December 8, 1997

WRESTLING SCOTS FINISH SECOND AT LAWRENCE TOURNEY
WITH THREE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS

Appleton, WI --The Monmouth College men=s wrestling team competed at their first invitational tournament of the 1997-98 season this past weekend and came home with an outstanding overall performance. The Fighting Scots traveled to Appleton, Wisconsin and finished second at the Lawrence Tournament against some strong regional competition.

Eight teams were represented in the tourney field with Olivet College (Michigan) claiming title honors with 1032 points. Monmouth sent five wrestlers to the finals and totaled 88 points to outdistance two Wisconsin league schools for second place. UW-Platteville (76) and UW-Whitewater (66) were third and fourth and the host Vikings placed fifth with 34 points.

The Scots= three senior NCAA national qualifiers all brought home individual titles with perfect 3-0 match records. Brian Ragar (Monmouth,IL/HS) won his finals match at 118 pounds by a 6-4 count, Andy Majetic (East Moline,IL/United Township) claimed the 177-pound division with an 8-2 score and heavyweight Scott Bayer (Schaumburg,IL/Hoffman Estates) won his weight class with a close 4-3 decision.

Two other Scot wrestlers came close in their final-round matches. Jeff Harris (Romeoville,IL/HS) made the championship round at 142 pounds but was defeated in the final 10 seconds of his match (4-3) and Mike Burden (Erie,IL/HS) also captured runner-up points as he finished second in the 134-pound class. Burden was defeated 2-0 in overtime after a 7-7 regulation tie. Monmouth received fourth-place team points from Chris Norkus (Romeoville,IL/HS) at 150 and Derek Harris (Romeoville,IL/HS) at 158, each with 2-2 records in four matches. Freshman Donnie Malmquist (Lake Havasu,AZ/HS) [3-2] was the only other Monmouth wrestler with more than one victory.

AIt was our best effort of the year so far,@ said Monmouth wrestling coach Mike Olson. AThe whole team rose to the occasion and produced a solid overall performance. We advanced five men to the finals round of an invitational tournament for the first time ever since I=ve been coaching at Monmouth.@ The Scots will hope to produce another strong showing next Saturday as the squad travels south to Jacksonville, Illinois for the MacMurray College Tournament in their final action before the holiday vacation break.