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St. Cloud State University
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Grapplers garner honors
By Ryan K. Dale
Published:
Thursday, March 20, 2003
The Husky grapplers defied all odds and critics last weekend at the NCAA D-II Championships by finishing in the top-10 and having three wrestlers earn All-American honors in Wheeling, W.Va. The Huskies ninth place finish is the third highest in school history and their best finish since head coach Steve Grimit took over 10 years ago.
Matt Neumueller believes that Grimit and the rest of the coaches are some of the biggest factors in SCSU's finish. "All year long he has been pushing us and making us work harder," Neumueller said. "I don't think I would have won the third place match if it wasn't for him. He kept pushing me and encouraging me."
At the national championships, Dustin Darveaux had his best showing, finishing second after dropping the championship to his long-time rival Les Sigmen (UNO) 6-0 in the finals. To reach the final, Darveaux won his first three matches.
"Dustin had a great year and all of his hard work paid off," Neumueller said. "I was excited that he got his third All-American honor, but I know he would rather of finished first."
Neumueller had by far his finest year of his career in 2002-03 at 165 pounds. "It was pretty awesome," Neumueller said. "Having the three tri-captains take home All-American honors really shows the true character of this team. I'm just glad I was able to finish in third place and be mentioned in the same sentence as [Darveaux] and [Duncombe]."
Neumueller leaves SCSU as an All-American after his third place finish. But it wasn't as easy as it seemed. He lost his opening round match 5-0 to Greg Chirielseion (Colorado School of Mines). From there he would have to fight his way through the consolation bracket to reach the third place match. In the wrestlebacks Neumueller took out Derek Donelson (Indianapolis) 6-5, then beat NCC rival Tyler Brandt (SDSU), who had defeated Neumueller 2-1 in the semifinals of the NCC tournament in Fargo, N.D., two weeks ago.
"That was my most exciting match of my career," Neumueller said. "It went into double overtime and if I lost I wouldn't have the opportunity to be an All-American."
Jon Duncombe has won All-American honors in his first two seasons as a Husky at 174 pounds. Duncombe finished second at the national tournament while wrestling at less than 100 percent.
Duncombe coasted his way to the finals before dropping a heartbreaker, 3-2, to Frank Kuchera (UNK).
The Huskies finished the season 1-13 and 0-6 in the NCC.
