Jon Schmidt (Menomonee Falls/Hartford) and Austin Bautista (Des Plaines, IL/Maine East) earned All-America honors at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championship, held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Friday and Saturday.  Schmidt placed fifth at 285 pounds and Bautista finished eighth at 141.  See Warhawk Championship Central

NCAA III Tournament Web Site (click on Division III wrestling)

It's hard to imagine that anyone could have had a tougher road in a bracket than UW-W's Schmidt.  The Warhawk senior, unseeded, stunned the tournament crowd with an opening round 3-1 overtime win over number one seeded Mark Costello of Elmhurst College, giving Costello his first loss of the season.  Later Friday he met the eighth seed, Andrew Witzel (27-9) of Augsburg College, and Schmidt won again, 7-2.  

Obviously a part of the bracket buster, Schmidt created a rough Saturday for himself.  He opened Saturday against fifth seeded John Helgerson (27-5) of Wartburg College, losing 8-1.  Schmidt couldn't seem to catch a break, matching up with Adam Sutter (26-4), the sixth seed from Lakeland College.  Schmidt lost, again by 8-1.  Schmidt could be excused for wondering (like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) "who are these guys", with another match against a seeded opponent in his tournament finale.  Schmidt rose to the occasion by pinning number four seed Allyn Plattner (19-4) of Luther College in 1:29 to close Schmidt's college career facing five seeded wrestlers in his five matches.  He ended the season with a 14-7 record. 

Schmidt became the fifth heavyweight in school history to earn All-America honors.  He was preceded by by Toby Ackerman (third, 1971), Tim Carmin (third 1981, third 1982), Randy Meyer (eighth 1989), and Derrick LeVake (seventh 1996, fifth 1997).

Buatista joins an elite group, becoming just the third Warhawk wrestler in school history to earn All-America honors three times.  Seeded third at 141, he opened competition with a 6-4 win over Gregg Martino (15-6) of New York University.  Later Friday he narrowly lost to Jeremy Stierly of Ithaca College (34-4) 2-1.  He came back early Saturday with a 4-3 win over fifth seeded Ben Anderson (29-7) of Concordia College (MN) 4-3.  Bautista lost to Ryan Bridge (20-3) of Stevens Institute of Technology 3-1 Saturday, to set up a match for seventh place.  John Starzyk (20-5), the fourth seed, defeated Bautista 4-0 to end Buatista's career with an eighth place finish.  

Bautista closed his Warhawk wrestling career with the school record for wins, amassing 135 wins in four seasons.  His total of three All-America finishes is equaled only by Terry Schuler (177 pounds, fifth 1986, second 1987, third at 190 in 1988), and Rob Llorca (158 pounds, third 1989, first 1990, first 1991).
Bautista's All-America award for 2010 will sit next to his seventh place finish in 2008 and a third place he earned last year.

Teammate Adam Latella (Rockton, IL/Rockton) also earned a berth in the championship and scored some team points with a 1-2 record Friday, but the two losses eliminated him from further competition Saturday.

For additional information:  Tim Fader, UW-W coach

Note:  The top eight finishers in each weight class are National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III All-Americans.