This past weekend marked the conclusion of the qualifying tournaments for  Division III Wrestling National Championships. The Division III Nationals will be will be held in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., this Friday and Saturday, March 1-2.     The final Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) championships were held at Carleton's West Gymnasium last Saturday, Feb. 23. This was the last time the MIAC will sponsor a conference championship due to Carleton dropping their program after the season.    The conference powerhouse, Augsburg College, claimed the team victory and extended their conference winning streak to 16 in a row. Augsburg won the meet with 140 points, followed by St. John's with 79.5 points and Concordia-Moorhead securing the third spot with 55.5 points. Coming in fourth was St. Olaf with 26.5 points and rounding out the team scoring was Carleton with no points.     Augsburg advanced all 10 of its competitors to the national championships for the fifth season in a row. Darin Betram (Herman, Minn.) and Nick Slack (New Prague, Minn.) shared the honor of being named outstanding wrestler at the meet. They are both four-time MIAC individual champions and are both ranked first in the nation at 125 pounds and 174 pounds respectively.    The defending national champion and three-time national finalist, Betram, defeated sixth-ranked Matt Voss (Hopkins, Minn./St. John's) with a score of 6-1 in the final match. This was the only meeting of ranked wrestlers for the day.    Slack pinned all three of his opponents on his way to claiming the 174-pound conference crown. He was also awarded the Rory Jordan Award for most pins in the least amount of time, with three at 8:07. Slack will go to the national meet looking to improve on his impressive 29-1 season record and a second place finish from last year's tournament.    John Marchette (Canual Fulton, Ohio) and Tony Abbott (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) both earned their third trip to nationals and both are ranked No. 1 nationally in their weight divisions. Marchette will grapple with the 133 pounders and Abbott will be competing in the 165 pound weight class.    At 184 pounds, Ricky Crone (Apple Valley, Minn.), currently ranked second nationally with a 26-1 record on the season, earned his first trip to the national tournament after transferring from Northern Iowa. Third-ranked Kevin Rasmussen (Owaonna, Minn.) took the 197-pound title earning his second trip to nationals and Brad Fisher (Austin, Minn.) will boast a 31-1 record at nationals after winning the 149 pound weight class. Fisher will be making his third trip to the national meet and is currently ranked fourth nationally.     Other Augsburg wrestlers to advance include 141-pounder Jamell Tidwell (Richfield, Minn.), 157-pounder Jeremy Jirele (Owatonna, Minn.) for the second time and Mike Flanagan (St. Paul, Minn.) who is 4-0 at heavyweight and a mid-season transfer from Minnesota.    Three of the "wild card" spots were awarded to St. John's wrestlers. Voss at 125 pounds, Chuck Griffith (Morris, Minn.) at 133 pounds and Tim Anderson (Zimmerman, Minn.) at 149 pounds.    The only other school to qualify a participant to the national tournament was St. Olaf. Alex Morf (Mr. Vernon, Iowa) earned his second trip to the tournament in the 149 pound division with the fourth "wild card" spot.    In the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), the top-seeded wrestlers were perfect for the day, all advancing to the national championships.     Winning the team title was John Carroll with 90 points. Ohio Northern came in second with 80.5 points and Mount Union tied up third with 47 points. Placing fourth was Wilmington with 45.5 points, fifth was claimed by Heidelberg with 42 points and sixth was taken by Muskingum. Rounding out the competition was Baldwin Wallace with 18.5 points.     Of the seven defending titlists who attended the tournament, five of them reclaimed their titles for a second year.      At 149 pounds, Mike Markovic (Brecksville, Ohio/John Carroll) is currently ranked seventh nationally and recorded a win over Tony Patrizi (Perry, Ohio/Heidelberg). This improved Markovic to a 32-7 record on the season and advanced him to the national tournment.    Top-ranked Jimmy Wallace (Germantown, Ohio/Wilmington) held on to narrowly defeat Steve Mosley (Flint, Mich./Ohio Northern) at 157 pounds by a margin of 17-14. Wallace improved his record to an incredible 25-0 on the season and reclaimed his conference crown.    In the 165-pound weight class, there were reminders of last year's tournament. Sixth-ranked Dan Anderson (Chardon, Ohio/Mount Union) faced off with Dan Kull (Perrysburg, Ohio/John Carroll). Anderson was last year's champion and Kull was the runner up. With a series of five takedowns during the match, Anderson defended his title and improved to 15-4 on the season.    Top-ranked Jeremy Kosch (Oakwood, Ohio/Ohio Northern) recorded a major decision over Brad Bryant (Freeport, Ohio/Heielberg) at 197 pounds. Kosch improved to an outstanding 32-3 on the season and regained his conference crown from last season.     At heavyweight, Eric Urdzik (Brecksville, Ohio/John Carroll), ranked second in the nation, recorded a 4-0 decision over Bruce Kennedy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wilmington). Urdzik claimed his third consecutive title and improved to a phenomenal 28-0 going into the national tournament.     Other champion qualifiers include 125-pounder Shain Hostetter (Youngstown, Ohio/Muskingum) who received the OAC Outstanding Wrestler Award and was named the OAC wrestler of the week. Others are Nate Shearer (Clyde, Ohio/Ohio Northern) at 133 pounds, Bobby Romano (Akron, Ohio/John Carroll) at 141 pounds, Mark Hawald (Solon, Ohio/John Carroll) at 174 pounds and eighth-ranked Ben Dusina (Columbus, Ohio/Ohio Northern) at 184 pounds.     All of the best Division III wrestlers will travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. this weekend for the conclusion of the college season. Augsburg is teh defending national chammpion team, and is top-ranked going into the tournament.