March 3, 2006

EWING, N.J. . . . Five Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) schools are among the top-20 after day one at the NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championships at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, N.J. Twenty of the IIAC’s 32 national qualifiers have earned All-American honors by finishing in the top-eight of their weight class.

Wartburg College, which has finished first or second in the nation 11 times in the last 13 years, sits in first-place after one day of competition with 73 points. The University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse is in second-place with 61.5 points followed by defending National Champion Augsburg College (43.0 points) and York (Pa.) College (37.5). Luther College is in fifth-place with 36.5 points. Loras College (t-12th, 17.5 points), Simpson College (15th, 15.5) and Buena Vista University (18th, 11.0) join the IIAC’s contingent in the top-20. Coe College (30th, 6.5) and Cornell College (t-38th, 4.5) also scored.

Individually, 11 of the Conference’s 20 All-Americans are in the Championship bracket and 13 have previously earned All-American honors. It is the fourth time in the past five years that at least 20 IIAC wrestlers will be All-Americans. All nine Wartburg qualifiers earned All-American honors, which will be the most of any of the 60 schools with participants at the Championship. Luther has four All-Americans, Loras and Simpson each have two, and Buena Vista, Coe and Cornell each have one.

IIAC wrestlers in the Championship bracket include: Buena Vista’s Jestin Hulegaard (133-pounds), Loras’ Terry Morgan (125-pounds), Luther’s Mike Lopez (133-pounds) and Matt Pyle (149-pounds), Simpson’s Dustin Brewer (141-pounds) and Wartburg’s Tyler Hubbard (125-pounds), Dustin Hinschberger (141-pounds), Jacob Naig (149-pounds), Scott Kauffman (174-pounds), Akeem Carter (184-pounds) and Blake Gillis (heavyweight). The Championship bracket was wrestled to the semifinals.

IIAC wrestlers in the Consolation bracket include: Coe’s Mike McCabe (197-pounds), Cornell’s Chris Heilman (125-pounds), Loras’ Ryan Hagerty (174-pounds), Luther’s Nate Hansen (125-pounds) and John Miller (heavyweight), Simpson’s Brett Christensen (heavyweight), and Wartburg’s Zach McKray (133-pounds), Dustin Bliven (165-pounds) and T.J. Miller (197-pounds). The Consolation bracket was wrestled to the quarterfinals.

The All-American honors for Hinschberger, Brewer, Pyle, Carter and Gillis are their third straight. Morgan, Hubbard, Lopez, Hulegaard, Naig, Kauffman, McCabe and Christensen are All-Americans for the second straight year.

Complete Championship results can be found here.

Championship semifinals, and consolation quarterfinals and semifinals are Saturday beginning at 10:30 a.m. EST. Third-, fifth-, and seventh-place matches begin at 4:00 p.m. EST, and the Championship matches are set for 7:00 p.m. EST.

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