WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (3/2/02) - In a tournament reminiscent of the exciting finish of the 2002 Junior College Nationals in Rochester, Mn., the Division III National Championships held in First Union Arena came down to the finals and a match that need riding time to decide the winner! Heading into the final round, Augsburg the two-time defending champions were in first place in the team race, leading the always tough Wartburg Knights of Waverley, Iowa, by two points, 83 to 81.  However, the Knights coached by Jim Miller did not have finalists and could not catch Jeff Swenson's Auggies.  However, the Upper Iowa Peacocks lead by Heath Grimm had three  finalists as did Augsburg, and with some great wrestling the boys from Fayette, Iowa, had a chance to claim the title. The Peacocks were in third place with 77 points, trailing the Auggies by six points, and with a total of 12 point and possibly more with bonus points available in the finals and the hope for some Augsburg defeats, Upper Iowa still had hopes for a title.    The first final of the night at 125# saw Jamie Taxted the #6 seeded wrestler from Buena Vista(IA) decision Carlos Restrepo the #6 seed from Ithaca(NY) by the score of 7-3.  This gave Taxted the title and helped Al Baxter's Beavers finish a strong 5th at the national meet.     At 133 pounds, a young man from Loras College(IA) had what could only be termed as a dream tournament.  Steve Martin, coached by Randy Steward,  was un-seeded in the tournament  and knocked off three seeded wrestlers to reach the finals.  In the preliminary round, Martin was paired against the #1 seed and champ from 2000,  John Marchette of Augsburg.  The DuHawk would decision the #1 seed 5-4, and then pin his next two seeded wrestlers, #8 Gary Mikolay of MSU in 5:46 and #5 Dan Flounders of Trenton College in 1:46 to keep his dream tournament alive.  In the finals Martin would meet Tom Hall of Ithaca, who was also un-seeded and who also beat the #3 and #7 seeded wrestlers to make his trip to the finals. So the dream tournament was on the line for two unseeded wrestlers in the 133# finals, and for Tom Hall of Ithaca the dream came true when he decision Martin 10-6.    Upper Iowa saw its first opportunity to move closer to the team title when 1# rated and 2000 champ Jesus Wilson stepped on the ma tat 141 pounds to face Brady Cudd the #2 seed from UW-LaCrosse. Wilson was in control of the match when he went for a big throw and got caught himself. He watched his third-period lead of 8-4 turn into an 8-all tie as Cudd scored a four-point move.  However, Wilson got out of the jam and, with riding time, escaped with the 141# title.  It was his second national title. The first came in 2000, and came with a tougher-than-expected 10-8 decision over Brady Cudd of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.  "I was just trying to help our team, and I went for a big move that got me in trouble," said Wilson, a native of Cuba. "But I recovered and won the match."    With Wilson's win, the Peacocks moved into a tie for 2nd with Wartburg, 81-81, and still had two finalists with a chance to catch Augsburg who had 83 points.  Upper Iowa's remaining finalists were Jorge Borgen the #2 seed at 165 and Cliff Thompson the #6 seed at 197 pounds.  Key to these match ups would be at 165#'s where UIU's Borgen faced Augsburg's #1 seeded man Tony Abbott, a head-to-head match that could decide the team title.    In the head-to-head match at 165 pounds between the two top teams, Augsburg's Tony Abbott was in for the ride of his life!   The match between Abbott and UIU's Borgen was one of tight wrestling and low scoring. Abbott scored a second-period escape and held on for 1:31 of riding time to gain an extra point and the 2-1 decision, which was enough to overcome two stalling calls  for a penalty point in the third period.    "I knew it was close, and I knew that one or two of us were going to have to win, for sure," said Abbott regarding the team race. "My match was really important, because I was wrestling a guy from Upper Iowa, and that's a big swing either way, whoever wins. I knew if I would win, it would help seal the deal, which is the case now."    "He was the most improved wrestler we had as a freshman, from freshman to sophomore, from sophomore to junior and from junior to senior," said Augsburg head coach Jeff Swenson. "Tony Abbott just kept on getting better and better. He epitomizes the one-percent-improvement-a-day philosophy that our program has."    Although Abbott won and gave Augsburg 4 additional points to improve their lead to 6 points, 87-81, over Upper Iowa, the Peacock's still had a chance with Thompson at 197 pounds.  Going into the match Thompson knew he would need to win, but not just any win, he had to win by a pin to tie the Auggies for the national title, and any win would give the Peacocks sole possession of 2nd place leaving Wartburg with 3rd place.    In the 197# final, Thompson face the #4 seed Yan White from UW-Stevens Point.  The match saw no scoring until Thompson had an escape and then a takedown with 28 seconds left in the second period giving him a 3-0 lead. As soon as Thompson secured his takedown, White would escape, turn in on Thompson and body lock him to the mat for the fall with 9 seconds left in the period.  White would be crowed the champion with a fall in 4:51, and Augsburg would take the title.  "Ever since we were freshman we talked about our senior year would be out year," said Thompson, one of three all-Americans for UIU. "We wanted to do it for Coach McCready."    Mike McCreaty, was the coach at UIU when Borgen, Thompson, and 6th place all-American Meyers enrolled at Upper Iowa, died in December 1999 of a heart attack.  McCreaty was a quite man, but made plenty of noise on the mat as a heavy weight at UNI and on various international teams.  Mike was succeeded by Sam Barber, who was later named rookie coach of the year in 2000, after leading the Peacocks after McCreaty died.    Current Upper Iowa Coach Heath Grimm still had a shot at tying for the crown after the Auggies' Nick Slack and Ricky Crone were beaten, but it wasn't to be after Thompson's loss.  Instead, the Peacocks settled for a second-place tie, its best finish in school history, with Iowa Conference rival Wartburg. Augsburg finished with 87 points, while UIU and Wartburg each scored 81. "I'm disappointed for Jorge and Cliff," said Upper Iowa head coach Heath Grimm, who was named Division III's national coach of the year.  "It's always nice to end your careers with a 'W.' I just hope they can put this all in perspective. Hopefully, they can understand we've had a great tournament, and we've got to be proud of what we did.  We're very honored to take home a second-place trophy. We're disappointed with the result tonight, but I'm very proud of our effort."    When Tony Abbott beat Upper Iowa University's Jorge Borgen 2-1 in the 164-pound championship match Saturday night, it clinched Augsburg College's eighth NCAA Division III wrestling team national title in the last 12 seasons.    Augsburg accumulated 87 points to win the national title for the third season in a row, a feat unprecedented in the 29-year history of the Division III tournament. Augsburg's eighth national title is also the most in Division III history. Upper Iowa and Wartburg finished with 81 points each, while Wisconsin-La Crosse finished fourth with 68 points and Buena Vista (Iowa) placed fifth with 63.5.    Abbott's was the lone individual national titlist for the Auggies, who had three wrestlers in championship matches and six who earned All-America honors. Augsburg's two other finalists fell short of their goals of winning national titles in Saturday's finals.  Nick Slack, the 174-pound national champion in 2000 and national runner-up last year, lost in the championship match 12-8 to Ed Aliakseyenka of Montclair State (N.J.). Aliakseyenka built a 6-2 first-period lead and, though Slack cut the advantage to 8-7 early in the second period, the Montclair State wrestler remained in control throughout the match.    Slack, a three-time All-American and holder of the second-longest win streak in school history (60 from 2000-01), had