Augsburg wins 15th NCAA Div. III Nationals team title, as Schwanebeck-Ostermann and Kim are champions

LA CROSSE, Wis. — A pair of seventh-place finishes put Augsburg in position to repeat as NCAA Division III national champion, and Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann sewed it up in dominating fashion.

Schwanebeck-Ostermann sealed Augsburg's 15th national title, continuing a season of domination with a 19-2 technical fall victory against Ryan DeVivo of Johnson & Wales in the final at 184 pounds Saturday night in the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at the La Crosse Center.

"Winning with your team is way better than by yourself," Schwanebeck-Ostermann said, comparing the titles. "Just having that whole team with you there, and we're all champs, that's what really matters."

Tyler Kim added a second individual title for the Auggies at 285 pounds to give them a team total of 95 points and tying them with Wartburg for the all-time lead in team championships. Wartburg was second with 87, followed by Wisconsin-La Crosse (82), Johnson & Wales (76) and Wisconsin-Eau Claire (69).

After an up-and-down day that saw La Crosse vault into the lead by winning four semifinals, then Wartburg overtaking them with three strong performances in the wrestlebacks, the Auggies got their momentum from a couple of wrestlers who had much higher hopes.

Seth Goetzinger (174 pounds) and Parker Venz (197) recorded pins in their seventh-place matches to springboard Augsburg past La Crosse and Wartburg with 85.5 points after the placing matches.

"It's not me, it's the whole team," Schwanebeck-Ostermann said. "We've all got to do our best, wrestle our best, and go out there and have fun, and they had fun and took it to them and now we're national champs."

Even with those wins putting the Auggies on top, the host school, with four finalists, was not out of it, and Wartburg still had a chance with two finalists, both defending national champions. But the Eagles' chances took hits when Tyler Goebel (149) and Noah Leisgang (165) took second, and Wartburg's chances diminished when Jared Stricker of Wisconsin-Eau Claire avenged a loss in last year's final at 174 and beat Zane Mulder.

Those results meant Augsburg needed to win just one of its two championship matches to ensure the title.

Schwanebeck-Ostermann took care of that.

A pair of takedowns staked him a 6-1 lead in the first period and he went on to record his 14th technical fall of the season to go with eight pins and eight major decisions in a 33-1 season. He closed with 30 consecutive wins after his lone loss to Brennan Swafford of Iowa.

Making the title even more special was that the native of Loyal, Wisconsin, won it in his own state.

"I've wrestled here like three times, on the stage, and I was never able to win it, and so being here in college, winning it, it feels amazing."

Kim was emotional after his 4-2 win against UW-La Crosse's Michael Douglas.

“That came from, you know at the beginning of my college career I never imagined myself to be more than a room guy," said Kim, who led all the way after recording a takedown midway through the first period. "I had no future of myself even participating in wrestling in college, but after five years of dedication and hard work, coming back a fifth year, using that eligibility ... after everything it was just relief."

Wartburg broke a second-place tie with UW-L when Mo Endene beat Gabriel Zierden of Concordia-Moorhead 12-4 in the final at 197 for his second title in a row. Endene built an 11-0 lead with two takedowns, a four-point near fall and an escape, then had to survive a third-period in which he was called for stalling four times.

"I started (wrestling) as a sophomore in high school and I didn't know what I was doing," Endene said. "I went to community college and started from there and developed. I didn't know what wrestling really was, but it brought me here today."

The Eagles had moved into a tie for second place with Wartburg when Nolan Hertel won his second consecutive title at 157 pounds. A takedown with 47 seconds left broke a 1-1 tie with Peter Kane of Williams.

"We try not to focus a ton on team scores throughout the tournament. Our job is to wrestle, so that's kind of what Coach has preached to us. Definitely finishing out the year and finishing out my career at UW-L at the La Crosse Center here and also having the chance to get a team title, there's not better feeling, no better way it could have ended."

The Eagles were unable to build on the lead, though, when Noah Leisgang lost 2-1 on riding time to Nick Sacco of The College of New Jersey. A second-period rideout was the key for Sacco.

"I believe I can ride anyone in the country," Sacco said. "It's something we focus on, and it's a lot of grit and determination."

Sacco said he was aware of the team race and relished playing the role of a spoiler.

"I actually said that to my teammates before, being the villain stepping in here with this home crowd," he said.

"You've got to break someone's dreams."

Stricker broke the dreams of Mulder and Wartburg when he won 10-3 in the rematch at 174.

"It's been on my mind ever since I lost last year," Stricker said. "It's what I've been working for. It feels much better winning than losing, that's for sure."

Stricker built a lead with takedowns in each of the first two periods, then sealed it with another takedown just before time expired in the third.

"It feels good helping other teams, but we were so close this year; that was one of our goals to get a team trophy. We were one place away."

Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace spoiled the start of championship night for the host school when he pinned Tyler Goebel in 4:19 of a scoreless match at 149 pounds. Petrella had a strong ride going when he put Goebel on his back, then celebrated by circling the mat in joy, a wilder celebration than 2023 when he won his first title after taking second in 2022.

"I was wrestling all the way through; I just kept wrestling, caught him on his back (and) surprised myself," said Petrella, whose father, Paul, was the Yellow Jackets' first national champion. "That's where I am best at (top position), I've been able to ride kids, put people to their back. It's the best thing I can do."

While the team drama started at 149, there was plenty of excitement in the opening three matches.

Coast Guard's Chase Randall added a slam-bang finish to the 133-pound title when he threw Jaden Hinton of Baldwin Wallace to his back for a fall in 5:52.

"I practice a lot of headlocks, and timing met it," said Randall, who had a 4-1 lead before the big move. "I was prepared, I put the hours in, it was just great. Years of practice, years of training and the moment arrives where it matters most."

It was quite the way to cap the tournament in which he earlier knocked off two-time national champion Robbie Precin of North Central.

"This is my greatest accomplishment so far," Randall, a junior from Spokane, Washington, said."(In high school) I never won a state championship, so to be able to come out here and win in the national finals is pretty surreal to me."

Josh Wilson followed at 141 with a late takedown to become the first national champion for Greensboro. Wilson and top seed Jacob Reed of Ohio Northern were tied 1-1 in the third period when Wilson came out on top after a long scramble to score the winning takedown with 21 seconds left.

"In situations like that, you just can't give up," Wilson said. "You've got to keep fighting, fighting, fighting, till it's the last man standing."

Joziah Fry of Johnson & Wales opened the night by winning his second consecutive title at 125 pounds, beating Christian Guzman of North Central 18-8.

"I was more nervous last year, so I had a closer match," Fry said. "This year I've been here before so I was completely calm going out there and just dominated."

Fry scored a pair of takedowns in the first minute and a half of the match, and also got a penalty point for stalling. Guzman cut the gap to 8-5 on a takedown later in the period. Fry added a late takedown to lead 11-5 going into the second period.

TWO-TIME CHAMP FALLS

Two-time champion Robbie Precin of North Central saw his string of 90 wins end in the 133-pound semifinals.

Coast Guard junior Chase Randall knocked off Precin with an overtime takedown.

"I'm dangerous, I know he's dangerous, but I just wanted it bad and it was just a battle of the wills.

"It was pretty awesome," he said of the winning takedown. "I had to chain wrestle; I had to scramble a little bit. ... I'm just super-excited to see all my training pay off. He came in on my leg, I had to scramble, I had to get creative and came out on top."

BEAT HIM AGAIN

James Day of Wabash pulled off one of the biggest early-round upsets when he beat two-time finalist Jacob Decatur in the first round at 125 pounds.

He proved it was no fluke Saturday when he defeated the 2022 national champion from Baldwin Wallace again in the third-place match by a 1-0 score.

SEEDY SIDE OF THE TOURNAMENT

More than one-quarter of the 80 All-Americans (21) came into the tournament unseeded. Five of them reached the semifinals.

The weight with the most was 184, where half of the All-Americans were not seeded.

On the other hand, nine of the 10 No. 1 seeds reached the semifinals, as did eight No. 2s.

There was one weight, 174, in which all eight seeds finished in the top eight, while seven of the eight seeds placed at 157.

ALL-AMERICA COUNT

Wrestlers from the Lower Midwest and Upper Midwest regionals earned the most places on the awards stand, with each having 18 wrestlers earn All-America status.

The Northeast was third with 14, followed by the Mideast (12), Southeast (11) and Central (7).

The Upper Midwest led the way with eight finalists, followed by the Northeast with four and the Lower Midwest and Central with three each.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

Montgomery Mills, who pinned four of his five opponents and finished third at 197 pounds, became the first Division III wrestling All-American from Westminster College in Missouri.

Sean Malenfant placed fifth at 184 pounds, becoming the first Division III All-American for Alfred State, a former junior college program.

In addition, Alex Samson became the first All-American for St. John Fisher since the school reinstated its program. He placed seventh at 141 pounds.

BATTLING OFF THE MAT

Coy Spooner earned All-America honors for the third time for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy despite getting a late start to his season because of his battle with cancer.

The senior who was the national runner-up at 197 pounds in 2023, finished sixth at 197 this year.

RULE OF THIRDS

Schools from the Lower Midwest Regional had four third-place finishers and four fourths, leading the count at both weights.

Joining Day as third-place finishers were Joe Pins of Wartburg at 133 pounds, Mark Samuel of Roanoke at 141, Charlie Dojan of Wartburg at 149, Cooper Pontelandolfo at 157, Matt Lackman of Alvernia at 165, Zeb Gnida of Loras at 174, Niall Schoenfelder of Wisconsin-Eau Claire at 184, Montgomery Mills of Westminster at 197 and Carl DiGiorgio at heavyweight.

NCAA DIV III NATIONALS

At LaCrosse, Wis., March 16, 2024

125

1st Place Match - Joziah Fry (Johnson and Wales) RS Jr. over Christian Guzman (North Central) So. (MD 18-8)

3rd Place Match - James Day (Wabash) So. over Jacob Decatur (Baldwin Wallace) Jr. (Dec 1-0)

5th Place Match - Mason Barrett (Averett) Jr. over Zac Blasioli (Millikin) Sr. (Dec 4-2)

7th Place Match - Gavin Bradley (Castleton) So. over Mac Cafurello (Roanoke College) Jr. (Dec 7-4)

133

1st Place Match - Chase Randall (Coast Guard) Jr. over Jaden Hinton (Baldwin Wallace) Sr. (Fall 5:52)

3rd Place Match - Joe Pins (Wartburg) Sr. over Robbie Precin (North Central) Sr. (Fall 3:27)

5th Place Match - Jacob Blair (Delaware Valley) So. over Dominik Mallinder (Wisconsin-Whitewater) So. (Dec 4-1)

7th Place Match - Isaias Torres (Ithaca) So. over Desmond Diggs (Mount St. Joseph) Sr. (Fall 3:54)

141

1st Place Match - Josh Wilson (Greensboro) Jr. over Jacob Reed (Ohio Northern) (Dec 4-2)

3rd Place Match - Mark Samuel (Roanoke College) So. over Josiah Gehr (Messiah) RS Sr. (SV-1 10-7)

5th Place Match - Kyler Romero (Wartburg) Jr. over Victor Perlleshi (Johnson and Wales) RS Sr. (Dec 12-11)

7th Place Match - Alex Samson (St. John Fisher) Sr. over Ethan Pogorzelski (Wisconsin-Whitewater) Sr. (Dec 4-2)

149

1st Place Match - Michael Petrella (Baldwin Wallace) Sr. over Tyler Goebel (Wisconsin-La Crosse) Jr. (Fall 4:19)

3rd Place Match - Charlie Dojan (Wartburg) Jr. over Eric Kinkaid (Loras) So. (Dec 7-2)

5th Place Match - Zach Sato (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) Jr. over Colby Frost (Southern Maine) Jr. (TF-1.5 3:35 (15-0))

7th Place Match - Michael Conklin (TCNJ) Jr. over Mike Glynn (RIT) RS Jr. (Dec 6-3)

157

1st Place Match - Nolan Hertel (Wisconsin-La Crosse) Sr. over Peter Kane (Williams College) So. (Dec 4-2)

3rd Place Match - Cooper Pontelandolfo (NYU) Jr. over Clayton McDonough (Luther) So. (Dec 7-3)

5th Place Match - Blake Jagodzinske (Augsburg) Jr. over Ryan Smith (Stevens) So. (Dec 8-5)

7th Place Match - Gabriel Smith (Cornell College) So. over Xavier Howard (McDaniel) Jr. (Dec 9-6)

165

1st Place Match - Nicholas Sacco (TCNJ) Jr. over Noah Leisgang (Wisconsin-La Crosse) Sr. (Dec 2-1)

3rd Place Match - Matt Lackman (Alvernia University) Jr. over Tristan Massie (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) Sr. (Dec 4-2)

5th Place Match - Cooper Willis (Augsburg) So. over Will Esmoil (Coe) Sr. (Dec 7-5)

7th Place Match  - Dustin Bohren (Loras) So. over Patrick Wisniewski (Johnson and Wales ) Sr. (Dec 9-6)

174

1st Place Match - Jared Stricker (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) Jr. over Zane Mulder (Wartburg) RS Sr. (Dec 10-3)

3rd Place Match - Zeb Gnida (Loras) Sr. over Jason Geyer (NYU) Sr. (Dec 7-2)

5th Place Match - Charlie Grygas (Oswego State) Sr. over Dejon Glaster (Millikin) Sr. (Dec 7-3)

7th Place Match - Seth Goetzinger (Augsburg) Jr. over Stefan Major (Stevens) RS Fr. (Fall 4:26)

184

1st Place Match - Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (Augsburg) RS Sr. over Ryan DeVivo (Johnson and Wales) RS Sr. (TF-1.5 6:36 (19-2))

3rd Place Match - NIall Schoenfelder (Wisconsin-Eau Claire) Sr. over Sampson Wilkins (Castleton) RS Jr. (MD 11-2)

5th Place Match - Sean Malenfant (Alfred State) Jr. over Dylan Wellbaum (Adrian) RS Fr. (MD 10-1)

7th Place Match - Jack Ryan (Oneonta State) So. over Max Borton (Ursinus) Fr. (MD 8-0)

197

1st Place Match - Massoma Endene (Wartburg) 28-0, Jr. over Gabriel Zierden (Concordia-Moorhead) 33-3, RS Sr. (MD 12-4)3rd Place Match - Montgomery Mills (Westminster) RS Fr. over Cameron Butka (Wilkes) Jr. (Fall 1:44)

5th Place Match - Dylan Harr (Johnson and Wales) Jr. over Coy Spooner (Coast Guard) Sr. (Dec 3-1)

7th Place Match - Parker Venz (Augsburg) Jr. over Ben Kawczynski (Wisconsin-La Crosse) Jr. (Fall 0:59)

285

1st Place Match - Tyler Kim (Augsburg) 31-2, RS Sr. over Michael Douglas (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 27-2, Jr. (Dec 4-2)3rd Place Match - Carl DiGiorgio (Coast Guard) So. over Robby Bates (North Central) Sr. (Dec 5-2)

5th Place Match - Rayshawn Dixon (Ferrum) Sr. over Dylan Waller (Elizabethtown) Sr. (TB-1 3-2)

7th Place Match - Walter West (Luther) Sr. over Peter Wersinger (TCNJ) RS So. (MD 9-0)

Team Standings

1             Augsburg             95.0

2             Wartburg              87.5

3             Wisconsin-La Crosse         82.5

4             Johnson and Wales             76.0

5             Wisconsin-Eau Claire        69.0

6             Baldwin Wallace 61.5

7             Coast Guard         52.5

8             North Central       42.5

9             TCNJ     37.0

10           Loras     34.0

11           NYU      27.0

12           Castleton              24.5

13           Luther    22.5

14           Roanoke College 21.5

15           Westminster         20.5

16           Greensboro          20.0

16           Stevens 20.0

18           Williams College               19.0

19           Millikin 18.0

20           Averett 16.5

20           Wabash 16.5