CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Augsburg University’s four men’s wrestling All-Americans recorded finishes of third, fourth, fifth, and sixth places, as the Auggies moved into third place at the NCAA Division III National Championships on Saturday at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse.
Without a finalist in Saturday’s championship round, Augsburg finished its tournament run with 62.5 points, standing third in the field ahead of fourth-place North Central’s 54.5 points. North Central has two finalists in the championship round. Wartburg (Iowa) leads Wabash (Ind.) by a 79.0-to-78.0 margin in the national title race. Wabash has three competitors in Saturday’s finals, while Wartburg has one.
TOP 10 TEAM SCORES AFTER SESSION 3: 1.Wartburg (Iowa) 79.0; Wabash (Ind.) 78.0; 3. Augsburg (Minn.) 62.5; 4. North Central (Ill.) 54.5; 5. Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) 42.5; 6. Coe (Iowa) 40.5; 7. Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) 37.0; 8. Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) 32.0; 9t. Millikin (Ill.) 29.5; 9t. Wisconsin-Oshkosh 29.0.
Tyler Shilson (JR, Maple Grove, Minn./Centennial HS) finished in third place at 157 pounds, notching his second career All-American honor, repeating his third-place finish from last year’s National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III national tournament. The No. 5 seed at 157, Shilson dropped a 7-2 decision to top-seed Kaidon Winters of the Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.), but rebounded with a 3-1 win over No. 6-seed Nolan Hertel of Wisconsin-La Crosse — his second win over Hertel this season — and a 9-2 triumph over No. 4-seed Ryan Luth of Washington & Lee (Va.) in the third-place match, his second win over Luth in the tournament. In his second year as an Auggie, Shilson finished his junior season at 33-4, and is now 43-5 as an Auggie, 71-29 in his collegiate career.
Tyler Kim (JR, Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley HS) finished in fourth place at 285 pounds, earning his second All-America honor, after finishing second in last year’s NWCA meet. The No. 6 seed in the field, Kim dropped an 8-2 decision to No. 7 seed Donovan King in the semifinals, but came back with a 17-5 major decision win over Nico Ramirez of Southern Virginia in the consolation semifinals, outscoring Ramirez by an 11-2 margin in the third period. In the third-place match against No. 2-seed Kaleb Reeves of Coe (Iowa), Kim got caught in an underhook and was pinned in 40 seconds. Kim finished his junior season at 38-8, and is now 69-20 in his Auggie career.
Solomon Nielsen (SR, Luverne, Minn./Luverne HS) had the most dramatic win of the day for Augsburg, winning his fifth-place match with Zach Stedeford of the Rochester Institute of Technology by pin in the last second of the third period. He built a narrow 2-1 lead after two periods, then converted a reversal and turned it into a pin in the final 20 seconds of the bout. The No. 5 seed in the field at 174, Nielsen had dropped his two matches on Saturday prior to his win, with a late comeback falling short in a 10-8 loss to top-seed Cornell Beachem of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) in the semifinals and a 16-0, second-period technical fall loss to No. 6-seed Jacob Krakow of Loras (Iowa) — the first technical fall loss of Nielsen’s collegiate career. A three-time All-American and four-time national tournament qualifier, after finishing second at 174 pounds at last year’s NWCA national meet and earning first-team NWCA All-American honors in the COVID-19-cancelled 2020 postseason, Nielsen finished his senior season at 32-5, ending his career at 119-24.
Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (JR, Loyal, Wis./Marshfield HS) finished in sixth place at 197 pounds, repeating his All-American finish from last year’s NWCA tournament. Unseeded in the field at 197, Schwanebeck-Ostermann advanced to the consolation semifinals with a medical forfeit, but was edged 6-4 in both of his last two matches, to No. 4-seed Beau Yineman of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the consolation semifinals and to No. 3-seed Coy Spooner of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (Conn.) in the fifth-place match. Schwanebeck-Ostermann finished his junior season at 20-8 and is 51-20 in his Auggie career.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
With a top-four team finish guaranteed, Augsburg has now recorded a “trophy finish” (the top four teams in NCAA competition receive team trophies) 31 times in NCAA Division III competition (since 1983) and 34 times overall (three times in NAIA competition from 1968 to 1983). Augsburg has had top-four finishes 29 times in the last 32 NCAA Division III national championships (since 1989). Entering this season, Augsburg has finished among the top three teams in NCAA competition 29 times in NCAA competition and three times in NAIA competition.
Augsburg has now earned 268 men’s wrestling All-Americans in program history — 217 in NCAA competition, 38 in NAIA competition, and 13 by the NWCA the last two years, when the NCAA national championships were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Augsburg has earned at least two All-Americans every year since 1988 and has had at least one All-American in national competition every year since 1977, a 46-year streak.
AUGSBURG SATURDAY RESULTS
157: Kaidon Winters (Rochester Institute of Technology) dec. Tyler Shilson (Augsburg) 8-2; Shilson dec. Nolan Hertel (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 3-1. Third-Place Match: Shilson dec. Ryan Luth (Washington & Lee) 9-2.
174: Jacob Krakow (Loras) tech. fall Solomon Nielsen (Augsburg) 16-0 at 4:17. Fifth-Place Match: Nielsen pinned Zach Stedeford (Rochester Institute of Technology) 6:59.
197: Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (Augsburg) medical forfeit over Jordan Wallace (Ithaca); Beau Yineman (Wisconsin-Oshkosh) dec. Schwanebeck-Ostermann 6-4; Fifth-Place Match: Coy Spooner (U.S. Coast Guard Academy) dec. Schwanebeck-Ostermann 6-4.
285: Donovan King (Olivet) dec. Tyler Kim (Augsburg) 8-2; Kim maj. dec. Nico Ramirez (Southern Virginia) 17-5. Third-Place Match: Kaleb Reeves (Coe) pinned Kim 0:40.
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