White Wins NCAA Division III Wrestling Title at 197 Pounds

UW-Stevens Point sophomore Yan White won four straight matches and posted a pin in the championship match to capture the NCAA Division III wrestling championship at 197 pounds late Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

White, a former Antigo High School wrestler, pinned Upper Iowa�s Cliff Thompson in 4:51 in the championship match to become the third wrestler in UW-Stevens Point history to win a national title. White joins two-time winner Perry Miller, who was the heavyweight champion in 1997 and 1998, and Bob Berceau, who won at 134 pounds in 1989.

White, who was seeded fourth at the weight class, completed his season with a 24-4 overall record and his finish led the Pointers to a 12th place team finish, which is their highest since finishing ninth in 1998.

Also for the Pointers, freshman Cody Koenig won his opening match at 165 pounds with a 14-12 victory over fourth-seeded James Henderson of College of New Jersey, however, he lost his next two matches to end the year with a 20-9 record.

Junior Mark Burger from Merrill lost to the third and sixth-seeded heavyweight wrestlers in his only two matches. Burger ended his season 15-10.

White opened with an 11-0 whitewash of Bart George of Simpson (Iowa) and then pinned Rich Gildner of College of New Jersey in 2:26 in the quarterfinals. White then pulled out a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Kevin Rasmussen of Augsburg (Minn.) in the semifinals to reach the championship match. He is the sixth wrestler in UW-Stevens Point history to wrestle in a national championship match and his 24-4 record is the eighth best single-season record in school history.

Augsburg won the team title, edging Upper Iowa and Wartburg (Iowa) by six points. UW-La Crosse finished fourth. UW-La Crosse�s Jason Ott won the heavyweight title to give the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference two individual champions.

Check out all of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Results