Wartburg wins sixth straight NWCA National Duals title among Div. III schools

Wartburg College, located in Waverly, Iowa, solidified its No. 1 NCAA Division III ranking as the Knights defeated eighth-ranked Wabash (Ind.) to capture a sixth-straight and tenth all-time NWCA National Duals championship, Jan. 9, in Ft. Wayne, Ind.

           The Knights outscored Augustana, SUNY-Cortland and Roger Williams by a combined 118-3 margin to easily reach the finals where Wartburg won seven individual matches — including technical falls by Arnulfo Olea (125), Eric Devos (174) and Benjamin Nagel (Hwt) — to beat the Little Giants, who proved to be giant killers in the national event.

Wabash reached the finals by upsetting second-ranked Augsburg in the quarterfinals before beating No. 7 Concordia-Moorhead in the semis.

In addition to this current run of six Duals titles for the Knights, who have been in every NWCA National Duals final since 2002, they also won championships in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals

Division III Tournament Results

First Round

Augustana (Ill.) defeated No. 21 Mt. Union (Ohio), 28-9

No. 10 SUNY-Cortland defeated Wheaton (Ill.), 31-13

No. 13 Alma (Mich.) defeated Merchant Marine, 27-17

No. 15 Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) defeated No. 24 New York U., 24-12

No. 17 Luther (Iowa) defeated No. 23 Wilkes (Pa.), 29-14

No. 12 Coe (Iowa) defeated Coast Guard, 34-15

No. 11 Johnson & Wales (R.I.) defeated North Central (Ill.) 33-6

No. 20 Wisconsin-Whitewater defeated Heidelberg (Pa.), 23-9

Second Round

No. 1 Wartburg defeated Augustana, 38-0

SUNY-Cortland defeated No. 9 Cornell College, 24-18

No. 5 Ithaca defeated Alma, 24-18

No. 4 Roger Williams defeated Baldwin Wallace, 24-11

No. 3 Wisconsin-La Crosse defeated Luther, 28-10

No. 7 Concordia-Moorhead defeated Coe, 21-17

No. 8 Wabash defeated Johnson & Wales, 25-13

No. 2 Augsburg defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater, 28-13

Quarterfinals

Wartburg defeated SUNY-Cortland 37-0

Roger Williams defeated Ithaca, 17-15

Concordia-Moorhead defeated Wisconsin-La Crosse, 18-17

Wabash defeated Augsburg 25-15

Semifinals

Wartburg defeated Roger Williams, 43-3

Wabash defeated Concordia-Moorhead, 25-12

Championship

Wartburg defeated Wabash, 28-12

3^rd-Place Match

Roger Williams defeated Concordia-Moorhead, 26-18

5^th-Place Match

Wisconsin-La Crosse defeated SUNY-Cortland, 31-11

7^th-Place Match

Augsburg defeated Ithaca 22-21

NCAA Div. III Championship Dual — No. 1 Wartburg (Iowa) 28, No. 8 Wabash (Indiana) 12

125 — No. 9 Arnulfo Olea (Wartburg) won by TF over Chris Diaz, 21-5

133 — No. 4 Connor Campo (Wartburg) major dec. AJ Belden, 11-1

141 — Cross Cannone (Wartburg) dec. Michael Venezia, 2-0

149 — Devin Broukal (Wabash) dec. Kenneth Martin, 5-4

157 — No. 4 Drew Wagenhoffer (Wartburg) dec. No. 10 Nick Bova, 9-8

165 — No. 4 Andrew Steiert (Wartburg) dec. Connor Brummett, 11-4

174 — No. 5 Eric Devos (Wartburg) won by TF over Grant Gough, 16-0

184 — No. 1 Riley Lefever (Wabash) won by forfeit

197 — Brett Thumm (Wabash) dec. Bryan Levsen, 6-3

Hwt — Benjamin Nagle (Wartburg) won by TF over Jake Barclay, 17-0