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Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: February 23
Meet Rewind:
NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet Results:
Regional Team Standings (pdf)
Regional Finals Summary (pdf)
Regional Bout-By-Bout (pdf)
Concordia National Qualifiers:
141- Ben Anderson 4-1 (True Second Place Winner)
174- Phil Moenkedick 4-0 (Champion)
197- Tony Neumann 4-1 (True Second Place Winner)
Final Team Results:
1 Augsburg - 129.5
2 Elmhurst - 116.5
3 Concordia - 114.0
4 North Central - 109.0
5 Saint John’s - 87.5
6 Lakeland - 82.5
7 Univ. of Chicago - 47.5
8 Wheaton College - 42.0
9 Concordia Univ. - 28.0
10 Maranatha - 23.5
11 Pacific - 22.0
12 Augustana - 21.5
13 Milw. School of Eng. - 20.0
14 Knox - 18.5
15 St. Olaf - 17.5
Meet Recap:
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (2/23/08)-- Wow! Unbelievable! Incredible! Amazing! Use them all to explain the feat the Cobbers pulled off at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Tournament held at St. John's on Saturday. A year after finishing 13th at regionals, Concordia placed third and was only 15.50 points behind powerhouse Augsburg. CC had three wrestlers qualify for nationals and had seven athletes finish in the top five of their weight class after only having one last season.
Phil Moenkedick, Tony Neumann and Ben Anderson all earned trips to the NCAA National Meet on Mar. 7-8 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They become the first Concordia wrestlers to earn a spot in nationals since Zack Schroeder qualified back in 2000-01. It is the first time the Cobbers have had multiple national qualifiers since the 1997-98 campaign when they sent two wrestlers to the national meet.
Moenkedick continues to climb the ranks as a regional and national wrestler. He went 4-0 in the 174-lb weight class and won the weight-class championship. He becomes the first wrestler in program history to win a regional championship. Prior to the 2002-03 season, individuals qualified by earning a spot through the MIAC Championships. Moenkedick started his title run with a pair of pin falls. He then scored a major decision over fourth-ranked Greg Schroeder in the semifinals. In the championship match he earned a two-point decision at 6-4 over George Lynaugh of Augsburg. With his four wins in the regional, Moenkedick has now won 36 matches on the year and is only two wins away from tying the school's single season record of 38 set by Mike Northcutt in 1988-89.
Neumann has steadily worked his way into becoming a national-caliber wrestler. He entered the regional with a 26-13 record and promptly won his first two matches at 197. He opened the meet with a pin fall and then scored a major decision in the quarterfinals. To get into the finals, he won a 5-2 decision over James Carlson of St. John's. In the final, he lost 8-2 to top-seeded Paul Hartt of Lakeland. Neumann then earned his trip to nationals by pinning Vincent Sapienza of North Central in the true second-place match.
Anderson was perhaps the surprise of the entire regional. he entered the meet ranked fifth at 141. Anderson pinned his first opponent and then pulled off his first upset by beating fourth-ranked Kory Theil of Lakeland 2-0. He then lost a heartbreaking 2-1 match with top-ranked Jason Adams of Augsburg. Anderson then entered the wrestlebacks and won two matches to claim third place. Since Adams went on to win the weight class, he was able to wrestle Brent Skorup of Wheaton in the true second place match. Skorup lost to Adams in the title bout to set up the match for the invite into nationals. Anderson saved his best for last as he scored a 10-6 decision over a wrestler that entered the meet with a 28-6 record.
Besides the three national qualifiers, Clay Nagel's crew had one wrestler claim third place, two athletes earn fourth-place honors and one fifth-place finish.
Justin Berns entered the meet ranked third at 149 and finished in third place. He narrowly missed out on one of the at-large bids as he was taken off the nomination board in the final stages. Berns went 4-1 in the meet. He pinned his first opponent and then scored an 8-1 decision in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he lost to second-ranked Jeff Kastel of Elmhurst who entered the day 36-5 and ranked fifth in the nation. Berns then won 9-0 in his first wrestleback match and then pinned his opponent in the third-place bout. Unfortunately for Berns, Kastel was beaten handily in the finals so he was unable to get a chance at a true second-place match.
The three other top five finishers for Concordia all had huge days. All three were ranked sixth or lower in their weight class and all three scored valuable team points for CC.
Joe Leacox entered the 133-lb weight class ranked sixth and promptly went 3-2 to claim fourth place. His biggest win of the day was a pin over third-ranked Ben Salabura of Elmhurst in the quarterfinals.
Logan Lunde came from the seventh-ranked spot to finish fourth at 157. He went 4-2 and earned wins over the third-ranked and fourth-ranked wrestlers at the meet.
One of the best days of any Cobber was turned in by junior Cody Salo who entered the meet unranked at 184. Salo started the day by pinning the fifth-ranked wrestler. After losing a tough 6-5 decision to fourth-ranked Brian Kerr of Augustana in the quarterfinals, he went 3-1 in the wrestlebacks to grab fifth place.
Concordia will now have two weeks off before the three national qualifiers will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to compete at the DIII national meet hosted by Coe and Cornell.
Cobber Results:
Cobber Results at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional
125- Alex Vosberg 0-2
133- Joe Leacox 3-2 (4th Place)
141- Ben Anderson 4-1 (True Second Place Winner)
149- Justin Berns 4-1 (3rd Place)
157- Logan Lunde 4-2 (4th Place)
165- Lane Lunde 1-2
174- Phil Moenkedick 4-0 (Champion)
184- Cody Salo 4-2 (5th Place)
197- Tony Neumann 4-1 (True Second Place Winner)
HWT- Adam Westby 0-2
Concordia College is a private, four year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. |