Wrestlers Qualify Three for National Championships

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

Team Scores
Individual Results

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (Feb. 26, 2011) - The North Central College wrestling team got contributions from several parts of its lineup in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships at Lakeland College on Saturday, putting together a fourth-place finish in a field of 15 teams and qualifying two individuals for the national championships.

The 22nd-ranked Cardinals totaled 90 points in the competition. Third-ranked Augsburg College (Minn.), the defending NCAA Division III National Champion, won the event with 153.5 points, followed by seventh-ranked St. John's University (Minn.) with 125.5 and sixth-ranked Concordia College Moorhead (Minn.) with 124. 

North Central's Nathan Fitzenreider made short work of the rest of the field at 133 pounds, placing first and earning a trip to the national championships for the second straight season. Fitzenreider's first three matches ended in first-period pins, as he stuck St. Olaf College's (Minn.) Ian Peppel in one minute, 27 seconds, Milwaukee School of Engineering's Dominick Deligio in 1:44 and the University of Chicago's Francisco Acosta in just 27 seconds to advance to the final.

Fitzenreider (33-2) closed out the tournament with a 4-1 victory over third-seeded Daron Hohbein of Concordia Moorhead in the championship match. He carries an 18-match winning streak into the national meet.

Andrew Zobac entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed at 141 pounds, and posted a 17-5 major decision over Joseph Reuttiger of Chicago and an 8-2 decisioin over David Baker of Concordia Moorhead before losing, 7-5, in the semifinals to fifth-seeded Ryan Timmerman of St. Olaf. 

Zobac (39-7) bounced back to defeat Elmhurst College's Larry Baca, 6-2, and Jacob Narveson of MSOE, 12-6, in the wrestlebacks to finish third. He was awarded one of the region's nine at-large bids to the national championships.

The Cardinals also got a third-place finish from 149-pounder Eric Oyster, whose tournament began with a first-period pin of Maranatha Baptist Bible College's Jonathan Rhine. Seeded third in the event, Oyster then followed with a 5-3 decision over sixth-seeded Christopher Oster of Chicago.

After a 6-4 semifinal loss to second-seeded Tony Valek of Augsburg, Oyster (19-7) posted a 3-2 decision over Jacob Long of Concordia Moorhead in the wrestlebacks before defeating Oster again, also by a 3-2 count. Oyster was selected as one of the super at-large bids for the national championships.

North Central got fourth-place finishes from Sean Tomac at 125 and Greg Schroeder at 174, with sixth-place efforts coming from Jason Bonham at 165 and Andrew Bradley at 197.

The 2011 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships will be contested Mar. 11-12 at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wis. More information can be found at www.ncaa.com/championships/wrestling/d3.