Miller finishes third, Kwiat fifth to earn All-America honors at 2011 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships
LACROSSE, Wis. — Senior Luke Miller finished third at 165 pounds and sophomore Kyle Kwiat finished fifth at 174 pounds at the 2011 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships Friday and Saturday at the La Crosse Center.
Both wrestlers repeated as All-Americans with top-8 finishes in the tournament.
The Polar Bears finished in 12th place in the team standings with 29.5 points.
Fifth-seeded Miller, who is now a three-time All-American and won the 2010 national title at 157 pounds, finished with a 4-1 record at the tournament.
Miller (29-5) is just the second three-time All-American in ONU history, joining Joe Maiani (1996-98) with that distinction.
He finished fourth as a sophomore in 2009 and won the title in 2010.
In four seasons as a Polar Bear, Miller has a 133-29 career record to tie the ONU all-time record of 133 wins set by 1989 national champion Vinny Cameron from 1986-89.
Kwiat, who was the top seed at 174 pounds, was 4-2 on the weekend and is now a two-time All-American. He finished fifth at 174 pounds a year ago.
Kwiat is 33-6 on the season.
Junior Mick Letcher finished the tournament with a 1-2 record in the 157-pound weight class on Friday and was just one round shy of earning All-America honors as well.
Miller, who is now a three-time All-American and won the 2010 national title at 157 pounds, posted an impressive 13-0 major decision victory over Nick Samko of Ithaca (N.Y.) at 165 pounds in his first round match Friday afternoon.
His quarterfinal round victory was even more impressive, as he posted a 6-0 decision over defending NCAA Champion and the 2010 Most Valuable Wrestler Vincent Renault of Merchant Marine Friday night.
Miller dropped a 4-2 decision to top-seeded Josh Terrell in the semifinals of the 165-pound weight class he also had more than 2:00 of riding time advantage in his semifinal match, but registered just a stalling point and was taken down twice.
In the consolation semifinals, Miller used a takedown and three back points to register a 7-3 victory over third-seeded Justin Bonitatis of New Jersey.
In the third place match, Miller got a third period escape that would account for all of the scoring and notched a 1-0 win over second-seeded Matt Baarson of St. John's (Minn.)
Kwiat used a reversal, an escape and more than 2:00 of riding time to post his 4-2 win and guarantee himself of at least a sixth place finish.
Top-seeded two-time All-American Kwiat, who finished fourth in his weight class in 2010 and was the 2010 NCAA Division III National Freshman of the Year, won with a major decision 10-2 over Ryan Domann of Stevens (N.J.) in the first round Friday afternoon.
Kwiat (33-6) then fell to No. 8 seeded Brad Banks of Wartburg (Iowa) 9-5 in the quarterfinals Friday night.
Kwiat assured himself of a top-8 finish with a pin of Scott King of Coe (Iowa) in the consolation quarterfinals Friday night in 4:10. Kwiat dominated from the onset and led 13-2 when he registered the pin.
He is just the seventh Polar Bear to earn All-America honors twice in his career.
In the consolation quarterfinals Saturday morning, Kwiat defeated fifth-seeded Matt Pfarr of St. John's by decision 4-2.
He then fell second-seeded Mike Schmitz of Wisconsin-LaCrosse 9-5 in the consolation semifinals and won the fifth place match by medical forfeit.
Letcher (29-9) posted a 5-3 victory over Ryan Warczynski of Dubuque (Iowa) 5-3 Friday night in the consolation second round at 157
In his first round match, he got a reversal, an escape and a stalling point and had an advantage in riding time, but fell 9-4 to No. 7 seeded Nick Loughlin of Cornell (Iowa).
He was then eliminated from the tournament in the consolation third round by Erik Hanson of Loras (Iowa) Friday night by fall in 2:41.
Letcher was making his first appearance at the NCAA Championships.