FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Brackets
Team Scores

MINNEAPOLIS (Feb. 20, 2010) - North Central College will send four representatives to the NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championships after placing fifth overall in the 15-team Great Lakes Regional Championships at Augsburg College's Si Melby Hall.

The 10th-ranked Cardinals totaled 125.5 points in the competition. No. 1-ranked Augsburg won the regional team title with 224 points, while seventh-ranked Concordia College (Minn.) was second (142), 18th-ranked Elmhurst College finished third (133.5) and ninth-ranked St. John's University (Minn.) was fourth (126).

North Central's Nathan FItzenreider became the Cardinals' first national qualifier and gave his team its second regional championship in three years at 133 pounds, winning four straight matches en route to the title. He pinned Pacific University's (Ore.) Andrew Wolfe in 2:03 in the first round, then posted back-to-back major decisions over Ryan Timmerman of St. Olaf College (17-3) and Jake Denhof of Elmhurst (16-4) to advance to the finals. Fitzenreider clinched the chammpionship with a 10-6 victory over Augsburg's Paul Bjorkstrand.

Johnny Starzyk received one of the eight wild-card berths to the national championships after advancing to the finals at 141. He pinned Josh Wengerter of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (4:11) and Jake Montie of Lakeland College (1:36) in his first two matches, then scored a 12-8 victory over Concordia's Ben Anderson before a 6-4 loss to Augsburg's Jafari Vanier in the championship match. Starzyk was defeated, 7-1, by top-seeded Myanganbayar Batsukh of St. John's in the true second match.

Earning the opportunity to pursue his third All-America certificate was Gabe Youel, who placed second at 184. He notched a 12-3 major-decision victory over Elmhurst's Mike McNeil in the opening round, then pinned Knox College's Alex Faulkner in 4:37 before a 4-0 semifinal win over Mitchell Hagen of St. John's. Youel suffered a 2-1 loss in the championship match to last season's national runner-up, Phil Moenkedick of Concordia.

Cowan Brown rebounded from an early loss to earn a wild-card berth as well, placing third at 174. He opened with a 12-4 major decision over Colin Jergenson of St. Olaf, but lost, 5-4, to Ross Dankers of Concordia in the quarterfinals. Brown quickly rebounded in the consolation bracket pinning Josh Nord of Concordia (Wis.) in just 22 seconds. He scored a 4-2 win over the University of Chicago's David Kneisel and a 10-7 victory over Wheaton College's Justin Marble, then closed out his day with a 16-6 major decision over Ryan Renon of Lakeland.

Vinnie Sapienza placed fifth at 197, while Joe Norton and Tim Gingerich placed sixth at 125 and 157, respectively.

The Division III National Championships will be held Mar. 5-6 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.