Wartburg holds slight edge on Wisconsin-La Crosse and Augsburg entering Saturday semifinals at NCAA DIII Championships

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Excitement promised. Excitement delivered.

First one team was on top, then another, then another. When the final mat shut down for the night, Wartburg held a 7.5-point lead over Wisconsin-La Crosse and Augsburg on  Friday night at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

All the teams mentioned as title contenders took a hit or two.

“That’s the NCAA tournament, right?” Augsburg Coach Tony Valek said.

The Knights totaled 61.5 points at the halfway mark, while the Eagles and Auggies had 54 each. Roanoke (45.5) and New York University (41) rounded out the top five.

Wartburg lost three of its first four quarterfinal matches to start the night session, but by the end advanced three wrestlers into Saturday morning’s semifinals and led the way with seven All-Americans.

“These guys are competitors,” Wartburg Coach Eric Keller said. “I’m really proud of them responding like that…And that’s leadership. And we needed them, too.”

Freshman Kade Blume (141) and seniors Kasey Ross (184) and Mitchell Williamson, the defending champion at 285, advanced to the semifinals for the Knights. Brett Birchman (125), Patrick Mullen (133), Charlie Dojan (157) and Cal Dorota (197) remained alive on the back side.

Dojan’s loss was especially tough. The third seed, he led Rhenzo Augusto of Elmhurst in the quarterfinals. Dojan led 7-2 entering the third period, but a takedown and two-point near fall early in the third period tied the match. An escape put Dojan back on top, and he also had wrapped up a riding-time point. But Augusto pulled within a point on a stall call with 7 seconds left, then won on a takedown at the buzzer.

“That one hurts, man, but you saw who he was an hour later,” Keller said. “All those guys on the back side.”

La Crosse had the most semifinalists (4) and will have five All-Americans.

Tanner Gerber (165), Noah Leisgang (174), Tate Flege (184) and Markos Mihalopoulos (285) will represent the Eagles in the semifinals, while Joe Penchi (157) stayed alive in the consolations with three wins after losing in the preliminary round.

“These guys are so loose, so laid back and just so carefree,” said Coach Dave Malecek, who, along with Keller, was an assistant on Jim Miller’s staff at Wartburg for many years. “They care about each other, they love to score points and they enjoy wrestling. It showed today.”

Mihalopoulos highlights the day for the Eagles. After beating four-seed Carter Stack of Washington & Lee 4-1 in the first round, he pinned Coe’s Wyatt Smith in sudden victory in the quarterfinals to move on.

Malecek said his team was getting better as the season neared its end.

“We didn’t wrestle well, like, four weeks ago at the conference championship – we got beat for the first time in nine years,” he said. “And the guys, it didn’t really faze them. They just said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna come back.”

And they did, finishing second to Augsburg in the Region VII tournament and qualifying eight wrestlers for this weekend’s national tournament.

Augsburg also will have five All-Americans, led by semifinalists Matt Randolph (149) and Ethan Winkelman (197). Chance Suddeth (133), Cole Becker (141) and 2025 national runner-up Brandt Bombard (184) will have the opportunity to place as high as third on Saturday.

“I’m proud of the way the guys competed, and just some of them didn’t go our way,” Valek said.

They weren’t alone.

The College of New Jersey, in sixth place with 35.5 points, saw top-seeded DJ Henry get knocked off 10-8 by NYU’s Mo Talebi in the quarterfinals at 197 and then get ousted in the wrestlebacks.

The same fate happened to three-time Augsburg All-American Cooper Willis, the second seed at 165. Albright’s second-seeded Trent Mahoney also lost in the quarterfinals, 13-6 to Ryan Smith of Stevens Institute of Technology at 157, although he won in the wrestlebacks to earn All-America honors.

That win made Smith a four-time All-American.

“I told myself that from the beginning, the second you let doubt creep in, and for a minute you think you can’t and you let that take over, you’re not gonna do it,” Smith said. “If you think you can do it … you’re right.”

Unseeded Hunter Moore helped the Roanoke cause with sudden-victory wins against third-seeded Jamie Evarts of Williams (5-2) and sixth-seeded Brandt Bombard of Augsburg 4-1 at 184, to join teammates Jude Robson (133) and defending champion Mark Samuel (141) in the semifinals.

“It’s one of the best feelings in the world,” Moore said of getting those wins for a team in contention for a trophy. “I don’t care how I do – I just All-Americaned. I’m so happy, but I want to get that trophy home. Like that’s the biggest thing in the world for people wrestling here.”

Like the other contenders, Roanoke took a hit when third-seeded Lorenzo Pello-Vazquez lost in the quarterfinals and the consolation round.

Another giant killer was Brayden Park of Coe, which is just up the street from the arena.

Unseeded despite placing fifth at 125 as a freshman last year, Parke followed up a win over sixth-seeded Mat Griffin of The College of New Jersey in the first round by beating third-seeded Alex Diaz of NYU 12-0 in the quarterfinals.

“It’s a lot of effort that goes in that, but, hey, it’s fun when you’re winning like that, for sure,” Parke said. He admitted that realizing he was a repeat All-American hadn’t really set in.

“I gotta keep climbing that podium up there,” he said. “It definitely feels good now you’re saying that, I can’t get worse than the top six … but I know I’m a lot better than that, too, so I know I’ve just got to keep pushing forward to the next match.”

Central’s Cade Siebrecht also pulled off a big win when he knocked off 2025 national runner-up Angelo Centrone of Cortland State on riding time in the overtime tiebreaker. Centrone got free in six seconds in the first tiebreaker, but Siebrecht escaped in three seconds to win the 2-2 match by riding time.

“I knew the situation I was in, I knew I needed to ride him as long as I could and I knew I’m gonna get out fast since, in the third period, I was able to get out pretty quick with that switch, that elevator switch” Siebrecht said. “So I was going right back to my bread and butter. I got out right away.

“I’m ready for a scrap, and I was prepared for it mentally and physically, so I was able to get the job done.”