By Tim Glon

ADA — Top-ranked Wartburg (Iowa) closed the deal in grand style Saturday night, winning the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in record-breaking fashion.

The Knights set three NCAA Division III Championships records, tied a fourth and wound up with an impressive three national champions Saturday evening at the ONU Sports Center.

Wartburg set the record for most points scored with 166.5 and enjoyed a Division III-record margin of victory of 82 points.

Wartburg clinched their third team championship in the past six years and snapped the streak of three consecutive championships by No. 2-ranked Augsburg (Iowa).

WC obliterated the previous scoring record of 143 points set by Montclair State (N.J.) in 1976.

Augsburg finished second with 84.5 points, No. 8-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point was third with 71 points, No. 7-ranked Montclair State (N.J.) was fourth with 69 points and No. 9-ranked Luther (Iowa) was fifth with 56.5 points.

Wartburg advanced an NCAA Division III record six wrestlers into the Championship round, tying Wilkes (Pa.) record set in 1974.

Three of those six Knight wrestlers won national titles.

Top-seeded Heath Ropp topped third-seeded Mitchell Marcks of King's (Pa.) 6-4 in overtime in the 125-pound bracket, fifth-seeded Wil Kelly defeated third-seeded Jim Morgan of King's 7-1 at 141 pounds and top-seeded LeRoy Gardner III won at heavyweight with a 3-2 victory over Ryan Allen of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

Three wrestlers ended their seasons undefeated and as national champions.

Top-seeded Remi Ratel of Montclair State was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler, defeating Garrett Kurth of Luther 12-4 to finish 37-0 on the season.

Augsburg freshman Marcus LeVesseur, the top-seeded wrestler at 157 pounds, defeated second-seeded Kevin Bratland of Wartburg 4-2 to end his campaign 44-0.

Second-seeded Cody Koenig of Wisconsin-Stevens Point posted his third fall of the tournament, pinning top-seeded Eduard Aliakseyena of Montclair State in 4:57 in the 174-pound weight bracket to improve to 36-0 on the year

There were no repeat champions from last season as all 10 national champions were first-time winners.