The NCAA News - News and Features

March 16, 1998

Augsburg wrestles to second consecutive III tourney victory

Henry Gerten repeated as 118-pound champion and Jim Peterson won the 167-pound class as Augsburg romped to its second consecutive Division III Wrestling Championships title and its third in the last four years March 7 at Young Arena in Waterloo, Iowa.

The Auggies, under Division III coach-of-the-year Jeff Swenson, scored 132 points and overwhelmed runner-up Wartburg by 42 points, the same winning margin as last year. The point total was the highest since 1974, when Wilkes won the inaugural championships with 1351Ž2 points.

Augsburg was the only team with two individual champions.

Wisconsin-La Crosse posted its best finish, scoring 61 points to place third. The Eagles placed fourth at the 1997 championships. Simpson also posted its best finish, placing fifth with 44 points, spurred by 158-pound champion Corey Christensen. The Storm's previous best finish was 10th place in 1992.

Manchester equaled its previous best, finishing sixth for the second straight year. Springfield tied last year's school-record finish of seventh, and Rochester Institute of Technology finished a school-record eighth place.

Individually, Rochester Institute of Technology's 190-pound Matt Hamill became the first representative of the school to earn Most Outstanding Wrestler honors.

The top seed in his class, Hamill pinned second-seeded Josh Dodd of Wartburg at 1:57 of the championship match. The pin was Hamill's second first-period fall of the championships and fourth in four matches. He flattened Lycoming's Ryan Gardner in 2:37 in the first round, pinned eighth-seeded Mike Gaydos of Springfield in 23 seconds in the quarterfinals and finished Oswego State's Carlos Dolmo in 2:24 in the semifinals.

Wisconsin-Stevens Point heavyweight Perry Miller repeated in his class, eking out a 3-1 sudden-death decision over second-seeded John Pena of Augsburg.

At 134 pounds, Montclair State's Florian Ghinea increased his school's record total of championships to 23 individual titles. However, the victory was the Red Hawks' first since Jim Sloan won the 177-pound class in 1993.

Eric Vaughn of Brockport State won the 177-pound class to increase his school's total of individual titles to 22, second behind Montclair State.

Wisconsin-Platteville first-year coaches Ryan Lord and Chris Walter were honored as co-rookie coaches of the year.

Upper Iowa, located in nearby Fayette, served as tournament host. This marked the second straight year that an NCAA wrestling championship was held in Waterloo. Last year Northern Iowa hosted the Division I championships.