The NCAA News - News and Features

February 23, 1998

Division III Wrestling

Augsburg loaded for title repeat

Event: 1998 Division III Wrestling Championships.

Overview: Last year, 42 points separated champion Augsburg and runner-up and then-defending champion Wartburg -- the largest winning margin since the championships' first year in 1974 (when Wilkes beat John Carroll by 49 points). With defending 118-pound champion Henry Gerten and top-ranked 126-pound Brian Jones, who finished third last year, leading the pack, the Auggies are loaded again heading into the 25th annual championships. Add three second-ranked wrestlers, 150-pound Wade Johnson (fourth at 142 pounds last year), 158-pound Jesse Bakalyar (runner-up at 150 last year) and heavyweight John Pena (fourth place in 1996), and it is no wonder the Auggies are the favorite again. More contenders could be waiting in the wings at Augsburg; last year, two of the squad's finalists, including Bakalyar, were unseeded .... Should Augsburg falter, Wartburg will most likely be waiting. Josh Dodd, a 190-pound transfer from Division I Minnesota, is ranked second in that class. Chris Ortner placed sixth at 177 pounds last year and is ranked fourth in the same class this year. At heavyweight, Matt Powelka is ranked fifth .... Only two other individual champions return. Heavyweight Perry Miller of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will seek to become the second in his class to repeat in the last five years. (In 1994, Glen Sandull of College of New Jersey won his second straight title.) Matt Hamill of Rochester Institute of Technology, who won at 167 pounds last year, is experiencing similar success at 190 this year, where he is ranked No. 1. In addition to Bakalyar, two other 1996 runners-up return, led by host Upper Iowa's Ryan Birt, who is ranked first at 177 pounds. Gettysburg's Jason Dell, who was shut out by Hamill in last year's 167-pound finals, is the favorite to become the second champion in his school's history (Craig Helmuth, 1975 champion at 126 pounds, was the first).

Field: A total of 200 wrestlers will compete for 10 individual weight-class championships. The team champion is determined by adding the team points scored in individual matches.

Dates and site: March 6-7 at Young Arena in Waterloo, Iowa.

Information/results: The Fax-on-Demand number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1905). The request number for qualifiers, current brackets and team scores is 5342. Championships results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Results will be published in the March 16 issue of The NCAA News.