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Pointers Earn Third Straight Top 10 Finish
at Nationals
Mike Hayes placed fifth
at heavyweight to lead three All-American finishes and a third straight
top 10 finish for the UW-Stevens Point wrestling team at the NCAA Division
III championships this weekend in Northfield, Minn.
The Pointers totaled 26.5
points to tie for 10th place with Ithaca (N.Y.). Augsburg (Minn.) easily
won the national title with a whopping 162 points and four individual
champions.
Hayes lost a
heartbreaking sudden-death overtime match to second-seeded Blake Gillis of
Wartburg (Iowa) in the quarterfinals, but bounced back with three
victories, including an 8-4 win over Brett Christensen of Simpson (Iowa)
in the fifth place match.
Cody Koenig and Al
Stacilauskas also had successful wrestlebacks, placing seventh at their
respective weight classes. Koenig lost in the quarterfinals at 174 pounds
and in his second consolation match, but rebounded to beat Jason Shivak of
Delaware Valley (Pa.) 5-2 in the seventh place contest. He had three
victories at the meet to end his career second in school history with 118
wins.
Stacilauskas avenged a
first round loss to fifth-seeded Mike Troutman of Ursinus (Pa.) by posting
10-3 victory in a rematch in the seventh place match. He lost to Troutman
12-6 in the opening round, but won a pair of consolation matches to earn
All-American honors.
Joel Burdick had a pin in
his opening match at 141 pounds, but then lost to the same two opponents
that eliminated him the previous year. He lost to Jeff Patzke of Luther
(Iowa) 8-3 in the quarterfinals and Mike Gaeta of Springfield (Mass.) 7-3
in the consolation. |
