Team Scores
Brackets

La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestling team placed third at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships Saturday night at the La Crosse Center. 

The Eagles finished with 82.5 team points while Augsburg University (Minn.) won the team title with 95.0. Wartburg College (Iowa) was second with 87.5 and Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) fourth with 76.0.  

UW-Eau Claire was fifth (69.0) and Baldwin-Wallace University (Ohio) sixth with 61.5. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy was seventh (52.5) followed by North Central College (Ill.) eighth (42.5), The College of New Jersey ninth (37.0) and Loras College (Iowa) 10th (34.0). A total of 55 teams scored points. 

UWL now has 24 top-10 finishes at the NCAA III Championships since joining the NCAA III in 1992, including a school-best second-place showing on four different occasions (2001, 2006, 2008, 2010). The Eagles finished with a school record 106.0 points at the 2006 championships.  UWL has 14 top-four finishes at the national meet. 

Dave Malecek completed his 18th season as UWL's head coach this year. He has led the Eagles to top-four finishes at the NCAA Division III Championships in eight different years. UWL placed second in 2008 and 2010, third in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2024 and fourth in 2012 and 2013. 

He was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the championships. UWL also earned the NWCA Assistant Coaching Staff of the Year with Bebeto Yewah, Josh Passe, Albie McKinney, Trevor Pruett, Mason Kaufman and Brandon Murphy. 
 

Selected the 2007 NCAA Division III Rookie Coach of the Year and 2010 D3wrestle.com Coach of the Year, Malecek has now coached 13 NCAA Division III champions and had 68 wrestlers earn All-America honors in 18 seasons.  Malecek has led UWL to 13 WIAC Championships with 78 individual league titles. He has been selected the Mertz Mortorelli WIAC Coach of the Year on seven occasions (2007-11, 2015, 2017).  UWL has been named the WIAC Coaching Staff of the Year the last seven seasons (2018-24). 

Five UWL wrestlers earned NCAA All-America honors, including four advancing to the national semifinals. The Eagles' Nolan Hertel captured the 157-pound national title while Tyler Goebel at 149-pounds, Noah Leisgang at 165-pounds and Michael Douglas at 285-pounds each earned second-place finishes. 

UWL's Ben Kawczynski earned All-America honors at 184-pounds on with an eighth-place finish. 

Hertel repeated as the NCAA Division III champion at 157-pounds with a decision (4-2) over third-seeded Peter Kane of Williams College (Mass.). He is only 157-pound champion in school history. Hertel won by major decision (11-3) over fifth-seeded Blake Jagodzinske of Augsburg (Minn.) in Saturday's semifinals. He opened with a major decision (9-0) over Nate Camiscioli of Castleton University (Vt.) in the first round on Friday followed by a technical fall (17-1, 4:48) against eighth-seeded Xavier Howard of McDaniel College in the second round.  

It is Hertel's third career All-America award after a fifth-place finish in 2022 and last season's national crown. Hertel end this season at 29-0 and 123-13 in his UWL career. He also improved to 12-2 in the NCAA III Championships. 

Goebel earned his first career NCAA Division III All-America honor. He earned a sudden victory (4-1) over sixth-seeded Charlie Dojan of Wartburg (Iowa) in Saturday's semifinals before losing by fall (4:19) to top-seeded Michael Petrella of Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) in the championship match. Goebel went 2-0 on Friday at 149-pounds with a pair of major decisions. He defeated Jesse Alvarado of Averett in the opening round (12-0) and seventh-seeded Taylor Smith of Washington & Jefferson College in the quarterfinals (12-3).

It is Goebel's second appearance at the national championships after going 1-2 last season. He finishes 26-2 this season. 

At 165-pounds, Leisgang picked up his second career All-America accolade with his second-place finish on Saturday night. He lost by decision (2-1) to second-seeded Nicholas Sacco of The College of New Jersey in the championship match. Leisgang, seeded-fourth, won by decision (4-1) over top-seeded Matt Lackman of Alvernia in the semifinals. In Friday's action, Leisgang won by technical fall (15-0, 7:00) over Jesse Herera of Wabash College (Ind.) in the first round and by decision (2-0) over Brian Schneider of Elizabethtown College in the quarterfinals.

Leisgang, 17-4 this year, placed third last season to earn All-America honors. He 7-2 in two national tournament berths and finishes his career at 68-14. 
 

Douglas earned his second career NCAA Division III All-America honor with this second-place finish. He placed eighth in 2023. Douglas, seeded fourth at 285-pounds, earned a decision (4-2) over eighth-seeded Dylan Waller of Elizabethtown in the quarterfinals before losing by decision (4-2) to third-seeded Tyler Kim of Augsburg (Minn.). Douglas went 2-0 on Friday. He opened with a technical fall (21-5, 4:57) over Caleb Burkhart of Wilkes University (Pa.) before winning by injury default (5:14) over Doug Byrne of Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio). Douglas wraps up the season at 27-2.

Kawczynski earned his first career All-America honor in his second appearance. He lost by fall (3:23) to Dylan Harr of Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) in the consolation third round and by fall (:59) to fifth-seeded Parker Venz of Augsburg (Minn.) in the seventh-place finish. Kawczynski, seeded-fourth, opened with a technical fall (17-2, 3:59) over Gable Crebs of Lycoming College (Pa.) in the first round on Friday. After losing by fall (3:58) to Montgomery Mills of Westminster College (Mo.) in the quarterfinals, Kawczynski came back in the consolation second round with a fall (2:00) over Albion College's (Mich.) Demond Harrison. He finishes the season at 27-6 on the year.

UWL's Sam Lorenz went 0-2 at 141-pounds on Friday, finishing 15-9 this season. He was making his first career trip to the national championships. Lorenz lost by fall (2:56) to Bobur Berdiyorov of New England College in the preliminary round and by decision (6-0) to Gabe Goss of Oswego State (N.Y.) in the consolation round.   

 
Marcus Orlandoni, seeded seventh at 184-pounds, dropped both of his matches on Friday. He lost by decision (5-2) to Cole Cervantes of North Central (Ill.) in the first round and by sudden victory (4-1) to Cael McLaren of Cornell College (Iowa) in the consolation first round. Orlandoni, making his initial national championship appearance, finishes 21-6 on the year.