Courtesy of Gary Smith
Finishing on top again - Senior Zac Weiglein powers over Darin Bertram of Augsburg in the finals on his way to his second straight IIAC championship. Weiglein avenged an earlier defeat to Bertram 4-2.

Senior Zac Weiglein defended his national title at 125 with a victory in the finals over Augsburg's Darin Bertram. Weiglein defeated Bertram in the finals last year, but Bertram beat Weiglein in a dual earlier this season. The match was tied 1-1 until late in the third period when Bertram was called for stalling. Weiglein then escaped for the 4-2 win.

"Weiglein is the toughest man in town" said teammates juniors Matt Buskohl and Casey Doyle.

The Knights finished second to Augsburg, who had four national champions. The top three teams were Augsburg in first with 136; second place went to Wartburg with 88 points, and third was capped by Montclair State with 69 points.

"They [Augsburg] had a real good team," said Coach Jim Miller. "I felt good. It's tough to be disappointed. We were competitive. Only two teams can say year in and year out that they are bidding for a national championship."

Senior Nick Mitchell at 149 lost 5-0 to Royce Ever of Lycoming in the second round, but fought his way to the consolation finals.

Mitchell was rematched with Ever, but this time Mitchell earned the 5-3 victory for third place.

"Mitchell showed that he belonged at the top of the weight class," said Miller.

Senior Ben Kritsonis, wrestling at 133, was pinned by national champion Jesus Wilson of Upper Iowa in the semifinals. Kritsonis had beaten Wilson in an intense battle the week before at the IIAC championships. Kritsonis wrestled back to the consolation finals, where he defeated John Conte of Wilkes 17-12 to earn third place.

At 197, Buskohl upset third-ranked Titus Folden of Pacific in the first round, but lost 8-4 to Augsburg's Josh Clausen in the semifinals. Buskohl beat Folden again in the consolation bracket before losing to Brandon Novak of St. John's 5-1 for fourth place.

At 157, senior Chris Smith also earned fourth place all-American honors. Smith beat Mike Longobardi 3-2 in overtime of the second round.

Again, the semifinals proved to hurt Wartburg the most as national champion Mike Helm defeated Smith 3-2. Smith beat arch rival Ben Barclay of Luther 8-5 to advance to the consolation finals, where he lost 4-3 to Wheaton's Dan Weber.

At 141, Doyle pinned Vryan Klass of Delaware in the second round, but fell victim to Rob Anderson of UW-LaCrosse in the deadly semifinal round.

"We fought hard," said Doyle. "We had a lot of tough matches; tough wins and tough losses."

Doyle lost to Brian Jones of Augsburg to place sixth in the nation.

Senior Heavyweight Kris O'Rear earned all-American honors for the second year in a row. He won his first match 10-0, but lost in the second round to top-ranked Rob Cosper 3-2. O'Rear split four matches in the consolation bracket. His final match was a loss to Loras' Don LeRoux in double overtime.

The Knights were eliminated before medal contention at 165, 174 and 184.

Justin Holdgrafer, wrestling at 165, lost in the first round, then beat Augsburg's Tony Abbott 12-3. Luther's Jeff Freidhof stopped Holdgrafer 4-2.

Brandon Holmberg beat Gettysburg's Chris Beck in the first round 9-4 at 174. Holmberg lost to Sevond Cole of Buena Vista 10-6. Holmberg was eliminated in the consolation bracket by third-ranked Brad Christie in sudden death overtime.

Carson Andorf, at 184, beat third-ranked Tyras Bookman in the first round, but lost his next two matches 5-2 and 3-2.

Four wrestlers were named academic all-Americans: Alesch, Andorf, Doyle and Weiglein.