February 17, 2009

DECORAH, IOWA . . . Wartburg College crowned five individual champions en route to its 17th consecutive Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Wrestling Championship Tuesday at Luther College. The Knights amassed 187 points as they collected their 27th title overall. Luther edged Coe, 138-137, in a close battle for second place.

Coe kicked off the championship session on a strong note with titles from sophomores Clayton Rush at 125 and Brandon Ball at 133. After crowning only four champions in their first ten years in the Iowa Conference, the Kohawks have crowned two champions in each of the last two championship meets. Wartburg won the next three titles as No. 1 seeds Zach McKray (141), Jacob Naig (149), and Aaron Wernimont (157) claimed victories before Dubuque’s Josh Terrell picked up a win by default over Wartburg’s Justin Hanson at 165.

Terrell captured the first title by a University of Dubuque wrestler since Troy Armstrong captured the 134-pound title in 1990 and only the school’s 20th individual title since 1960. The Spartans’ fifth-place finish is their best since placing fourth in 1987.

Dubuque’s bid for champions at consecutive weights was upset as Cornell senior Kyle Kehrli became the school’s second champion in as many years with a 4-1 decision over Evan Brown at 174. Wartburg took two of the last three titles as senior Romeo Djoumessi pinned Luther’s Nic Barclay for the title at 184 and sophomore John Helgerson held off Luther’s Allyn Plattner by a 5-4 score at heavyweight. The Norse clinched second place when senior Alec Bonander scored a 5-0 decision over Dubuque’s Matt Wonderlin for the 197 title. Bonander was Luther’s only champion. It was his first IIAC title after posting runner-up finishes each of the past two years.

Wernimont won his third consecutive individual title at 157 pounds and was named the Dick Walker Outstanding Wrestler. Wernimont, who improved to 40-0 and extended his winning streak to 76 matches with his title, pinned Dubuque’s Nathan Harm in the quarterfinals and Cornell’s Aron Kindelsperger in the semifinals before registering a 16-5 major decision over Loras’ Erik Hanson in the championship match. Wernimont is the 12th Wartburg wrestler to be named the IIAC’s outstanding wrestler, accounting for 15 total honors.

Titles by Wartburg seniors Naig (149 pounds), Wernimont (157) and Djoumessi (184) increased the number of wrestlers with at least three Iowa Conference titles to 40 and the number to accomplish the feat at the same weight class to 24. The trio also raised the number of Wartburg wrestlers with at least three titles to 15. It was the third consecutive title for Wernimont and Djoumessi, while Naig captured titles in 2006 and 2008 prior to this season.

Miller Named Coach of the Year: Wartburg’s Jim Miller was named Iowa Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career and the first time since 2006. The Knights’ 49-point margin-of-victory was their largest since besting the field by a record 77 points in 2006.

Complete Conference Championship results are here.

Thirty-three wrestlers qualified for the 2009 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships hosted by Coe College, Cornell College, and the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on March 6-7, at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The top-three finishers in each of the ten weight classes along with three at-large selections will represent the Conference at the national meet. National qualifiers from the Iowa Conference are:

Coe (7) – Clayton Rush (125), Brandon Ball (133), Tyler Burkle (165), Bryon Grothus (174), Seth Rehn (184), Rob Kramer (197), Mitch Sander (285)

Cornell (4) – Nick Nothern (133), Kevin Donahue (141), Ryan Mulnix (149), Kyle Kehrli (174)

Dubuque (3) – Josh Terrell (165), Evan Brown (174), Matt Wonderlin (197)

Loras (3) – Jordan Loy (141), Erik Hanson (157), Trevor Kaufman (285)

Luther (7) – Jayson Swanson (125), Zac Bartlett (133), Jason Pyle (149), Johanson Quist (157), Nic Barclay (184), Alec Bonander (197), Allyn Plattner (285)

Wartburg (9) – Mark Kist (125), Matt Kelly (133), Zach McKray (141), Jacob Naig (149), Aaron Wernimont (157), Justin Hanson (165), Romeo Djoumessi (184), Nick Shandri (197), John Helgerson (285)

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