish in the top 10 both on the mat and in the academic race in each of the eight years of the academic team national title program. Augsburg has also had eight ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans in wrestling, as awarded by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) -- Dan Lewandowski (1996-97), Josh Cagle (1998-99 and 1999-2000), Jim Peterson (1998-99), Brian Jones (1999-2000), Mark Matzek (2004-05) and Ryan Valek (2004-05 and 2005-06).

Head coach Jeff Swenson (Augsburg '79) is in his 25th season (1980-84, 1986-present) as Augsburg's head coach (28 seasons overall in wrestling coaching) and has a career dual-meet record of 321-44. He is one of a handful of wrestling coaches in the nation to win at least 300 matches as a coach and 100 as a college wrestler. He was a three-time All-American and an NAIA national champion at 167 pounds in 1979, finishing his collegiate career with a 102-17 competitive record. Swenson earned MIAC Coach of the Year honors 13 times, and has earned NWCA National Coach of the Year honors five times (1983, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000). Swenson was inducted into the NCAA Division III Wrestling
Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005.

During his tenure as Augsburg's head coach (1981-84, 1987-present), Swenson has coached 149 All-Americans, 36 individual national champions, while his teams have won nine national titles (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005) and 20 MIAC team championships. Under his commitment to academic as well as athletic success, Swenson's Auggies have earned 95 NWCA Scholar All-America honors, as well as earning the academic national team championship in 1999 (second in 1998, 2000 and 2006, third in 2002 and 2004, fourth in 2001). No other school has finished in the top 10 both academically and on the mat in the nine seasons of the NWCA's academic national rankings.

In addition to his wrestling coaching duties at Augsburg, Swenson also serves as Augsburg's Assistant Dean for Athletics and Recreation. In this role, he supervises the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic departments, the athletic facilities department, and the college's intramural athletic program. Swenson earned Augsburg degrees in health and physical education in 1979, and earned a master's degree in health from the University of Minnesota in 1982. Swenson earned Augsburg's Senior Honor Athlete award in 1979 and was inducted into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.