March 5, 2004

DUBUQUE, IOWA . . . Three Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) schools are among the top-five schools after day one at the NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championships at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa. Twenty-three of the IIAC’s 32 national qualifiers earned All-American honors by finishing in the top-eight of their weight class.

Defending National Champion Wartburg College holds a five-point lead over Augsburg College (81.5-76.5). Luther College is in fourth-place with 40 points followed by Simpson College with 36 points. Buena Vista University is in 15th place (11.0 points), Loras College is tied for 17th place (10.0 points), Coe College is in 22nd place (8.5 points) and Central College is tied for 27th place (6.5 points).

Individually, 13 of the Conference’s 23 All-Americans are in the Championship bracket and eight earned All-American honors last year. Wartburg has nine All-Americans, Luther has five, Simpson has four, Loras had two, and Buena Vista, Coe and Central each have one.

IIAC Wrestlers in the Championship bracket include: Buena Vista’s Pat Wilsbacher (165-lbs.), Luther’s Matt Pyle (149-lbs.) and Garrett South (165-lbs.), Simpson’s Dustin Brewer (125-lbs.) and Clint Manny (149-lbs.), and Wartburg’s Ozzie Saxon (133-lbs.), Dustin Hinschberger (141-lbs.), Bart Mehlert (149-lbs.), Cory Connell (157-lbs.), Mark Sturm (174-lbs.), Ryan Sturm (184-lbs.), Akeem Carter (197-lbs.) and Blake Gillis (heavyweight).

IIAC Wrestlers in the Consolation bracket include: Central’s Kevin Owens (141-lbs.), Coe’s Ken Ware (184-lbs.), Loras’ Charlie Bishop (157-lbs.) and Brad Bishop (165-lbs.), Luther’s Jeff Patzke (141-lbs.) Ryan LeBeau (157-lbs.) and Wyatt Reyerson (197-lbs.), Simpson’s Quent Christensen (133-lbs.) and Bart George (197-lbs.), and Wartburg’s Justin McClintock (125-lbs.).

Complete Championship results can be found here.

Championship Semifinals, and Consolation Quarterfinals and Semifinals are Saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m. Third-, fifth-, and seventh-place matches begin at 5:00 p.m. and the Championship matches are set for 7:30 p.m. at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque.

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