Malecek’s UW LAX Looks to National Duals in Springfield, Talks to Takedown

Evanston, Ill. – University of Wisconsin-La Crosse senior Bebeto Yewah placed fifth at 141-pounds at the 49th Annual Midlands Wrestling Championships Friday night in Welsh-Ryan Arena at Northwestern University. Invited to the tournament, Yewah went 5-2 in the two-day meet and is now 17-2 on the season. He is currently ranked first in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III at 141-pounds.

UW-L finished 30th overall with 13.5 team points. A total of 43 teams competed.

Seeded 12th in the tournament, Yewah opened with a win by technical fall (20-3, 4:14) over Eastern Michigan’s Seth Schaner. He then earned a win by decision (9-6) over sixth-seeded Zach Neibert of Virginia Tech, who went on to finish fourth.

Yewah fell to eventual champion Kendric Maple of Oklahoma by decision (8-0) in his third match, but came back to win a pair of matches to advance to the fifth-place match. He defeated fourth-seeded Steve Dutton of Lehigh by decision (11-4) and 10th-seeded Billy Ashnault of Rutgers by major decision (15-3) before falling to 12th-seeded Adam Krop of Princeton by decision (11-5). Krop placed third overall.

Yewah earned fifth-place with a win by decision (17-10) over Iowa State’s Luke Goettl.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, January 7 at the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Duals in Springfield, Illinois.

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The 2012 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals Presented by Hibiclens and The Marines has announced the brackets for the event taking place on January 7-8 at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Illinois.

This five division tournament will take place over a two-day period and is double elimination. Division II, Division III and NAIA will all compete in sixteen team double-elimination brackets. The NJCAA and Women’s Divisions are placed into eight team brackets, all divisions are guaranteed three matches.

In Division II Newberry takes the number one seed to start the tournament, with Upper Iowa drawing in as the number two seed.  Newberry is no stranger to this tournament, they have made the finals two of the last three years. In last year’s final Nebraska-Omaha came away with a closely fought out win over Augustana 17-15. Augustana enters this year’s event seeded fifth.

Returning Champion, Wartburg College, comes in as the top seed in the Division III bracket with Augsburg College as the number two seed. , Warburg claimed their fifth team title last year with a 16-15 win over University of Wisconsin. UW La Crosse enters the tournament at No. 4.

In the ten year history of the event, Wartburg College has been in the finals all ten years while Augsburg has been in the finals eight out of the ten years. Each school has won five titles.

Great Falls (MT) earned the top seed in the NAIA division. This is the first time in school history that the program has earned this distinction. Grandview (IA) was awarded the second seed and looks to improve on last year’s seventh place finish.

Last year’s finalist in the NAIA, Notre Dame College and Lindenwood University , will not be competing this year due to the fact they are re-classifying to Division II.

Four-time NJCAA Dual Champion, Iowa Central will look for their fifth title as they enter the event as the number one seed. Returning NJCAA Champion Clackamas Community College is currently seeded second with Labette College as the third seed.

Taking the No. 1 seed for the women are returning five time champions of the National Duals, Oklahoma City University. Competing in the tournament for the first year is King College as they capture the No. 2 seed, while returning runner-up Simon Fraser takes the third spot. The women are the only division in this competition that wrestle under freestyle rules.

Competition will get underway on Saturday, January 7^th at 9 a.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door, for more information visit our website at http://www.nwcaonline.com/NWCAWebSite/Events/nwcanationalduals/national-duals-info .

The 2012 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals are being hosted by the National Wrestling Advancement Association (NWAA).