Three Titans To Wrestle At NCAA Championships

Jordan Lemcke, Preston Morgan and Beau Yineman will each make their debut on the national stage when they represent UW-Oshkosh at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships this weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Action is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Friday (March 11) and 10 a.m. Saturday (March 12) from the Alliant Energy Powerhouse.

Wrestlers qualified for the Division III Championships by finishing among the top three in their respective weight classes at one of six regional sites.

Lemcke finished second in the 285-pound weight class at the Upper Midwest Regional held Feb. 25-26 in Eau Claire while Morgan and Yineman placed third at 165 and 197 pounds, respectively.

This year's Division III Championships are being held for the first time since 2019 after the 2020 and 2021 competitions were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Lemcke was a qualifier for the 2020 championships.

Lemcke, a senior, compiled a 3-1 Upper Midwest Regional record to improve his season ledger to 24-3 (9 pins) and career mark to 80-42 (26 pins). He lost his title bout by a 3-1 score to Tyler Kim of Augsburg University (Minn.). Lemcke was a second-place finisher at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships held Feb. 12 in Oshkosh.

Lemcke is seeded fifth in his weight class for this weekend's Division III Championships. Lemcke faces unseeded Palmer Rodenhaber of Alvernia University (Pa.) in his opening bout before battling fourth-seeded John Fulmer of Lycoming College (Pa.) or unseeded Thomas Marretta of The College of New Jersey in his second contest. Fulmer finished first and Rodenhaber third at the Southeast Regional while Marretta placed first at the Mideast Regional.

Morgan tallied a 4-1 Upper Midwest Regional record and won his third-place match on a pin of Augsburg University's Matt Rogge in 3:28. The sophomore owns a season record of 20-8 (8 pins) and a career mark of 22-12 (8 pins). Morgan was a third-place finisher at this year's WIAC Championships.

Morgan is unseeded in his weight category for the national meet. He opens against unseeded Austin Lamb of Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) before wrestling against sixth-seeded Philip Rogers of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (N.Y.), eighth-seeded Patrick McGraw of John Carroll University (Ohio) or unseeded Isaac Matthews of State University of New York at Oswego in his second match. McGraw and Rogers finished first at the Central and Northeast regionals, respectively, while Lamb placed second and Matthews third at the Mideast.

Yineman, a junior, won four of his five matches at the Upper Midwest regional, including a pin of Concordia College's (Minn.) Gabriel Zierden in 2:30 of their third-place contest. The two-time WIAC champion possesses a season record of 32-3 (16 pins) and a career resume of 71-9 (25 pins).

Yineman begins the Division III Championships as the fourth seed in his weight division. He will be challenged by unseeded Jarrod Setliff of Otterbein University (Ohio) in his opening bout and either fifth-seeded Donovan Corn of Luther College (Iowa) or unseeded Mauro Pellot of Alvernia University in his second. Corn and Pellot finished second at the Lower Midwest and Southeast regionals, respectively, while Setliff placed third at the Central.

The top eight finishers in each of the 10 weight classes at the national championships earn All-America honors.

Augsburg University scored 130 points to win the 2019 Division III title. Loras College (Iowa) placed second in the team standings with 66 points while Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) placed third with 63. UW-Oshkosh finished 16th with 18.5 points.

The last time UW-Oshkosh was represented by more than three wrestlers at the Division III Championships was 2012 when four participated.

2022 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships • Weight Class Brackets

2022 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships • Host Website