Lakeland College

Weber leads Muskie wrestlers at West Regional

Athletics - posted on 3/2/2013

MINNEAPOLIS - Matt Weber (So.-Lockport, Ill.) finished fifth in the 157 lb. weight class, the best finish for the Lakeland College wrestling team at the NCAA Division III West Regional Saturday hosted by Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn.

The Muskies were unable to record a finisher in the top three in any weight class, and as a result will not send a wrestler to the NCAA Division III National Championships. Lakeland finished with 23 points on the day, placing 11th of 12 teams at the regional.

Weber won twice to reach the semifinals at 157 lbs., scoring a pair of wins by decision before losing to Ryan Arne of St. John's (Minn.) University by major decision. He then lost a 5-2 decision to Kurt Knutsen of Augsburg to drop out of the running for a third-place finish, but came back to roll past Mike Ulliana of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville fifth place with an 11-0 major decision.

Marcus McCauley (Fr.-Hillpoint, Wis.) posted the best finish behind Weber. McCauley won his first match before a loss sent him to the wrestleback bracket, and he won once there before losing a second time to eliminate him from third-place competition. He then was pinned by Chase Austvhold of Concordia (Moorhead) College in the fifth-place match.

A total of seven Muskie wrestlers earned wins on Saturday. Augsburg won the team title on Saturday with 149.5 points, followed by Concordia-Moorhead (133) and St. John's (127).