DUBUQUE, Iowa - It's difficult to put too much importance on the first match of the quarterfinals, but when Augsburg's Seth Flodeen defeated Wartburg's Robert Struthers 5-2 in the quarterfinals at 125 pounds Friday night, it seemed to set the tone for the rest of the night at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at the Five Flags Center.
Wartburg was the first-round leader, 4.5 points ahead of the third-place Auggies. But Flodeen's win started a 7-for-7 effort for Augsburg in the semifinals while Wartburg went 5-2. The big night gave Augsburg a 13-point lead in the team race over second-place Wartburg, 75.5-62.5.

"It was everything," Wartburg coach Jim Miller said.
"When it's head to head with close teams, those are the most crucial matches," Flodeen said.

"Everything happens so fast, but I'm sure it might have (been crucial)," Augsburg coach Jeff Swenson said. "You can't ever say momentum isn't a big thing."
Flodeen's future in the winners bracket was in jeopardy when things began to turn around in the waning seconds.

With the match tied 2-2, Wartburg's Robert Struthers was 5 seconds away from having enough riding time for a point and 11 seconds away from a victory against Flodeen when he was penalized twice in a row for false starts by referee Ken Daws. He then was forced to let Flodeen free and try for a takedown with enough time left to complete the riding time. He couldn't pull it off.

"I've been coaching over 30 years and never lost a match like that with two points on false starts," Miller said.

"I was a little worried, but I knew that I would have gotten out at the end," said Flodeen, a sophomore who had split a pair of regular-season matches against Struthers. "I figured it would be close. I figured it would be who could catch the other on his mistakes."
After Flodeen won, second seed Jarari Vanier (133 pounds), top seed Quincy Osborn (141), top seed Jared Evans (149), top seed Jeremy Anderson (157), top seed Marcus Levesseur (165) and second seed Robert Gotreau (174) also won in the quarterfinals for the Auggies.

Wally O'Connor (197) and heavyweight Andrew Neumann also won in the wrestlebacks for the Auggies, who will have nine All-Americans.
"I thought we had a nice round," he said. "We got after it. We weren't as sharp as we could have been in the first round, but we still got the job done."
LeVesseur's win put him halfway from becoming the first four-time national champion in Division III history. He opened the day by pinning Dave Early of Loras in 1 minute, 21 seconds, then he recorded a 22-7 technical fall against Zach Bogardus of SUNY-Cortland in the quarterfinals at 165 pounds.

"I'm real happy with my performance today," LeVesseur (152-0 in his career). "There's a little pressure, but I try to focus on things I can control, and that helps me."

LeVesseur faces Wartburg's Jason Knipp in the semifinals Saturday morning. LeVesseur has handed Knipp both his losses in his 16 matches since transferring to Wartburg from Iowa State at midyear.

The Knights, who led after the first session with 19 points, advanced four other wrestlers into the semifinals: Jacob Helvey at 133, Romeo Djoumessi at 184, T.J. Miller at 197 and Blake Gillis at heavyweight. But Aaron Wernimont (157) was the only other Wartburg wrestler to remain alive in the consolations.

"We had some young kids that didn't perform to their capabilities," Miller said.
Despite the disappointing round, Miller wasn't ready to concede the title to Augsburg.

"We've got a lot of power on the front side, so the semis obviously are a big round," he said. "I haven't seen the scores, though, so I don't know what we're competing for."
Wisconsin-La Crosse was in third place after the first day with 51.5 points, while Luther (47) and The College of New Jersey (32.5) rounded out the top five in the team standings.

"We made some critical errors, which you can't do at nationals," first-year La Crosse coach Dave Malecek said. "We'll have to fight to do the best we can tomorrow, but we'll have six All-Americans out of eight, and I'm real proud of that."

One of the Eagles who won't be on the awards stand is 2006 runner-up James Swanson, the third seed at 197 pounds. He was knocked into the losers bracket by Buena Vista's Ben Strandberg. It was the second straight seeded wrestler Strandberg knocked off in the tournament.

"Yeah, I consider them upsets," said Strandberg, who qualified for the NCAA Division II national tournament twice for Nebraska-Omaha before transferring to Buena Vista last year and making it to the Division III tournament. "Swanson beat me 3-0 when I was at UNO, but I was still really confident. Earlier, Strandberg beat Wisconsin-Stevens Point's sixth-seeded Tyler Wozniak 7-3 in the first round.

"All I wanted was to be an All-American, and I figured it was the easiest route (winning on the front side)," Strandberg said. "My brother B.J. (who died in a truck/train accident while a wrestler at Buena Vista) passed away six years ago in May, and this kind of seals the deal. It lets me do one last thing for him."

One defending national champion was knocked off Friday night.
Mount St. Joseph's Jason Roush, the fourth seed at 149, beat Wisconsin-La Crosse's Jacob Larsen 2-1 in the overtime tiebreaker. It was his second win this year against last year's national champion at 149.

"It's the third time I've wrestled him," said Roush, who also beat Larsen as a sophomore. "It kind of helps when you've beaten him (before), but it puts more pressure on you, too."
Roush, who has placed third at nationals twice, will face Augsburg's Evans in the semifinals.

"I wrestled him for third place last year and caught him in the first period and pinned him," Roush said. 

"I'd like to just get in the finals. Including high school, this is the fifth time I've been in the semifinals, and so far I'm 0-4."

Mike Gaeta became the second four-time All-American in Springfield history when he pinned Coe's Jared Creason in the quarterfinals at 141.

"It feels good. This is where I want to be," Gaeta said. "Every year I lost my first match, so I just want to keep winning."

Gaeta almost had to come back through the wrestlebacks again. He trailed Creason 1-0 and Creason had more than a minute of riding time with the clock winding down. But Gaeta reversed Creason to his back to go ahead 2-1, then got the pin in 6 minutes, 42 seconds.

"I just wanted to escape before he got riding time," Gaeta said. "I knew I would have to win on my feet. But he had his legs in, and I got leg spacing, turned in and he was out of position."

Gaeta, who placed fifth, seventh and fifth in three previous trips to the national tournament, said some good did come from all those trips through the back side of the bracket.

"If you lose you have to win - it's do or die," he said. "It gives you that little extra driving force. No one said this tournament was going to be easy."



Weight-by-weight capsules
125 pounds
Top seed - Nate Hansen (Luther)
Returning All-Americans - Hansen 4th-125; Felipe Queiroz (Wilkes) 6th-125; Chris Heilman (Cornell) 7th-125.

What happened: All but one seeded wrestler made it through the opening round. The exception was No. 7 seed Jake Oster of Elmhurst, who was pinned in 1 minute, 31 seconds by Brian Clement of Coe. Third seed Seth Flodeen of Augsburg survived a scare, beating Felipe Queiroz of Wilkes 4-2 on a takedown in sudden victory. It was the only win of the round that wasn't a major decision, not including the pin by Clement. The other winners were Nate Hansen of Luther, Eracieo Vallejo of Manchester, Mike McInally of Rochester Institute of Technology, Chris Heilman of Cornell, Robert Struthers of Wartburg and Brandon McDonough of Johnson and Wales. There is a key matchup in the quarterfinals when Flodeen and Struthers meet. They split against each other in the regular season.

Hansen pinned Vallejo in the quarterfinals in 2 minutes, 54 seconds to earn the first spot in Saturday's semifinals. Hansen will face Heilman in the semifinals in a rematch of the Iowa Conference championship match. Heilman beat McInally 16-4. Hansen won the conference match 10-1. The other semifinal will feature Flodeen against McDonough. Flodeen beat Struthers 5-2, while McDonough defeated Clement 14-5.

Oster, Vallejo, Clement and Kyle Flickinger, who beat Struthers 4-3, all advanced in the consolation rounds and will earn All-America honors today.


133 pounds
Top seed - David Morgan (Kings)
Returning All-Americans - Jafari Vanier (Augsburg) 2nd-133; Jestin Hulegaard (Buena Vista) 3rd-133, 5th-133 in 2005; Morgan 6th-133; Adam Johnson (North Central) 7th-133; Sean Cullen (Lycoming) 6th-133 in 2005; Jordan Kolinski (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 7th-125 in 2005.

What happened: Justin Seifried, a freshman from Ithaca who was a New York state runner-up last year, pulled off the only first-round upset. He pinned fifth seed Adam Johnson of North Central in 2:21. 

Augsburg survived another close call here in the first round, as 2006 national runner-up Jafari Vanier recorded a takedown with a second left to beat Nick Nothern, a freshman from Cornell, 3-1. Top seed David Morgan of Kings and No. 6 seed Raymond Sarinelli of the College of New Jersey had first-round byes. Also winning were Jordan Kolinski of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Jacob Helvey of Wartburg, Jestin Hulegaard of Buena Vista and Sean Cullen of Lycoming.

The top four seeds moved into the semifinals with wins in Friday night's quarterfinals. Morgan, who beat Kolinski 5-3, will face Helvey, a 5-1 winner against Seifried. Hulegaard, who beat Sarinelli 5-3, will take on Vanier, who beat Cullen 10-3.

Rounding out the All-Americans today will be Gannon Hjerleid of Coe, Johnson, Seifried and Kolinski, all of whom won in the wrestlebacks.

141 pounds
Top seed - Quincy Osborn (Augsburg)
Returning All-Americans - Andrew Lacroix (Roger Williams) 3rd-141; Paul LeBlanc (SUNY-Cortland) 4th-141; Mike Gaeta (Springfield) 5th-141, 7th-141 in 2005, 4th-141 in 2004; Zach McKray (Wartburg) 8th-133.

What happened: The first upset of the tournament came in the pigtails at this weight, and one more seed lost in the first round. Tyler Branham of The College of New Jersey beat returning All-American Andrew Lacroix, the eighth seed from Roger Williams, 3-0 in the preliminary round. Branham also won his first-round match. Myanganbayar Batsukh of St. John's beat third-seeded Paul LeBlanc of SUNY-Cortland, who took fourth last year, 10-9. Other first-round winners were Quincy Osborn of Augsburg, Jared Creason of Coe, Mike Gaeta of Springfield, Michael Bonora of Rhode Island College, David Manoogian of Case Western and Ricky LaForge of Delaware Valley. Osborn recorded a technical fall and LaForge had a pin.

Osborn beat Branham 11-6 in the quarterfinals and will face Gaeta in the semifinals. Gaeta was in jeopardy of losing when he reversed Creason to his back for a fall in 6:42 that ensured him of earning All-America honors for the fourth year in a row. In the bottom half of the bracket, Bonora beat Batsukh 10-6 and LaForge recorded his second straight sub-one-minute pin, sticking Manoogian in 40 seconds.

Creason, Branham, Zach Chambers of Wisconsin-Platteville and Travis Grawin of Luther won in the wrestlebacks and will be All-Americans today.

149 pounds
Top seed - Jared Evans (Augsburg)
Returning All-Americans - Jacob Larsen (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 1st-149, 4th-149 in 2005; Joe Pflug (Heidelberg) 1st-157; Jason Roush (Mount St. Joseph) 3rd-149, 3rd-149 in 2005, Evans 4th-149; Matt Pyle (Luther) 5th-149, 1st-149 in 2005; Timothy Bohlman (York) 6th-141; Don Ooten (SUNY-Brockport) 8th-149.

What happened: The weight that includes three national champions had no upsets, as the top eight seeds all moved on to the quarterfinals. Fourth seed Jason Roush and 2005 national champion Matt Pyle of Luther recorded pins, while Joe Pflug of Heidelberg, last year's national champion at 157, recorded a major decision. Defending champion Jacob Larsen of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the fifth seed, won 3-1. Other winners were Jared Evans of Augsburg, Ryan Higgins of Wisconsin-Platteville and Don Ooton of SUNY-Brockport. No. 7 seed Timothy Bohlman of York received a bye. Higgins was cradled by Wartburg's Adam Weber for three near-fall points that tied the match at 9-9 but battled back to win.

Roush knocked out one of the champions in the quarterfinals. He beat Larsen 2-1 in the overtime tiebreaker. He will face Evans, who beat Higgins 10-4. There will be a matchup of former champions in the bottom half of the bracket, as Pflug beat Ooton 10-6 and Pyle got his second fall of the tournament, pinning Bohlman in 31 seconds.

All eight seeds will earn All-America honors because Bohlman, Ooton, Larsen and Higgins won in the wrestlebacks.

157 pounds
Top seed - Jeremy Anderson (Augsburg)
Returning All-Americans - Anderson 2nd-157; Ross Needham (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 3rd-157; Jacob Malone (St. John's) 4th-157; Bobby Gingerich (North Central) 5th-157; Elliot Spence (Mount St. Joseph) 8th-157; Joseph Galante (College of New Jersey) 4th-157 in 2005.

What happened: One seed fell in the first round. Jesse Milks, a freshman for Wisconsin-Platteville who won the Illinois Class A state title at 140 pounds a year ago for Dakota High School, pinned fifth-seeded Elliot Spence of Mount St. Joseph. Buena Vista's Kyle Forness, who knocked off fourth-seeded Jared Evans of Augsburg 4-3 in the first round last year at 149, almost repeated the feat in the first round this year. Only a takedown with 3 seconds left allowed fourth seed Bobby Gingerich of North Central to beat Forness 5-4. Cornell's Pat McAuley, the eighth seed, avoided a first-round upset when he beat Ryan Herwig of Delaware Valley 10-8 on a takedown 14 seconds into sudden victory. McAuley trailed 8-7 in the final seconds but tied the match on a penalty point for stalling with 1 second left in regulation. Also winning first-round matches were Aaron Wernimont of Wartburg, Joseph Galante of The College of New Jersey, Daniel deLalla of Wesleyan and Ross Needham of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Wernimont and Galante recorded major decisions.

Galante, the sixth seed, caught Wernimont in headlock after recording a go-ahead takedown and pinned him in 6:33 in the semifinals. There also was a pin in the other match on the bottom side, with Needham sticking deLalla in 4:36 to set up a semifinal match with Galante. On the top side, Anderson beat McAuley 5-0, and Gingerich, the fourth seed, scored a 13-5 major decision against Milks.

Jacob Malone of St. John's will be an All-American for the second straight year, while McAuley, Spence and Wernimont also won in the wrestlebacks to ensure top-eight finishes.

165 pounds
Top seed - Marcus LeVesseur (Augsburg)
Returning All-Americans - Steve Martell 4th-165; Gerald Bowne (York) 5th-165; Shaheim Bradshaw (SUNY-Brockport) 6th-157, 5th-157 in 2005; LeVesseur 1st-157 in 2005, 1st-157 in 2004, 1st-157 in 2003.

What happened: There was an early upset here, when Zach Bogardus of SUNY-Cortland defeated eighth seed Corey Murphy of Thiel 4-3 in the preliminary round. Augsburg's Marcus LeVesseur started his quest to become the first four-time champion in Division III by pinning Loras' Dave Early in the first round. Other first-round winners were Bogardus, Jason Knipp of Wartburg, Gerald Bowne of York, Steve Martell of Johnson and Wales, Michael Guenther of The College of New Jersey, Shaheim Bradshaw of SUNY-Brockport and Tim Palmer of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Knipp and Guenther recorded first-period pins. Bowne had the longest match of the session, beating Joseph Hoover of Manchester in a 2-2 on a riding-time point in the final overtime tiebreaker. Hoover appeared to get an advantage with a reversal to start the first tiebreaker of the second sudden death, but Bowne also got a reversal in the final 30-second tiebreaker and had the riding-time advantage.

LeVesseur moved into the semifinals with a technical fall (22-7 in 6:42). He will face Wartburg's Jason Knipp, the fifth seed who beat fourth-seeded Bowne 11-6. LeVesseur has handed Knipp, a midseason transfer from Iowa State, both of his losses in Division III this year. In the bottom half, Guenther tossed Martell to his back to break a 1-1 tie and got the pin in 6:57. He will take on Bradshaw, a 9-7 overtime winner against Palmer.

Palmer and Martell won in the wrestlebacks and will claim All-America honors today, as will Phil Kruzel of the University of Chicago and Gino Russo of Baldwin-Wallace.

174 pounds
Top seed - Josh Chelf (Wisconsin-La Crosse)
Returning All-Americans - Chelf 3rd-174, 6th-174 in 2005; Robert Gotreau (Augsburg) 4th-174; Jon Dolan (Williams) 6th-174, 7th-165 in 2005.

What happened: Top seed Josh Chelf of Wisconsin-La Crosse picked up a major decision, and Williams' Jon Dolan, the No. 4 seed, and McDaniel's Andrew Winfield, the No. 7 seed, received byes. Two seeds fell. Luther's Paul Meirick, the Iowa Conference champion, defeated No. 8 Gregory Osgoodby of The College of New Jersey 16-5, and Adam Dorner of Wisconsin-Oshkosh beat fifth-seeded Jason Zastrow of Wartburg, who took third in the Iowa Conference, 8-2. Other first-round winners were Kyle Vanderhyde of Olivet, Treavor LeBlanc of SUNY-Cortland and Robert Gotreau of Augsburg.

The top four seeds will wrestle in today's semifinals. Chelf pinned Meirick in 1:50 and will face Dolan, an 8-4 win over Dorner in the top half of the bracket. Below, Vanderhyde beat LeBlanc 7-3, and Gotreau beat Winfield 1-0.

Winfield, LeBlanc and Dorner won in the wrestlebacks, as did Eric Bath of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and they will be All-Americans, as well.

184 pounds
Top seed - Jason Lulloff (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 
Returning All-Americans - Lulloff 3rd-184, 4th-184 in 2004, 3rd-184 in 2003; Stephon Sair (SUNY-Cortland) 1st-174, 4th-174 in 2005; Terrance Madden (Hunter) 6th-184; Ryan Summers (John Carroll) 2nd-184 in 2005.

What happened: The fifth, sixth and seventh seeds all lost first-round matches. Gabe Youel of North Central defeated No. 5 Elliot Smith of Springfield 6-5, Nichalos Calandrino of Ithaca pinned No. 6 Jay Figgins of Loras in 2:14 and 2005 runner-up Ryan Summers of John Carroll defeated No. 7 George Lynaugh of Augsburg 3-2. Top seed Jason Lulloff of Wisconsin-La Crosse and No. 3 Romeo Djoumessi of Wartburg picked up major decisions, while No. 2 Stephon Sair of SUNY-Cortland, last year's champion at 174, Brett Giehl of SUNY-Brockport and Terrance Madden of Hunter also won.

The top four seeds also moved into the semifinals here. Lulloff beat Giehl 7-4, Madden edged Youel 10-9, Djoumessi beat Calandrino 11-0 and Sair beat Summers 6-3. Lulloff will face Madden in the semifinals, and Djoumessi will take on Sair.

Summers, Calandrino, Figgins and Nick Coleman of New York University won in the wrestlebacks and will be All-Americans.

197 pounds
Top seed - Tyler Miller (Wartburg)
Returning All-Americans - James Swanson (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 2nd-197, 5th-197 in 2005; Miller 4th-197; Matthew Loesch (Muhlenberg) 6th-197; 4th-197 in 2005.

What happened: The sixth and seventh seeds also lost first-round matches here. Buena Vista's Ben Strandberg, who transferred from Nebraska-Omaha last year, beat No. 6 Tyler Wozniak of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 7-3, and Diego Crespo of Johnson and Wales beat No. 7 Philip Archer of SUNY-Cortland 3-2. Top seed T.J. Miller of Wartburg got a technical fall, No. 4 Alec Bonander of Luther recorded a pin and No. 3 James Swanson of Wisconsin-La Crosse edged Paul Burger of Baldwin-Wallace 5-4. Mike Schmidt of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Keith Garrard of Wabash and Matthew Loesch, of Muhlenberg, the No. 2 seed, all had first-round byes. Strandberg pulled off his second straight upset in the quarterfinals, Swanson, last year's runner-up, 7-3. Strandberg will face No. 2 Loesch, a 5-3 winner in sudden victory against Crespo. Miller beat Schmidt 15-2 to advance to the semifinals, where he will face Garrard, the fifth seed, who pinned Bonander in 1:41.

Bonander and Archer came back through the wrestlebacks to advance to the top eight, as did Augsburg's Wally O'Connor and Jason Reilly of Kings.

Heavyweight
Top seed - Blake Gillis (Wartburg) 
Returning All-Americans - Gillis 2nd-Hwt, 2nd-Hwt in 2005, 2nd-Hwt in 2004; John Miller (Luther) 8th-Hwt.

What happened: Dan Laurent of Wisconsin-La Crosse was the only seed to fall in the first round. Laurent, seeded eighth, lost 3-2 to Ryan Bowers of Heidelberg. Top seed Blake Gillis of Wartburg, who has lost in the finals the past three years to Ryan Allen, opened with a technical fall in the first round. Other winners were Trevor Hiffa of Oneonta State, John Miller of Luther, Bryan Kmetz of Baldwin-Wallace, Jacob Taylor of Oswego State and Kyle Brown of Thiel, while second seed Arkadiy Levitin of Hunter got a bye. Kmetz recorded a 42-second fall, and Miller and Taylor also picked up pins.

The top three seeds made it to the semifinals, but fifth-seeded Trevor Hiffa of Oneonta State pinned Luther's John Miller, the No. 4 seed, in 5:51. Hiffa will face Gillis, who beat Bowers 16-3. In the bottom half of the bracket, No. 3 Kmetz beat Taylor 5-0 and Levitin pinned Brown in 1:07.

Three unseeded wrestlers - Andrew Neumann of Augsburg, Wade Hammen of Buena Vista and Jaran Rutledge of Knox - will earn All-America honors by winning on the backside, as will Brown, the seventh seed. Hammen beat Iowa Conference rival Miller 10-6 in an elimination match.