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Two things in this post regarding Friday's Augsburg-vs.-Wartburg (Iowa) wrestling battle at Si Melby Hall (7:30 p.m. ... BE THERE!).
1. Do you want to look cool, like the model in this photo (wrestling manager and track/cross country student-athlete Kelsie Lungstrom)? Then buy the exclusive Battle of the Burgs t-shirt! Just $15 ... available by contacting Keith Bateman at 612-330-1395 or batemank@augsburg.edu.
2. Friday will feature another Maroon Out night, sponsored by the Augsburg Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Show up in your Auggie maroon (buy the Battle of the Burgs t-shirt and wear it later!) and pack the gym for the Augsburg-Wartburg meet! SAAC will also be selling the ever-popular Auggie SuperFan t-shirts during the meet.
It's a Maroon Out night tonight!
Come to tonight's men's basketball game between Augsburg and St. Thomas (Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Si Melby Hall) and wear your maroon to support the Auggies. Students wearing maroon will receive one free popcorn.
St. Thomas and Augsburg are the top two teams in the MIAC standings, with St. Thomas currently unbeaten and ranked No. 1 nationally in the latest D3hoops.com national poll. This will mark the first time Augsburg has faced a national No. 1-ranked team since 1999, when the Auggies faced top-ranked Wisconsin-Platteville in the second round of the Division III national playoffs.
Augsburg men's basketball update, courtesy of head coach Aaron Griess:
We’re just past the halfway point in the MIAC schedule, and so far, we’ve not failed to disappoint the thrill seekers in the crowd. Five of our 11 conference games have been decided by three points or less. We suffered some heartbreaking losses and we’ve been fortunate enough to come out on the winning side of some real nail-biters. Through it all, we feel as though our team has grown immensely. With so many inexperienced players on our roster to start the year, there were several question marks. We’ve finally found some answers to those questions and we’ve settled into a comfortable rotation.
The work ethic of this group of guys has been tremendous. As a coach, it’s great to have guys who come to practice early and others who stay late in order to get some extra work. That’s where individuals get confidence from -- those extra reps they got when nobody else was there. When it’s their turn to step up in a game, they’ll be able to draw confidence from those moments when they put in the extra work.
The work hasn’t all been in the gym for this group. As a team, we set a goal to earn a 3.0 grade-point average in first semester classes. When grades came out in January, we saw another positive outcome of our work ethic -- a 3.3 team GPA! Needless to say, I’m really proud of this group. They’re displaying the character and work ethic that makes people succeed and makes teams win.
As we enter the home-stretch of the 2008-09 season, we’re looking for continued improvement. We all feel as though we can play better, coach better, and work harder. Our seniors -- Nate Alm, Brian Jungwirth and David Olson -- have put a great deal of time and energy into making this program better. I’d like to make this season special so that those three seniors can finish their college careers with some incredible memories of a program that they helped to reinvent.
A couple of big events this week for Auggie athletics ...
The Augsburg men's basketball team will have a huge home game against St. Thomas on Wednesday (1/28) at 7:30 p.m. at Si Melby Hall. The Auggies are on a serious roll, having won their last three straight games and six of their last seven to move into second place in the MIAC standings. Meanwhile, St. Thomas is 17-0 (the lone unbeaten men's team in Division III) and will likely move into the No. 1 spot in the D3hoops.com Division III national poll on Tuesday. It should be a great game!
Meanwhile, the Augsburg wrestling team, ranked No. 1 in the Division III national poll, will have its annual "Battle of the Burgs" on Friday night, when No. 2-ranked Wartburg (Iowa) visits Si Melby Hall at 7:30 p.m. Augsburg valuted to the top spot in the national rankings after edging defending national champion Wartburg 21-20 in the finals of the NWCA Division III National Duals on Jan. 11 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Wartburg has nine individuals ranked nationally, while Augsburg has eight nationally-ranked wrestlers.
Before Friday's dual meet, there will be a battle of two highly-ranked high school squads, as Albert Lea faces Coon Rapids at 6 p.m. We're expecting a big crowd for the wrestling event on Friday, so get to Augsburg early!
I get this question often, from athletes, parents and fans ... heck, even from some of my relatives! "Say, Don, what's an SID? What the heck do you do?"
Well, it's kind of hard to explain what a sports information director -- that's what an SID stands for -- does, especially at a small college. Primarily, we're the "information providers" for the college's athletic department. Media relations, public relations, athletic website, publications, statistics, this blog, historical records, some of the academic award nominations and many gameday functions all fall within my job description -- as well as part of the job description for our assistant SID, Kelly Anderson Diercks. We're the public conduit for our athletic program. And it ain't a 9-to-5 job.
On gamedays, like tonight's women's basketball game against Hamline, it's an all-day affair to be an SID. We come into the office in the morning to begin planning. Kelly is the SID contact for men's and women's basketball, so she completed the gameday program for tonight's game. I edit the program for her, and she sends it to our on-campus copy center for printing. I'm in charge of statistics, so I take care of setting up our computer stats program and in-game live statistics on the web. And tonight, I'll be on the computer, taking care of the game stats. Kelly will write the game story for our website and for distribution to the media.
During the game, Kelly and I also make sure things are going OK on the scorer's table -- scoreboard operators, official scorer, PA announcer, our webcast announcer, etc. We also help handle the music that's played during breaks in the action. For other sports, I handle the public address announcing (soccer, hockey, baseball/softball), in addition to my other duties. It's a long day, and we're usually not out of the office until after 10 p.m., on a typical gameday. For weekends, where we have multiple events, it's an even longer day and night. Thankfully, I have a great crew of student work-study employees who help both myself and Kelly get through our busy days and our event evenings.
What to know what a day in the life of an SID is like? A couple of my SID colleagues in the MIAC have put together some good diaries -- check out the diaries from St. Thomas SID Gene McGivern (who started his SID career here at Augsburg) and Concordia-Moorhead SID Jim Cella. You can also learn more about the SID biz by going to the website of CoSIDA -- the College Sports Information Directors of America (our professional organization), or this description from About.com.
Augsburg wrestling update, courtesy of head coach Mark Matzek:
Wow! What an incredible weekend. We marched through the first day of the NWCA Division III National Duals, beating our opponents by a combined score of 110-0. The second day in the semifinals, we faced Delaware Valley (Pa.). Our guys fought hard and we came out on top with a 25-17 victory. In the finals, we faced our nemesis, No. 1-ranked Wartburg College (Iowa). With more than one swing in momentum, the meet was a roller coaster ride of emotions. We beat the Knights 21-20 to win the tournament and take over the No. 1 ranking in the country.
This Friday, we travel to Fargo, N.D., to wrestle the Bison of North Dakota State University. The Bison are a Division I opponent and will be a great test for the wrestlers on this team. We wrestled NDSU in the past when it was a Division II program. Assistant head coach Jared Evans and I were on the last two squads when we dueled them as athletes, and we ended up on the short end of the stick in both 2003 and 2004. Both of us want to turn the tables on them!
The other half of our squad will be competing at the Northwestern-Iowa Red Raider Invite in Orange City, Iowa. The field of competition looks to be a mix of very tough NAIA opponents.
The following two weeks after the NDSU dual will be a test of both talent and toughness for us. We go to Sioux Falls, S.D. to wrestle Division II Augustana (S.D.) on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Then we head out to wrestle the No. 2-ranked team in Division II, the University of Nebraska-Omaha. We have twice gone into their home in the past and come out on top (2005 and 2007).
We finish up January with duals against Wisconsin-LaCrosse on Sunday, Jan. 25, and a rematch of the NWCA National Duals finals against Wartburg on Friday, Jan. 30. There will also be a high school dual preceding the meet vs Wartburg. Coon Rapids and Albert Lea will wrestle at 6 p.m. and we will wrestle at approximately 7:30 p.m.
The wrestlers are not satisfied with their performance at the NWCA National Duals. It was great to win it and get that No. 1 ranking, but that is not their long-term goal for the season. Every single student-athlete in this program has their eyes set on the Great Lakes Regional and the NCAA Division III national tournament.
After its impressive run to the championship at the NWCA Division III National Duals over the weekend, the Augsburg wrestling team has moved into the No. 1 spot in the latest Brute-Adidas NWCA Division III national rankings, released yesterday.
Augsburg supplanted defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa), which had occupied the No. 1 spot since last January. The Auggies topped Wartburg 21-20 in the finals of the National Duals on Sunday.
Eight Auggie wrestlers are ranked in the top 10 in their respective weight classes, led by No. 1-ranked Travis Lang (SR, Bismarck, N.D.) at 133 pounds and Willy Holst (SR, Prescott, Wis.) at 149. Jared Massey (JR, Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS) is ranked No. 2 at 197, while Andy Witzel (JR, Fulda, Minn.) is No. 4 at heavyweight. Ranked No. 5 is Seth Flodeen (SR, Cannon Falls, Minn.) at 125 and Jason Adams (JR, Coon Rapids, Minn.) at 157, and ranked No. 7 is Tony Valek (FY, Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West) at 141 and Zach Molitor (SO, Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) at 174.
Augsburg has another big test this Friday, when it travels to face Division I North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D., resuming a series that ended in 2004, the last season NDSU was in Division II. The all-time series between the two schools is tied at 5-5.
Augsburg men's hockey update, courtesy of Augsburg head coach Chris Brown, discussing the team's trip last weekend to Oswego, N.Y.:
We had a great trip to start the new year that had many miles, but many memories! We got to see the best team in the NHL play in their arena (Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena) and we got to see the Stanley Cup on a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
We drove through Niagara Falls en route to Oswego, N.Y., where we started the second half of the season with a win over Babson (Mass.). The best part of the win for our team was that we finally took control of a third period to score four goals and get the solid 6-2 win! We have been challenged to win the first and third periods this year so this was a positive step for us. We also won the third period the next night against host Oswego State (N.Y.), but unfortunately we spotted them a substantial three-goal lead in the first period as we ended up losing 5-2.
We left Oswego at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and we were back at Augsburg by 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. We only stopped once to eat breakfast because we had two bus drivers and sleeper bunks in the bus, so most guys slept through the night. All told, it was an 18-hour ride. It was an excellent trip that we will all walk away with memories for a lifetime, and as always, I was proud of the way our guys handled themselves in so many public venues!
All in all, we are making progress on the ice and our team has confidence, which is the most important thing this time of year as we head into a stretch of seven straight weekends of games. We play our last nonconference games of the year this weekend, and as we have done all year, it will be a stiff challenge.
Every team that we have played this season has been ranked in the USCHO top 15 rankings at some point this season. We have played 8 of our 11 games on the road, and I believe these challenges will have prepared us to make a strong run at making the playoffs in the MIAC!
The Augsburg wrestling team is seeded No. 2 in the Division III field for the NWCA National Duals, coming up this Saturday and Sunday at the University of Northern Iowa's UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Brackets are posted here.
The Auggies will open against No. 15-seeded Buena Vista (Iowa) on Saturday at 11 a.m., in the 16-team Division III bracket. Defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa) is the No. 1 seed in the bracket, while Delaware Valley (Pa.) is No. 3 and Coe (Iowa) is No. 4.
After dropping to the No. 7 spot in the last national rankings following the Auggies' dual-meet loss to St. John's in November, the Auggies have returned to the No. 2 spot in the latest national rankings, released yesterday. Wartburg is in the top spot, with the rest of the top 10 made up with Augsburg, Delaware Valley, Coe, Wisconsin-Whitewater, North Central (Ill.), Wisconsin-La Crosse, Ithaca (N.Y.), St. John's and Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Augsburg has seven individuals ranked in the top 10 in their individual weight classes, including top-ranked wrestlers Seth Flodeen (SR, Cannon Falls, Minn.) at 125 pounds and Travis Lang (SR, Bismarck, N.D.) at 133. Willy Holst (SR, Prescott, Wis.) is ranked No. 2 at 149 and Jared Massey (JR, Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS) is ranked No. 2 at 197. Andy Witzel (JR, Fulda, Minn.) is ranked No. 3 at heavyweight, Lucas Murray (SO, Anoka, Minn.) is ranked No. 4 at 141 and Jason Adams (JR, Coon Rapids, Minn.) is ranked No. 5 at 157.
We're getting a new athletic website!
Augsburg will be unveiling a new athletic webpage in the coming months. Augsburg has signed an arrangement with Internet Consulting Services to create a new web experience for Auggie athletics.
ICS, based in Syracuse, N.Y., has created athletic websites for more than 250 colleges and universities throughout the country, including several schools in Minnesota (as well as the MIAC's website and the UMAC website): Bethel, Macalester, Minnesota State Moorhead, Northwestern-Roseville, St. Benedict, St. Catherine, St. John's, St. Mary's, St. Scholastica, Southwest Minnesota State and Winona State (coming soon). The company has also produced websites for several large universities, including Syracuse, Hawaii, Colgate and Cornell (N.Y.). You can see a full list of ICS clients by clicking here.
As we work with ICS on creating our new Auggie athletic web experience, we'd like your feedback on what you'd like to see in our new athletic website. Please e-mail me at stoner@augsburg.edu with your feedback and suggestions.
Welcome back to the second half of the Augsburg athletics year! Now that we're deep into the winter sports season and the holidays are behind us, we promise to be more vigilant with posts to the ol' AugBlog.
Some observations on the first portion of the winter sports season:
n The Augsburg wrestling team is heading into the upcoming Division III National Duals with renewed optimism, given the results from the team's last two tournaments. At the Sunshine Wrestling Classic at the end of December, Augsburg won seven individual titles and had 19 top-eight placewinners in a tournament that featured five schools rated in the top 25 in the Division III national poll. And this past Saturday, the Auggies shined against some solid NAIA and Division II competition at the Dickinson State (N.D.) Blue Hawk Classic, with six champs/co-champs and 18 placewinners.
The Auggies dropped to the No. 7 spot in the national polls after a dual-meet loss to in-state rival St. John's on Nov. 25, but hopefully should move back into the top four when the new poll comes out on Tuesday. Heading into the National Duals this coming weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa, it should make for some interesting action.
n The Augsburg men's hockey team represented themselves very well over the weekend at the Pathfinder Bank/Oswego (N.Y.) Hockey Classic, taking second place with a 6-2 win over Babson (Mass.) in the opening game and a 5-2 loss to No. 11-ranked Oswego State (N.Y.) in the finals.
And a solid weekend for Chris Johnson. The junior forward scored two goals and had three assists to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Also, another solid weekend for goalie Andrew Kent. Playing every minute in goal for the Auggies thus far this season, he has produced a solid 3.84 GAA and .888 save percentage, and he came up with 60 saves on the weekend.
n The Auggie women's hockey team has a lot of traveling this weekend ... five games in a seven-day span! Two games at Lake Forest (Ill.), then a day to travel north to Hancock, Mich., for two games against Finlandia (Mich.), and a day of traveling back to Minneapolis for a home game against Plymouth State (N.H.) on Saturday afternoon. A total of 1,110 miles on the bus during the week.
The Auggies are still in search of their first win of the season, but are coming off a close 2-1 loss to Lake Forest yesterday afternoon. Hopefully, the first win comes this week!
n The Auggie men's basketball team has also been a victim of some close results, with three two-point games in a row -- a 52-50 win over Gustavus on Dec. 10, a 76-74 loss to Northwestern-Roseville on Dec. 13 and a 57-55 loss to St. Olaf on Saturday.
Junior point guard Jon Cassens has had another solid start to the season, averaging a team-best 14.7 points-per-game while also contributing 41 assists. David Olson has also been solid at the guard spot, averaging 10.3 ppg, and center Nate Alm has been outstanding, averaging 11.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per-game. And the Auggies may have found another scoring threat in newcomer Anthony Humphrey, a transfer from Bemidji State who joined the team at the semester break. In his first Auggie game on Saturday against the Oles, he connected on four clutch 3-pointers and had 14 points.
n The Auggie women's basketball team has had a tough start to MIAC play, with five straight losses, including a 76-63 setback to St. Olaf this past Saturday, with the Auggies missing center Christa Sudebeck due to injury. However, coach Jennifer Britz's squad hung tough all game, despite being at a height disadvantage. Here's hoping that Suedbeck and her 10.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per-game come back to the Auggie lineup soon!
Meanwhile, guards Shannon Renne and Serenae Levine have put together solid seasons, averaging 10.4 and 10.5 points per-game, respectively. Levine has the potential to be one of the top first-year players in the conference, and her 23-point, five-assist, two-steal effort against St. Olaf was incredible. Another player who is having the best year of her career is senior swing-player Michelle Richter, who has contributed a solid 10.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per-game thus far.
