By Jim Nelson, W.I.N.’s Division III Editor

Wartburg College started the season ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division III wrestling.

The Knights didn’t stay their long.

Wartburg capped off a dominating 2007-08 season by capturing its sixth NCAA wrestling championship at the U.S. Cellular Center, March 8.

The Knights of Waverly, Iowa, crowned three individual champions: Jacob Naig (149), Aaron Wernimont (157) and Romeo Djoumessi (184) and had nine All-Americans while accumulating 147 points, 47 better than runner-up Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

It was the sixth consecutive year Wartburg has had at least two individual champions.

“We kept raising the bar on them and they kept climbing over it all year long,” said Wartburg head coach Jim Miller. “I didn’t know how good we were going to be to be honest with you. We just kept on improving from week to week and things just kept on snowballing.”

The Knights’ season included its fourth NWCA National Duals championship which saw Wartburg win 37 of 40 matches and 16th-consecutive Iowa Conference crown.

“We were dominant,” said Miller. “This team did just everything we asked. It’s a special group.”

Wartburg’s championship was not without some disappointments as defending champion T.J. Miller, Jim’s son, dropped a 2-0 decision to Lycoming’s Matthew Miller in the 197-pound championship.

Lycoming’s Miller scored a takedown with 1 minute and 58 seconds to go in the first period and rode Wartburg’s Miller out for the rest of the period. T.J. chose neutral in the second, but failed to score, then Lycoming’s Miller chose down for the third. T.J. Miller attempted, but failed to turn him over the final two minutes.

The Knights had two other finalists lose: Jake Helvey at 133 and Brian Borchers at heavyweight. Borchers reaching the finals made it six consecutive years Wartburg has had a heavyweight wrestler in the title match.

With the six finalists, Wartburg had been seeking to break the Division III championship record of four individual champions which had been matched six previous times by John Carroll (1975), Montclair State (1976), Augsburg (2000, 2004-05) and the Knights themselves in 2004.

The 147 points scored by the Knights is the fourth highest in Division III history. The Knights own the scoring record, set in 2003 with 166 1/2, and scored 156 1/2 in 2004. Augsburg, the defending champion which finished third, scored 162 in 2005.

LaCrosse’s second-place showing was its second runner-up finish in three seasons and third overall.
The Eagles crowned two champs: Josh Chelf (174) and Dan Laurent (HWT).

Chelf repeated at 174 and was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament, winning all four of his matches by either major decision or pin, including his finals victory over Coe College’s Tyler Jentz, 13-2.
“It is neat I won big in all of my matches, but I really all I was looking for was a ‘W’ and that was all that mattered to me,” said Chelf. “But when those things happen (bonus-point wins), it is a good weekend.”

Laurent rallied in the third period to overcome Borchers, scoring the winning takedown in his 7-5 victory with 33 seconds remaining.

“It was a good ending, going 2-0 in the finals,” said Malecek. “This was a pretty new team with six new faces in our line-up, but we just came and battled hard and I’m real proud of them. I definitely feel we’re taking steps in the right direction.”

Augsburg had one individual champion: Seth Flodeen at 125.

Flodeen avenged a pair of regular-season losses in the tournament, including his pin at 2:07 of Coe’s Clayton Rush in the title match.

“In the middle of the year I was having some weight problems, keeping my weight down,” said Flodeen, who was a national runner-up a year ago. “But all I did in the month of February was put my head to the grindstone and worked to get where I wanted to be.

That work paid off for me here with a championship.”

Flodeen is the 43rd national champion in Augsburg’s history — 39 in NCAA competition. The Auggies also earned four NAIA individual titles in the 1970s and 80s.

The Auggies finished in the top four of the team standings for the 20th straight year and its five All-Americans marked the 20th straight season they’ve had five or more All-Americans.

Coe College — the hometown school, which co-hosted the nationals along with Cornell College of nearby Mt. Vernon, Iowa — finished fourth, its best finish in school history. The Kohawks had never finished better than 11th (1975-76 and 2007).

“The kids have been buying into what us coaches have been teaching them and the end result is what is happening here this weekend,” said Coe coach John Oostendorp, who was named National Coach of the Year at the end of the tournament.

The Kohawks also had a five wrestlers earn all-American honors, including the program’s first national champion: Tyler Burkle, who capped off a perfect 39-0 season with a 9-4 victory over Maranatha Baptist’s Ben Hoover at 165.

“This is something I’ve worked for a long time,” said Burkle. “I’ve wanted to be a national champ ever since I was a little kid and it feels good to have finally done it.”

Other champions crowned were King’s College’s David Morgan, who repeated at 133 and Rhode Island’s Michael Bonara at 141. Bonara became just the second RIU national champion (Billy Cotter won in 1994 also at 141).

Morgan won his second title by coming out on top in a scramble situation with Helvey, winning the match 3-1 in sudden-victory overtime.

“That shot I took in overtime wasn’t a desperation shot but ... it was ... a desperation shot,” confessed Morgan. “It was a scramble situation that could go either way. It was just who was going to come out on top and I was able to, luckily.”

Bonara didn’t do anything flashy to win his title, winning all four of his tournament matches by three points or less, but he was less concerned about style and more about winning.

“It feels unbelievable,” said Bonara. “It couldn’t have turned out to have been a better year.

“If you look at my scores, there wasn’t a major decision. I just figured I had to keep moving my name one spot to the right and I was lucky enough to do it.”