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155-0! Levesseur makes Division III history with fourth crown, helps Augsburg win 10th title

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by Jon Gremmels

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Marcus Levesseur turned a dream into reality.

Levesseur, a senior at Augsburg College, capped an undefeated, 155-0 college career by becoming the first four-time national champion in NCAA Division III history Saturday night in front of 1,451 fans at the Five Flags Center.

"It sounds like a dream in a fantasy world, but it came true," Levesseur said after beating Michael Guenther of The College of New Jersey 4-0 to win the title at 165 pounds.

"It's unbelievable," Augsburg coach Jeff Swenson said. "No. 1, nobody had ever done it (won four titles), and only two guys ever went through their college careers undefeated. He's in great company with Cael Sanderson (the former four-time Division I champion at Iowa State, where he now serves as coach)."

Swenson said some might consider Levesseur's accomplishments to pale in comparison to Sanderson's because they came after he transferred from the University of Minnesota, but the coach considers his wrestler worthy.

"One thing about Marcus is he works hard," Swenson said. "It didn't happen by accident. He earned it."

Levesseur's career certainly included twists and turns. He transferred from Minnesota and won Division III titles in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and then took last year off for personal reasons.

"There's nothing that tops this one," he said of the highs and lows during his career. "The lows were losing focus of my life and my life's goals. It was rough, and I got knocked on my butt. I need to reach out for help sometimes, and I've learned to love life. I'm a fighter."

After a scoreless first period, Levesseur got a quick escape in the second period for a 1-0 lead. He added a takedown later in the period for the final margin.

"I felt sort of tight," Levesseur admitted. "It was kind of hard to get started."

Levesseur and two other former University of Minnesota wrestlers won individual titles for the Auggies, who piled up 135.5 points and became the first Division III team to reach double digits for team championships with their 10th title since 1990.

"There were lot of ups, mostly, and a few downs (this weekend), and it's hard for me when the year is coming to end because of great seniors," Augsburg coach Jeff Swenson said, but the bottom line is I'm proud of them as a group. They really came together the last month of the season."

Quincy Osborn, a former national qualifier for the Gophers who found a new home at Augsburg, beat another former Division I national qualifier from Hofstra, Ricky LaForge of Delaware Valley 7-4 to win the title at 141.

"It feels pretty good," Osborn said. "Mentally, I'm a whole different person than I was at the U. Now I'm focused on more important things."
LaForge scored first with a takedown, but Osborn rebounded.

"I knew I had my work cut out for me," he said. "I went down 2-0 right away and said that if he beats me he's going to have to wrestle seven minutes."

Jeremy Anderson, who transferred to Augsburg last year from Minnesota and finished second in Division III, beat Joseph Galante of The College of New Jersey 5-2 in the final at 157 pounds. The key was holding off a deep double-leg shot by Galante in the second period and then scoring on a single-leg shot in the third.

"I was struggling trying to find openings in his positioning," Anderson said. "I knew he had a strong power double, but I have some experience defending it. I was waiting for that (single-leg) shot to open up again."

Wartburg, which had won three of the previous four team titles, finished second with 99.5 points.

"I feel awesome," Wartburg coach Jim Miller said. "At the beginning of the year, if you told me we would win the conference title, finish second in the nation and get a couple of national champions, I'd have been ecstatic. I am ecstatic."

The Knights crowned two champions: T.J. Miller at 197 pounds and Blake Gillis at heavyweight.

For Gillis, the title ended three years of finals frustration. After losing in the championship match three straight years to former Wisconsin-La Crosse standout Ryan Allen, Gillis won the title by beating Bryan Kmetz of Baldwin-Wallace 4-0.

"It feels pretty good right now, but I'm stubborn," Gillis said. "I wish I had those other ones, but it does feel pretty good right now."

There was a celebratory leap when Miller, a junior, won his title, but it wasn't in typical fashion. Instead of leaping into the arms of his coach, Miller was on the receiving end as his father, Wartburg coach Jim Miller (himself a two-time Division II national champion as a college wrestler), leaped into his son's arms.

"That's the best feeling ever, knowing what he's done in his wrestling career and as a coach," T.J. Miller said. "It was pretty good. He had a high school kid do that at Charles City (Iowa, High School). I know what he meant when he said, 'Catch me.' It's a lot easier when I'm 3 feet taller and 100 pounds heavier."

Miller beat fellow Iowa Conference wrestler Ben Strandberg of Buena Vista 11-3. The win never was in jeopardy after Miller got a takedown at 2:11 of the first period and ended the period with a three-point near fall.

Wisconsin-La Crosse went a point ahead of Wartburg in the team standings when Josh Chelf scored a 9-0 major decision over Kyle Vanderhyde of Olivet in the final at 174 pounds. Chelf controlled the whole match and had 5:24 in riding time.

"That's kind of how the weekend has gone for me," said Chelf, a junior who pinned two opponents and had two major decisions by a combined 21-0 score. "Everything was coming together for me. This is great. It's been a goal last year (when he was third at 174). And this year."

La Crosse finished third in the team standings with 92.5 points.

"We didn't have the guns that Wartburg and Augsburg did," said La Crosse coach Dave Malecek, who was named rookie coach of the year in his first year as head coach after serving as Miller's top assistant at Wartburg. "We're making strides. I was fortunate to come to this program, and I'm real proud of the where we can take this program."

Luther finished fourth in the team race with 86 points 39.5 points ahead of fifth-place College of New Jersey.

"There were definitely some ups and downs (this weekend), but to finish it off the way we did was outstanding," Norse coach Dave Mitchell said.

Luther crowned a pair of champions in the same tournament for the second time. Nate Hansen won at 125, and Matt Pyle won at 149.

Pyle was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler and became a two-time champion and four-time All-American when he pinned Jason Roush of Mount St. Joseph in 2 minutes, 4 seconds.

Pyle led 2-0, when he put Roush on his back.

"I love running bar-arms, but I wrestled him as a sophomore, so we talked about reversing the direction," Pyle explained. "I snapped it quickly, and luckily it worked."

Pyle, who placed third as a freshman but dropped to fourth last year after winning the title as a sophomore, had to make it through a weight class that included three former national champions - Jacob Larsen of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Joe Pflug of Heidelberg and Pyle.

"The coaches never lost belief, and I never lost belief in myself that I could get back on top," Pyle said.

Mitchell considered Pyle's weekend worthy of the outstanding wrestler award. Pyle finished with three pins, and his other win was a 6-2 decision in the semifinals against Pflug, who won the title at 157 last year.

"Certainly Marcus' accomplishment speaks for itself," Mitchell said, referring to Levesseur, "but looking in from the outside, Matt's performance within the bracket and being dominant throughout is very impressive."

Luther's Nate Hansen, the top seed, won the title at 125 with a 3-2 victory against third-seeded Seth Flodeen of Augsburg.

"This is something I wanted to do since I came in as a freshman at Luther," Hansen said.

Hansen had the lone takedown, on an outside single-leg shot in the first period. The match was tied 2-2, and Hansen had 1:06 in riding time entering the third period, when he chose to go down. He escaped with 1:11 left in the match for the winning point.

"Usually it hasn't taken me that long to get out," Hansen said. "I knew that (the down position) was where I needed to be."

The other champions were David Morgan of Kings at 133 and Terrance Madden of Hunter at 184.

Morgan did something his brother Jim was unable to accomplish at Kings. Morgan beat Augsburg's Jafari Vanier 4-3 for the championship. Jim Morgan was a national runner-up in 2004 for Kings.

"All my coaches and my brother, this is their championship," Morgan said. "They caused this, and I want to thank them."

Morgan scored the decisive points on a takedown with 52 seconds left that snapped a 2-2 tie.

"He was over the top, and I kicked out to the side and grabbed a leg," Morgan said, explaining the takedown. "He beat me last year in the first round, and all day I was thinking one takedown, one big move, was going to get it."

It was Vanier's second runner-up finish in a row, and he also took second at the 2002 junior college national championships.

Madden was seeded fourth but won three consecutive one-point decisions to claim the title after a first-round pin. He defeated SUNY-Cortland's Stephon Sair, last year's champion at 174, 3-2 to claim the title at 184.

"I work out with Greg Parker, a former two-time Division I All-American, and he gave me a lot of confidence," Madden said. "I didn't care who the competition was."

Madden took a 3-1 lead on a takedown about 20 seconds into the third period.

"I didn't want to make mistakes, so I took my shot when I knew it was there," Madden said.

Two other wrestlers joined Pyle, LeVesseur and Gillis as four-time All-Americans.

Wisconsin-La Crosse's Jason Lulloff placed third for the third time at nationals with a 7-6 win against Wartburg's Romeo Djoumessi, even though he did not score an offensive point. Djoumessi had three takedowns, but was hit with three stalling calls. Lulloff scored two penalty points, had four escapes and rode out the second period, scoring the decisive point with 1:26 of riding time. Lulloff placed also placed third last year and in 2003 and was fourth in 2004.

Springfield's Mike Gaeta also became a four-time All-American, beating Rhode Island College's Michael Bonora 6-5 for fifth place at 141 pounds. It was his third fifth-place finish - he also did it in 2006 and 2004 - and he was seventh at 141 in 2005.

On the other end of the spectrum, Jaran Rutledge of Knox College became the first wrestling All-American in the history of the school in Galesburg, Ill. After losing his first-round match, Rutledge won four in a row, including a pin in 4:01 against Trevor Hiffa of Oneonta State in the third-place match.

"Nobody really knows about Knox wrestling," Rutledge said. "I was just used to always being a darkhorse."

Well, a few people do because Rutledge had a fair share of fans to cheer for him. It helps that his family is from the northwest suburbs of Chicago and the college is only about two hours south of Dubuque.
"My family has been great," Rutledge said. "The rest of my team came, and we had some other fans, too."

Top 25 team standings
1. Augsburg 135.5; 2. Wartburg 99.5; 3. Wisconsin-La Crosse 92.5; 4. Luther 86; 5. The College of New Jersey 46.5; 6. Kings 36; 7. Buena Vista 33.5; 8. (tie) Hunter, SUNY-Cortland 31; 10. North Central 30.5; 11. Coe 27; 12. Cornell 26.5; 13. Wisconsin-Platteville 26.5; 14. (tie) Baldwin-Wallace, Johnson & Wales, SUNY-Brockport 25; 17. Ithaca 23.5; 18. Delaware Valley 23; 19. Mount St. Joseph 22.5; 20. Wisconsin-Stevens Point 19.5; 21. Olivet 18; 22. Heidelberg 17.5; 23. St. John's 16; 24. York 14.5; 25. Knox 14.

Results
125 pounds

Championship - Nate Hansen (Luther) dec. Seth Flodeen (Augsburg) 3-2.
Third place - Brandon McDonough (Johnson & Wales) dec. Chris Heilman (Cornell) 12-4.
Fifth place - Eracieo Vallejo (Manchester) dec. Kyle Flickinger (York) 7-4.
Seventh place - Jake Oster (Elmhurst) pinned Brian Clement (Coe) :37.

133 pounds
Championship - David Morgan (Kings) dec. Jafari Vanier (Augsburg) 4-3.
Third place - Adam Johnson (North Central) dec. Jestin Hulegaard (Buena Vista) 11-8.
Fifth place - Jacob Helvey (Wartburg) dec. Jordan Kolinski (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 4-0.
Seventh place - Justin Seifried (Ithaca) dec. Gannon Hjerleid (Coe) 11-6 sv.

141 pounds
Championship - Quincy Osborn (Augsburg) dec. Ricky LaForge (Delaware Valley) 7-3.
Third place - Jared Creason (Coe) dec. Zach Chambers (Wisconsin-Platteville) 18-11.
Fifth place - Mike Gaeta (Springfield) dec. Michael Bonora (Rhode Island College) 6-5.
Seventh place - Travis Grawin (Luther) pinned Tyler Branham (College of New Jersey) 5:27.

149 pounds
Championship - Matt Pyle (Luther) pinned Jason Roush (Mount St. Joseph) 2:04.
Third place - Joe Pflug (Heidelberg) dec. Jared Evans (Augsburg) 6-3.
Fifth place - Don Ooton (SUNY-Brockport) dec. Jacob Larsen (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 9-3.
Seventh place - Timothy Bohlman (York) dec. Ryan Higgins (Wisconsin-Platteville) 10-4.

157 pounds
Championship - Jeremy Anderson (Augsburg) dec. Joseph Galante (College of New Jersey) 5-2.
Third place - Bobby Gingerich (North Central) dec. Ross Needham (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 4-1.
Fifth place - Jacob Malone (St. John's) dec. Aaron Wernimont (Wartburg) 3-2.
Seventh place - Pat McAuley (Cornell) won by technical fall over Elliot Spence (Mount St. Joseph) 17-2, 6:59.

165 pounds
Championship - Marcus Levesseur (Augsburg) dec. Michael Guenther (College of New Jersey) 3-0.
Third place - Tim Palmer (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Shaheim Bradshaw (SUNY-Brockport) 3-2.
Fifth place - Jason Knipp (Wartburg) dec. Gino Russo (Baldwin-Wallace) 15-5.
Seventh place - Steve Martell (Johnson & Wales) dec. Phil Kruzel (University of Chicago) 9-4.

174 pounds
Championship - Josh Chelf (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Kyle Vanderhyde (Olivet) 9-0.
Third place - Eric Bath (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) pinned Jonathan Dolan (Williams) 5:19.
Fifth place - Robert Gotreau (Augsburg) dec. Andrew Winfield (McDaniel) 2-1.
Seventh place - Treavor LeBlanc (SUNY-Cortland) dec. Adam Dorner (Wisconsin-Oshkosh) 5-1.

184 pounds
Championship - Terrance Madden (Hunter) dec. Stephon Sair (SUNY-Cortland) 3-2.
Third place - Jason Lulloff (Wisconsin-La Crosse) dec. Romeo Djoumessi (Wartburg) 7-6.
Fifth place - Nicholas Calandrino (Ithaca) dec. Nick Coleman (New York University) 9-7.
Seventh place - Jay Figgins (Loras) dec. Ryan Summers (John Carroll) 6-2.

197 pounds
Championship - T.J. Miller (Wartburg) dec. Ben Strandberg (Buena Vista) 11-3.
Third place - Alec Bonander (Luther) dec. Jason Reilly (Kings) 10-4.
Fifth place - Keith Garrard (Wabash) won by medical forfeit over Matthew Loesch (Muhlenberg).
Seventh place - Philip Archer (SUNY-Cortland) dec. Wally O'Connor (Augsburg) 10-4.

Heavyweight
Championship - Blake Gillis (Wartburg) dec. Bryan Kmetz (Baldwin-Wallace) 4-0.
Third place - Jaran Rutlege (Knox) pinned Trevor Hiffa (Oneonta State) 4:01.
Fifth place - Andrew Neumann (Augsburg) dec. Arkadiy Levitin (Hunter) 9-2.
Seventh place - Wade Hammen (Buena Vista) dec. Kyle Brown (Thiel) 3-2.

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