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IIAC rules 133-pound bracket

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Iowa Conference had an easy decision how to use one of its three wildcard berths for the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.

With the top three conference finishers automatically qualifying at each weight, the conference allotted its wildcards to three fourth-place finishers with the “no-brainer” being 133 pounds.

The IIAC qualifiers occupied all four semifinal spots with Cornell’s Nick Nothern and Luther’s Zac Bartlett reaching last night’s finals at the U.S. Cellular Center.

“I think it was a very strong weight class,” Luther Coach Dave Mitchell said. “It was an easy decision for the conference to take an extra guy there.”

Coe’s Brandon Ball won the conference tournament and was seeded second, Wartburg’s Matt Kelly, the IIAC runner-up, was seeded fourth, Bartlett was third and held the same national tournament seed and Nothern was the No. 8 seed, finishing fourth at conference.

“All four of us are great competitors,” Nothern said. “It’s a tough weight in our conference.”

Nothern beat Kelly, 6-5, with a reversal in the last eight seconds left in the second tiebreaker. Bartlett reversed Ball to his back and won by fall in 4:00 to make the final.

Kelly (30-9) beat Ball (30-12) for third, claiming all for top spots at 133 for the IIAC.

“It’s a tough weight in our conference,” Nothern said. “Iowa Conference, I think, is the toughest ion the nation. It’s unbelievable.”

The strong competition within the conference helped them against other foes.

“They have to

 bring their “A-game” every time they see a conference opponent,” Mitchell said. “They probably helped each other get better over the years.

Donahue a wounded warrior

Cornell’s Kevin Donahue finished seventh at 141 pounds in his first national tournament, but how he did it was even more impressive.

Donahue, a sophomore, suffered a sprained ankle during his first-round consolation match, but won two straight to stave off elimination. He earned a medal by beating No. 8 Derrick Smith of Oswego State, 12-8.

The injury was so severe that he arrived to Saturday’s weigh-ins on crutches.

“It is pretty big and purple,” Duroe said. “He wrestled that match and another match to get into that All-American round on one leg.”

Donahue remained unranked nationally until the final set released in February grabbing the No. 10 spot. Rams Coach Mike Duroe insisted Donahue was flying under the radar and predicted that Donahue would be an All-American this year.

“I knew he definitely had the ability to be an All-American,” Duroe said. “I wasn’t sure where.”

Donahue (29-11) went 3-2 in the tournament, winning in come-from-behind fashion to beat Ithaca’s John Paxos, 8-6, in the final round. Winning the last match was important.

“He showed a lot of courage coming back like that not being able to walk,” Duroe said. “More to his credit that he was able to overcome that adversity.”

He was joined by finalist Nick Nothern (133) and 174-pounder Kyle Kehrli on the awards stand.

Kehrli became a two-time All-American, placing fifth — one spot better than last year. He finished his senior season 46-6, which is a school record for wins in a season.

More hardware for Kohawks

Coe earned its second straight team trophy and fourth-place finish Saturday.

The Kohawks had six All-Americans of their seven qualifiers and tallied 78½ points. Coe bracketed a tournament with solid first and final rounds, starting 6-1 and finishing with a 5-1 record in placing matches.

“I’m proud of the team,” Oostendorp said. “I’m proud of the guys and the way they battled back.”

Tyler Burkle (165) and Bryon Grothus (174) placed third, Brandon Ball (133) was fourth, Clayton Rush (125) and Rob Kramer (197) finished fifth and 285-pounder Mitch Sander was seventh for Coe. That’s a school record, bettering last year’s mark of five All-Americans.

“In the last three years, we’ve taken fourteen guys to nationals and 13 All-Americans,” Oostendorp said. “I feel good about the way the guys are competing down here, but obviously we want to put more guys in Saturday night’s finals. It’s something to continue to work toward.”

Oostendorp didn’t single out any performances, despite Kramer becoming a two-time All-American, Grothus placing in his only appearance and Burkle winning four straight after a tough quarterfinal loss.

“You see little battles out there that they won that they can progress as an athlete and watch them believe in themselves,” Oostendorp said. “I saw a lot of that on the backside.”

Wartburg clinches second-straight national title

The U.S. Cellular has been  a home away from home for the Wartburg Knights. They clinched they’re second-straight team title in the downtown Cedar Rapids arena after the 174-pound placing matches Saturday afternoon’s  NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships.

An emotional Jim Miller said his team rebounded after a less than stellar weekend when they lost a dual to Augsburg and tied Delaware Valley.

“That was a difference for us. That’s when thigns changed,” Miller said. “I never worked a team harder the last month of the year.”

The Knights had seven All-Americans with all of them finishing in the top four. This title will stand out to Miller when he looks back on the successes his team’s have had.

“This is real special,” Miller said.

IIAC and other placing results

125

Third: Mark Kist (Wartburg) dec. Seth Flodeen (Augsburg), 5-3

Fifth: Clayton Rush (Coe) pinned Seth Ecker (Ithaca), 6:55

133 POUNDS

Third: Matt Kelly (Wartburg) dec. Brandon Ball (Coe), 8-5

Fifth: Travis Lang (Augsburg) pinned Corey Brown (Thiel), 1:04

141 POUNDS

Third: Top-seed Austin Bautista (UW-Whitewater) dec. Corey Paulish (Williams), 4-2 SV2

Seventh: Kevin Donahue (Cornell) def. John Paxos (Ithaca), 8-6

149 Pounds

Third: Jacob Naig (Wartburg) dec. Blaine Woszczak (Ithaca), 9-7

Seventh: Jason Pyle (Luther) dec. Robert Kein (Muhlenberg), 10-7

157 pounds

Third: Adams (Augsburg) dec. Miller (Ohio Northern)

165 pounds

Third: Tyler Burkle (Coe) major dec. Michael Morin (S. Maine), 12-4

Fifth: Ben Hoover (Maranatha) dec. Josh Terrell (Dubuque), 9-3

174 pounds

Third: Bryon Grothus (Coe) pinned Michael Schmitz (UW-La Crosse)

Fifth: Kehrli (Cornell) dec. Molitor (Augsburg)

Team scores before placing matches

1. Wartburg 105.5, 2. Augsburg 93, 3. UW-La Crosse 78, 4. Coe 66.5, 5. Delaware Valley 59.5

Other Iowa Colleges: t8. Cornell 30, t11. Luther 26.5, t13. Dubuque 26, 44. Loras 1.5

Session III: Semifinals and Consi quarters

We’ll get right into it.

125 pounds

Oster (Elmhurst) dec. Seth Ecker (Ithaca), 8-6 (OT)

McInally (RIT) dec. Rush (Coe), 7-6 (on riding time)

Kist (Wartburg) and Flodeen (Augsburg) both won their consi matches by fall, keeping the team race at 2.5 points in Wartburg’s favor. Consi semifinal is Rush and Flodeen, a rematch of last year’s championship match.

133 pounds

Coe woes continue: Zac Bartlett (Luther) pins Ball (Coe), 4:00

Nothern (Cornell) dec. Kelly (Wartburg), 6-4 in double OT tiebreaker.

Lang (Augsburg) gets a pin in consi match.

141 pounds

Batsukh (SJ) dec. Bautista (UW-Whitewater), 4-3

McKray (Wartburg) dec. Paulish (Williams), 6-4: McKray takedown with 12 seconds left to win

149 pounds

Matt Mauseth (UW-La Crosse) dec. Willy Holst (Augsburg), 3-1

Paul LeBlanc (Cortland St.) dec. Naig (Wartburg), 7-4

157 pounds

Aaron Wernimont of Wartburg extends his winning streak to 79 straight with an 8-3 win over Luke Miller of Ohio Northern.

Jason Brew (Olivet) dec. Jason Adams (Augsburg), 6-2, setting up a rematch of last year’s final.

165 pounds

Justin Hanson (Wartburg) dec. Josh Terrell (Dubuque), 3-1; Hanson gets takedown with two seconds left for win.,

Ben Youel (North Central) vs. Hoover (Maranatha), 6-3

174 pounds

Evan Brown (Dubuque) dec. Kehrli (Cornell), 5-3

Rocky Mantella (Delaware Valley) dec. Molitor (Augsburg), 6-4

184 pounds

Wilcox (Delaware Valley) dec. Zabel (UW-La Crosse), 11-5

Moenkedick (Concordia-Moorhead) major dec. Engelland (UW-Stevens Point), 8-0

197 pounds

Malo (Williams) pinn ed Moore (UW-La Crosse), 2:13

Massey (Augsburg) dec. Voeck (UW-Whitewater), 3-1

285 pounds

Laurent (UW-La Crosse) dec. Helgerson (Wartburg), 6-3

Corsello (Elmhurst) knocks off top-seed Kyle Bilquist of Delaware Valley, 2-1 (2OT)

Knights lead after first day of NCAA tournament

 CEDAR RAPIDS – Wartburg has a Hall of Fame head coach, but his sage advice wasn’t needed Friday.
The Knights didn’t even consult their heralded coach Jim Miller when they met after a lackluster opening round. They knew what to say and how to challenge each other.
The team rallied and put themselves in position for their second straight team title after the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships last night at the U.S. Cellular Center.
Wartburg won nine straight matches, advancing six to the semifinals and jumped from a third-place tie after the opening round to first place with 64 points. Augsburg was close behind with 61½ and Wisconsin-La Crosse was third with 46.
The team gathered in a room at their hotel and chatted about their performance.
“We thought this round would define whether we could win a title or not,” Wartburg 141-pounder Zach McKray said of the quarters. “It wouldn’t be looking good if we didn’t have the round we had. I think that helped out a lot.”
McKray, a former City High state champion, did his part to ignite the Knights and influence the team score. Second-seeded McKray scored a 7-5 win over Tony Valek of Augsburg at 141. He said it was nice to get the first two wins.
“I wrestled this kid a couple times, so I had a good feel for him,” said McKray. “I was getting in good positions with the front headlock and he took a couple bad shots and I’d capitalized.”
The momentum swayed in Wartburg’s favor after Matt Kelly advanced to the semifinals at 133.
Defending national champions Jacob Naig and Aaron Wernimont followed with extra wins. Naig scored a 9-1 major decision over Dale Fava of Delaware Valley at 149 and Wernimont pinned Ithaca’s William Horwath in 4:23. Top-seeded 165-pounder Justin Hanson also advanced.
“There’s a lot of momentum involved in wrestling,” Wartburg Coach Jim Miller said. “They feed off each other. You always want to try and get something going and hopefully we can continue.”
John Helgerson claimed a 3-2 win over Elizabethtown’s Deron Sharp and Mark Kist followed with a consolation pin to cap the win streak. Wartburg has seven still alive.
“I think we have a good shot of taking this,” said Helgerson, a North Fayette prep who earned All-American status.
Augsburg faltered slightly when defending national champion Seth Flodeen lost a 7-3 decision to Seth Ecker of Ithaca at 125. Nick Nothern of Cornell helped with an 8-5 win over Augsburg’s top-seeded Travis Lang at 149. The Auggies have four semifinalists and three in the consolations.
“It helped with Augsburg getting beat,” McKray said. “We were feeding off that.”
Miller praised the team’s resolve to motivate each other.
“We got a great group of kids,” Miller said. “They really care about each other, too.”
The round started with a loss thanks to Coe’s Clayton Rush, who beat the Knights’ Mark Kist, 2-1 in double overtime. Rush on all five meetings between the two this season.
“I can open up a little bit more. To be honest, I was a little nervous about that match,” said Rush, a 125-pound runner-up last year as a freshman. “We’ve had close matches. Those kind of matches can go either way.”
They exchanged escapes in regulation and were scoreless in the first overtime. Rush escaped three seconds into the first 30-second period of double overtime and rode Kist out in the second to win.
“It was just a situation where I had to keep attacking, driving forward the whole time,” said Rush. “It’s one of those positions who is going to fight the hardest to win.”
Coe was fifth with 42½ with two semifinalists and six medalists. Coe 133-pounder Brandon Ball reached the semifinals with a fall in 3:52 over Thiel’s Corey Brown.
Cornell had two semifinalists and were eighth.
Nothern scored three takedowns in the win over Lang.
“I did it last year and I felt like I was going to do it again,” said Nothern, receiving a giant smooch from his girlfriend, Beth, a Rams trainer. “I felt more confident than last year.
“I felt him starting to gas and he was just coming right into my shot, stepping and leaning on me.”
Nothern faces Kelly in today’s semifinal round, which begins at 10 a.m.
“I came in this tournament thinking I can win it,” Nothern said. “I’m on a mission. I’m here to do work.”
Rams teammate Kyle Kehrli also advanced with an 8-6 overtime win over Frank Heffernan of Wilkes.
Contact the writer: (319) 368-8679 or kj.pilcher@gazettecommunications.com

Final flurry

Wartburg’s Mark Kist took awhile to rebound from his quarterfinal loss to Coe’s Clayton Rush. Kist trailed 3-1 with eight seconds remaining in a consolation match against Dan Bloom of Wesleyan. In a flurry at the end, Kist got the escape with eight ticks on the clock and then quickly scored a takedown to win 4-3 as time expired. The win assured Kist of All-American honors.