La Crosse, Wis. – It’s difficult to approach Wartburg head coach Jim Miller during a tournament. You never know what’s going through his mind or what kind of mood he’s in – win or lose.

Winning certainly helps Miller’s mood.

Wartburg cruised to its ninth NCAA Division III championship at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wis., putting five wrestlers into the finals and earning four individual titles.

The 55-point gap between Wartburg and second-place Augsburg is the biggest since Wartburg scored 166.5 back in 2003 and outdistanced the rival Auggies by 47 points. 

“It was an amazing round,” said Miller. “At 125 and 141, that was some great wrestling.”

Miller was right.

Kenny Anderson and Kodie Silvestri picked up two of the night’s biggest wins, starting off a Knights roll of three straight finals victories. Wartburg went 4-1 in the finals with Anderson, Silvestri, 165-pounder Landon Williams and 197-pounder Byron Tate all winning championships. 174-pounder Bradley Banks was second.

Anderson beat top-seeded Nathan Fitzenreider of North Central 6-2, avenging his only defeat this season, while Silvestri upset two-time champion Bebeto Yewah 11-9 at 141.

Tate became just the 12th wrestler in Division III history to win three titles. Tate dispensed with St. John’s Dustin Baxter 6-2 and was never challenged in the last seven minutes of his college career.

“It was one of my goals to win one, two or three. I’ve always wrestled with my heart and tried to win every match this season,” said Tate following his victory.

Tate was one of three Division III wrestlers to place at the Midlands back in December and he also competed in the NWCA All-Star Classic.

“I competed with some of the best,” said Tate. “I beat an undefeated guy (Christian) Boley from Maryland (at Midlands), it was a big confidence booster.”

“I was happy with Byron,” said Miller. “It’s tough to win three, you saw what happened at 141. It’s tough. Nothing’s automatic. It wasn’t his best match, but he got it done.”

After being hit hard by graduation, Miller said he didn’t know what to expect from this year’s team.

Perhaps he should have expected another championship. 

“We had six new guys in the lineup and there’s no way you’d have told me we’d do better this year than last year,” Miller said. “We lost six great kids off that team. National champions. It’s been the most unexpected. I’ve been waiting all year for the floor to fall, to get exposed, all year, we didn’t lose. All year, we won the National Duals, we won the Iowa Conference, we won the national title in dramatic fashion, it’s been amazing.”

Silvestri proved Miller’s theory by picking off Bebeto Yewah at 141 pounds in a thrilling 11-9 victory at 141 pounds. Silvestri took Yewah down twice in the first period and continued the momentum before holding off a late charge by the Eagle senior.

“(Yewah) and I have the same styles,” said Silvestri. “I knew that he was going to be more open for me to work on my stuff than I usually did. I knew this was going to be a great opportunity for me and my type of wrestling style and it just worked out the way I wanted.”

Silvestri’s counter takedown in the second period was one of the tournament’s best scores. Yewah was in deep on a single when Silvestri stepped over to gain control after nearly giving up two.

“When I feel get in that corner, that last minute corner, I just get my hips up real high and I wait for it,” said Silvestri.

Silvestri was voted the Outstanding Wrestler, a first for the program, even with the storied history of Wartburg wrestling.

Silvestri rode the momentum after roommate Anderson, upended top-seeded Fitzenreider in the finals at 125. Fitzenreider majored Anderson at the National Duals in January in his only loss of the season.

“I just kept focusing on how dumb I wrestled (the first time),” said Anderson on the corrections he made since their previous meeting. “It’s more than just a national title, I got to avenge a loss.”

Anderson broke open a 2-2 match with three nearfall points in the second period using a trademark junk move – the banana split. It was just the start of a sweet night all around for the Knights.

It was a breakthrough moment for Anderson, who wasn’t the starter while he was at Iowa Central. 

“It’s awesome,” said Anderson. “I know they’re proud of me. Everyone at Iowa Central believed in me so much. They told me not to give up.”

Landon Williams also claimed a title for Wartburg, beating conference rival Nick LeClere of Coe 7-4 in the finals at 165 pounds. Williams is a sophomore. 

Ithaca crowned two champions as Seth Ecker won his second Division III championship with an 8-0 major decision over Coe’s Jordan Westfall. Two-time runner-up Jeremy Stierly followed Ecker’s win with his first title at 149 pounds, beating second-seeded Anthony Dattolo of Wilkes 3-1 to help lead the Bombers to a fifth-place finish.

One of the night’s premier bouts came at 157 pounds as Nazar Kulchytsky became UW-Oshkosh’s first Division III champion with a 10-9 victory over Augsburg’s now three-time finalist Orlando Ponce. Kulchytsky, like Wartburg’s Anderson, avenged his only defeat of the season with the victory over Ponce.

Augsburg finished second and would not get shut out of individual titles as sophomore heavyweight Chad Johnson completed a magical season by beating UW-Whitewater’s Corey Anderson 6-1 in the finals.

Kyle Kwiat of Ohio Northern bested Banks at 174 pounds, giving the Polar Bears their second indvidual champion in the past three seasons. 

Mike Denver of TCNJ capped an undefeated season by pinning King’s College senior Mike Reilly in the second period at 184 pounds. Denver was also awarded the NWCA’s Most Dominant Award for a season full of bonus-point victories.

The ninth title was special for Miller and his crop of green wrestlers. He was continually surprised.

“Sometimes, when you’ve coached as long as I have, you think you know what you got,” said Miller. “I didn’t know what I had.”

Awards
Rookie Coach of the Year: Joe Galante, TCNJ
Assistant Coach of the Year: Duane Bastress, York
Coach of the Year: Tim Fader, UW-Whitewater
Most Falls: Jared Myhrberg, SUNY-Cortland
Outstanding Wrestler: Kodie Silvestri, Wartburg

NWCA Statistical Awards
Most Dominant: Mike Denver, TCNJ
Most Tech Falls: Kyle Kwiat, Ohio Northern
Most Falls: T.J. Wunnicke, UW-Platteville

Team Scores
(Top 20)
1. Wartburg 141.5; 2. Augsburg 86.5; 3. Coe 74.0; 4. Wisconsin-La Crosse 65.0; 5. Ithaca 61.5; 6. The College Of New Jersey 47.0; 7. Elmhurst 39.5; 8. Wisconsin-Whitewater 35.5; 9. North Central (IL) 32.0; 10. SUNY-Cortland 31.5; 11. St. Johns (MN) 29.5; 12. York (PA) 28.0; 13. Concordia-Moorhead 27.5; 14. Wisconsin-Oshkosh 26.0; 15. Mount Union 25.5; 16. Delaware Valley 23.5; 17. Springfield 23.5; 18. Ohio Northern 21.5; 19. Messiah 20.0; 20. King`s (PA) 18.0

Finals Matches
125- #2 Kenny Anderson (Wartburg) DEC #1 Nathan Fitzenreider (North Central) 6-2.
133- #1 Seth Ecker (Ithaca) MD #7 Jordan Westfall (Coe) 8-0
141- #2 Kodie Silvestri (Wartburg) DEC #1 Bebeto Yewah (UW-La Crosse) 11-9.
149- #4 Jeremy Stierly (Ithaca) DEC #2 Anthony Dattolo (Wilkes) 3-1
157- #2 Nazar Kulchytsky (UW-Oshkosh) DEC #1 Orlando Ponce (Augsburg) 10-9
165- #2 Landon Williams (Wartburg) DEC #1 Nick LeClere (Coe) 7-4
174- #3 Kyle Kwiat (Ohio Northern) DEC #4 Bradley Banks (Wartburg) 7-4
184- #1 Mike Denver (TCNJ) FALL #6 Mike Reilly (King's College) 3:55
197- #1 Byron Tate (Wartburg) DEC #3 Dustin Baxter (St. John's) 7-2
285- #2 Chad Johnson (Augsburg) DEC #4 Corey Anderson (UW-Whitewater) 6-1.