As the only school that qualified all 10 wrestlers to the 2011 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, top-ranked Wartburg was a heavy favorite coming into Friday’s competition at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wis.

The Knights, in search of the eighth Division III championship in school history, put five wrestlers into Saturday morning’s semifinal round and as a team, have assured themselves of no less than seven All-Americans.

Coach Jim Miller’s squad leads second-place Augsburg by 12 points (63.5-51.5), while host UW-La Crosse is third with 43 points. 

Returning national champion Byron Tate reached the semifinals with two dominating performances – an 11-3 major decision over Trine’s Alex Fleet and a quarterfinal technical fall victory over Delaware Valley’s Aaron Karns. 

Joining Tate in the finals are 125-pounder Mark Kist, 285-pounder John Helgerson and the Banks brothers, Carrington at 157 and Bradley at 174 pounds.

Bradley Banks knocked off tournament top seed Kyle Kwiat of Ohio Northern and will face Michael Reilly of King’s College in the semifinals. Banks, seeded eighth won an opening round bout with Trevor Tyler of Olivet.

While only qualifying five wrestlers, the Auggies pushed four of the five into the semifinals. Freshman heavyweight Chad Johnson picked up a consolation round victory on Friday night, giving the Auggies five All-Americans, which keeps a very unique streak alive.

According to Augsburg Sports Information Director Don Stoner, the Auggies have had at least five All-Americans for 23 years in a row.

The field had a handful of returning champions, three of which were in the field at 149 pounds. Last year’s 149-pound champion, Isaac Dukes of Case Western Reserve, survived a quarterfinal scare from Lycoming’s Isaiah Britton. Britton had apparently won the match 8-7, but a late locking hands call forced sudden victory. Dukes would find new life, and converted a takedown in sudden victory to advance. 

Dukes will face Augsburg’s Tony Valek in a rematch of last year’s championship final. On the bottom side of the bracket, a potential quarterfinal between two past champions was missed when UW-La Crosse’s Matt Mauseth, a three-time All-American and 2009 champion, was knocked off by Coe’s James Locke. 

Losing Mauseth in the championship bracket hurt the host Eagles’ title hopes, but losing Mauseth for the tournament dealt Dave Malacek’s team a crucial setback. 


Minga Batsukh of St. John’s, a two-time champion at 141 pounds, majored Locke in the quarters and will face Ithaca’s Blaine Woszczak in the bottom bracket at 149 pounds.

Luke Miller of Ohio Northern, last year’s champion at 157 pound defeated returning 165-pound national champion Vincent Renault of the Merchant Marine Academy in the quarterfinals at 165. Miller will face top-seeded Josh Terrell of Dubuque in Saturday’s semifinals.

Only two unseeded wrestlers reached the semifinals after an opening session which saw 16 seeded wrestlers fall. 

Coe’s Seth Rehn reached the semifinals at 184 pounds after defeated returning runner-up Brennan Ward of Johnson & Wales and fifth-seeded Dylan Azinger of Wartburg. Rehn will face returning champion Phil Moenkedick of Concordia in the semifinals.

Tom Bouressa of Concordia beat sixth-seeded Corey James of SUNY-Cortland in the opening round and then ousted third-seeded Judson Connell of Merchant Marine Academy 9-5 in sudden victory. Bouressa will face unbeaten Mark Corsello of Elmhurst in the semifinals.

Team Scores
1. Wartburg 63.5, 2. Augsburg 51.5, 3. UW-La Crosse 43, 4. Coe 41.5, 5. St. John’s 40, 6. Ithaca 37, 7. Concordia (Minn.) 35.5, 8. Mount Union 27,  9. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy 25, 10. Elmhurst 24.

Semifinal Matchups
125
#1 Clayton Rush (Coe) vs. #5 Riki Reynolds (Mount Union)
#2 Mark Kist (Wartburg) vs. #3 Lloyd McKinney (UW-La Crosse)

133
#1 Will Livingston (Centenary) vs. #4 Mike McInally (RIT)
#2 Nathan Fitzenreider (North Central) vs. #3 Seth Ecker (Ithaca)

141
#1 Bebeto Yewah (UW-La Crosse) vs. #4 Chris Albright (York)
#2 Jordan Stierly (Itahaca) vs. #6 Kevin Donahue (Cornell College)

149
#1 Isaac Dukes (Case Western Reserve) vs. #4 Tony Valek (Augsburg)
#2 Blaine Woszczak (Itahca) vs. #3 Minga Batsuk (St. John’s)

157
#8 Dan Twito (Merchant Marine Academy) vs. # Justin Berns (Concordia-Moorhead)
#2 Orlando Ponce (Augsburg) vs. #3 Carrington Banks (Wartburg)

165
#1 Josh Terrell (Dubuque) vs. #5 Luke Miller (Ohio Northern)
#2 Matt Baarson (St. John’s) vs. #6 Nick LeClere (Coe)

174
#8 Bradley Banks (Wartburg) vs. #4 Michael Reilly (King’s College)
#2 Michael Schmitz (UW-La Crosse) vs. #3 Zach Molitor (Augsburg)

184
#1 Phil Moenkedick (Concordia-Moorhead) vs. Seth Rehn (Coe)
#2 Ben Engelland (UW-Stevens Point) vs. #3 Mike Denver (TCNJ)

197
#1 Byron Tate (Wartburg) vs. #4 Ryan Malo (Williams)
#2 Jared Massey (Augsburg) vs. #3 Bill Schindel (Mount Union)

285
#1 John Helgerson (Wartburg) vs. #4 Brock Glotfelty (McDaniel)
#2 Mark Corsello (Elmhust) vs. Tom Bouressa (Concordia-Moorhead)