Division III Team Preview; Augsburg again the head of the D3 class
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Michael Carnes (USA Wrestling)
11/07/2001
Returning seven national qualifiers and five All-Americans back from a team that dominated the Division III national tournament last year, Augsburg is clearly the team to beat coming into the 2001-2002 season. It¹ll be hard to top the efforts the Auggies put up in the last two seasons. Last year, they won the team title by a comfortable 47.5 points and won it by 48 points the year before that. Only Wilkes¹ 49-point margin of victory in 1974 was a bigger lopsided victory in the Division III national tournament. Asking some of the coaches who expect to chase Augsburg this winter, and they will tell you that the Auggies are the team to beat. "Obviously, we¹re all chasing Augsburg," Wisconsin-LaCrosse coach Tim Fader, whose team finished as national runners-up last year, said of the Auggies. "They have the tradition and it never seems that they have any holes." Indeed, it would appear the Auggies are going to be tough to handle this year with seven qualifiers who accounted for two-thirds of the Auggies 119.5 points at nationals last year. Led by 125-pound national champion Darin Bertram and runners-up Brad Fisher (141) and Nick Slack (174), one would find it difficult to argue the Auggies¹ chances. And while coach Jeff Swenson has seen his team win seven of the last 11 Division III titles, he doesn¹t allow those in the Augsburg program to focus on winning the national title. "We really don¹t think much about it, and I know that sounds like a coach's cliché," he said. "But we don¹t talk about winning national titles in the practice room. We just talk about becoming better wrestlers." Swenson said the Auggies will have a very solid team back, with eight seniors dominating the Augsburg lineup. "On paper, we probably have one of our strongest teams returning, and we have a good nucleus of upperclassmen," he said. Wartburg, which finished sixth in last year¹s tournament, is rated second in the NWCA preseason rankings and returns three All-Americans and six qualifiers from last year¹s team. Coach Jim Miller said last year¹s team was a young team, but this year¹s will be more experienced heading into the season. "We went to nationals last year with one guy who had previous experience there, so we have a lot more experience and I think we¹ll be better," he said. Wartburg will look to All-Americans Joe Havig (133), Sonny Alvarez (184) and Leroy Gardner (HWT) to lead the way, but have some good talent coming in with Northern Iowa transfer Brandon Livingood (149) and 197-pounder Alain Djoumessi, who was a national junior college runner-up last year at Northern Idaho Junior College. Fader¹s Eagles had a breakthrough season with their runner-up finish last year, and the Wisconsin-LaCrosse coach is optimistic his team can make another run at the title this season. "If we can get everybody where we want them, we¹ll have a solid lineup," he said. "We had a smaller recruiting class, but a very strong and talented one. Two of our true freshmen may challenge for the lineup, and that's exciting." Luther and College of New Jersey round out the top five in the preseason rankings, and both could be serious contenders for the title this season as well. "I think we have a nice mix of upperclassmen and some young quality guys, and by the end of the year I think we¹ll be really competitive," Luther coach Dave Mitchell said. "We had probably our best recruiting year in six years, so we should have some freshmen that can help us out." College of New Jersey has four All-Americans back, but won¹t see 125-pound runner-up Anthony Conte until after the holidays while he recovers from knee surgery. "We have eight starters back and seven who were in the conference finals, and I think we¹re in a situation where we could be in there," coach David Icenhower said. Upper Iowa, Ithaca, Brockport State (NY), Buena Vista and Ohio Northern round out the top 10. One sleeper team coaches mentioned was King¹s College of Pennsylvania, which will play host to the Division III national tournament in March. The Monarchs return six wrestlers who reached the conference finals last year and recruited very well in the offseason, according to reports.