Wartburg Wins 11th Straight Wrestling Championship

Wartburg's Mehlert Named Outstanding Wrestler, Wartburg's Miller Named Coach of the Year

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . .  Wartburg College won its 11th straight Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) wrestling championship behind the performances of six individual champions and four runners-up. The Knights defeated second place Loras College by 68 points (199-131). Luther (122.5), Upper Iowa (121.5) and Buena Vista (110.0) rounded out the top-five. 

Wartburg junior Bart Mehlert (LaPorte City, Iowa) was named Dick Walker Outstanding Wrestler after winning the 149-pound weight class as the third seed.   In the finals he defeated defending Conference Champion Garrett Kurth (Waukon, Iowa), the top seed of Luther College (8-5). He also defeated second-seeded Clint Manny (Peru, Iowa) of Simpson College (8-3) and #6 Jeff Wiele (West Liberty, Iowa) of Coe (pin at 4:02). Mehlert is the 10th Wartburg wrestler to earn Outstanding Wrestler honors, an award now named after the team’s former head coach.
 
Wartburg Head Coach Jim Miller was named IIAC Coach of the Year for the seventh time. He guided the Knights, who were ranked #1 in the Nation the entire season, to a 22-1 overall dual record.
 
Thirty-six wrestlers qualified for the NCAA National Championships to be held March 7-8, at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. The winner and runner-up of each of the ten weight classes along with 16 wildcards will represent the Conference at the National Championships. All 10 of Wartburg’s wrestlers will be joined by seven wrestlers from Loras, five from Luther, four from Upper Iowa, three from both Buena Vista and Simpson, two from Coe and one each from Central and Dubuque. The Iowa Conference’s National qualifiers are:
 

125-lbs.
Heath Ropp, Wartburg
Terry Morgan, Loras
Joe Honts, Buena Vista
 
133-lbs.
Ralph Acosta, Upper Iowa
Ozzie Saxon, Wartburg
Marcus Cobbs, Loras
Mike Lopez, Luther
141-lbs.
Will Kelly, Wartburg
Jeff Patzke, Luther
 
 
149-lbs.
Bart Mehlert, Wartburg
Garrett Kurth, Luther
Clint Manny, Simpson
Chris Vogel, Loras
157-lbs.
Kevin Bratland, Wartburg
Aaron Loewens, BVU
Garrett South, Luther
Dustin Roland, Central
165-lbs.
Pat Wilsbacher, BVU
Ryan Sturm, Wartburg
Jesse Reyerson, Luther
Richard Schroeder, Loras
174-lbs.
Gary Franck, Coe
Mark Sturm, Wartburg
Tom Andrews, Loras
C.J. MacNaught, UIU
184-lbs.
Sonny Alvarez, Wartburg
Paul Cleary, Loras
Pat Dapkus, Dubuque
 
197-lbs.
Brent Meyers, Upper Iowa
Alain Djoumessi, Wart.
Bart George, Simpson
 
Hwt.
LeRoy Gardner, Wartburg
Brian Black, Upper Iowa
Chris Harrison, Coe
Pat Thomas, Loras
Brett Christensen, Simpson

 
Complete standings, bout-by-bout results and brackets can be found here.
 
~~ www.iowaconference.com ~~

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