Saturday ... First Session Recap ... as of 6:45 p.m.
UW-Whitewater junior Adam Latella (Rockton, IL/Hononegah) earned All-America honors with a fifth place finish at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Wrestling Championship hosted by UW-La Crosse at the La Crosse Center, Friday and Saturday, March 11-12. 

After going 2-1 in Friday's action, Latella, seeded seventh, began Saturday with a pin in 2:51 of sixth seeded Tim Lutke of Centenary College.  Latella was losing 2-1 before his first period pin.  The win over Lutke advanced Latella to a match with number three seed Bill Schindel of Mount Union, which Schindel won 9-0.  The match was scoreless after one, but Schindel built a 6-0 lead the end of period two.  Schindel went on to finish third in the tourney Saturday.  The loss to Schindel set up Latella in the fifth place match against Sam Johnson of the University of Dubuque.  Latella took a 2-0 lead in the first, and was up 5-2 after the second period.  Johnson scored on an escape and a takedown to tie the match 5-5 early in the third, but Latella regained the lead with an escape, then added a takedown to lead 8-5.  Johnson came back with one point on an escape, but Latella held on.  Latella, who went 4-2 in the NCAA III championship, ended the season with a 36-7 record.

Photo Gallery (courtesy of, and appreciation to, Chad Rasmussen ... pictures available for purchase)

Final Team Scores

Final Brackets

Friday ... Second Session Recap ... as of 10:10 p.m.
Adam Latella (Rockton, IL/Hononegah) continues in his bid to earn place at the NCAA III championship.  Latella rebounded from his opening round loss to defeat Brian Boll of Buena Vista College 3-2 in his first consolation match.  The match was scoreless in the first, and Latella went up 1-0 with an escape in the second period.  Boll escaped from the bottom at the start of the third period to knot the score, but Latella scored the winning points with a third period takedown.  Boll is 28-6 this season.  Latella also persevered in a tight match in his third outing of the day, topping Aaron Karns of Delaware Valley College 3-1.  Latella scored a takedown in the first, all the points he would need, added an escape in the second and gave up an escape from the start position in the third.  Latella, now 35-6 and the seventh seed in the tourney, will face sixth seeded Tim Lutke of Centenary College in Saturday's first session.  The loser of that match will have his season end, the winner will continue toward the podium (third through eighth place) and all-America status.

At 133 pounds Jake Fredrickson came back with a 4-2 win over Dan Herr of The College of New Jersey in the consolation bracket.  Fredrickson scored a takedown in the first period to open the scoring, Herr escaped and it stood 2-1 after the first three minutes.  Herr tied it with another escape in the second, then the match was stopped for a bit because of a Herr injury.  Fredrickson started the third period on the bottom, and escaped for what proved to be the winning point.  In his second consolation match, and third of the day, Fredrickson lost to Chad Henle of Saint John's University 8-4.  Henle led 4-1 after the first period, but Fredrickson earned an escape and a takedown to tie the match 4-4 in the second.  Henle scored a reversal and a two point near fall in the third for the win.  Fredrickson, 1-2 in the NCAA III tourney, finished the season 22-5.

Reid Dickerson (Indianapolis, IN/North Central), 174 pounds, lost in the consolation round to Scott King of Coe College by a fall at 4:44.  Dickerson was within one, trailing 9-8, at the time of the pin.  Dickerson, 0-2 in the tourney Friday, ends his season 25-19. 

James Zarate (Waukesha/North) had to work overtime at 285 pounds to continue his tournament.  Zarate beat Matthew Mahon of Ithaca College 6-4 in his first consolation match.  Zarate trailed 3-2 after one period, tied the match at 3-3 after two, and both scored one point in the third.  Zarate scored a takedown to win.   Zarate ran up against number three seed Judson Connell of the Merchant Marine Academy in his second consolation round match, falling 6-0.  Connell scored five points, a takedown and near fall, in the first period for the win.  Zarate, Whitewater's only senior, ends his 2010-2011 season with a 24-16 record.


Friday ... First Session Recap ... as of 3:56 p.m.

At the 2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championship Tournament hosted by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin ...

Jake Fredrickson, at 133 pounds, lost his first round match against second ranked Nathan Fitzenreider of North Central, 11-3 by major decision. Fredrickson was down early after the first period 2-0. He was able to pull it close in the second period, holding Fitzenreider to two points while grabbing two points of his own to make it 4-2. Fredrickson could not hold out as Fitzenreider pulled away in the third period to end the match at 11-3. Fredrickson will face seventh seeded Dan Herr of The College of New Jersey in the first round of consolation matches.

Cade Sarbacker (Mineral Point/Iowa-Grant) at 174 has been eliminated.  Sarbacker lost to fifth seeded justin Berns of Concorida-Morehead in the first round.  Sarbacker trailed 8-0 after the first period.  He outscored Berns 4-2 in the second to trail 10-4 after two, then scored the first points of the third period on a takedown to close to within 10-6, but Berns closed out the match.  In the first round of the consolation bracket Sarbacker fell to Eduardo Delgado of Hunter College 15-0 on a technical fall at 5:33.  Again, Sarbacker fell behind 8-0 in the first period.  Sarbacker finishes the year with a 26-10 record.

Reid Dickerson (Indianapolis, IN/North Central), at 174 pounds, lost his preliminary match against seventh ranked David Priest of Ithaca, 7-3.  Dickerson was down 4-1 after the first period but was able to bring it back to 4-3 after the second period. However, he could not hold off Priest as he went on to score three points in the final period. Dickerson will face the loser of the match between second ranked Michael Schmitz of UW-La Crosse and Scott King of Coe, in the consolation round.

Seventh ranked Adam Latella (Rockton, IL/Hononegah), at 197 pounds, lost his preliminary match as against Tony Willaert of St. John's, 12-3 by major decision. Latella did not get a point on the board until the second period and it was too late by then. After two periods the score was 8-1. Latella was only able to score two more points in the final round to end his first match. He will face Brian Broll of Buena Vista in the consolation round.

James Zarate (Waukesha/North), at 285 pounds, received a first round bye but lost his first match against Chad Johnson of Augsburg, 8-3. Zarate put the first points on the board in the first period but it was tied at 2-2 after the period. Zarate never led again in the match and was only able to claim one point the rest of the way. He will face Matthew Mahon of Ithaca in the consolation round.

Animoto Video

UW-Whitewater will be represented by five wrestlers, the most for UW-W since 2004, at the 2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championship Tournament hosted by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin Friday-Saturday, March 11-12.  The qualifiers include Jake Fredrickson at 133 pounds, Cade Sarbacker (Mineral Point/Iowa-Grant) at 157, Reid Dickerson (Indianapolis, IN/North Central) at 174, 197-pounder Adam Latella (Rockton, IL/Hononegah), and James Zarate (Waukesha/North) at 285.

Fredrickson, a sophomore, started his season late because of an injury, but finished second in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and is ranked eighth in Division III at 133 pounds.  He enters the national meet as a WIAC additional qualifier pick with a 21-3 mark.  Sarbacker, also a sophomore, won the 157 pound title at the WIAC Tournament for an automatic qualification, and he is 26-8.  Dickerson, 25-17 and a junior, was a runnerup at the WIAC meet.  He is one of ten national at-large qualifiers, named to the 2011 NCAA III field after all the qualifying tournaments were completed.  The national at-large qualifiers, new this year, fill brackets in under-represented weight classes, with each of the conference or regional qualifying tournaments submitting their top candidates for those spots.  Latella will be making his second appearance in the NCAA III championship, after going 1-2 last year as a sophomore.  Ranked ninth in Division III, he won the WIAC 197 title for an automatic berth and is 32-5.  Zarate, 23-15, was a WIAC additional qualifier as the runnerup at 285 pounds. He is the lone senior on UW-W's wrestling team.

Reid Dickerson (Indianapolis, IN/North Central) Interview	Adam Latella (Rockton, IL/Hononegah) Interview
Cade Sarbacker (Mineral Point/Iowa-Grant) Interview	James Zarate (Waukesha/North) Interview
Jake Fredrickson Interview	Coaches Tim Fader & Matt Zwaschka Interview
Wrestling National Tournament YouTube video (Courtesy of Leah Thyne & Jordan Tway)

The top eight finishers in each weight class at the NCAA III championship earn all-America status.  Austin Bautista earned his third straight all-America honor at 141 pounds last year with an eighth place finish, and teammate Jon Schmidt placed fifth at 285.

UW-Whitewater tied for twenty-third place in the 2010 championship.  That followed a twelfth place in 2009, twenty-seventh in 2008, and twenty-fourth in 2005.  The 2004 group of five qualifiers tied for thirteenth place.  The Warhawks' best finish in a NCAA III wrestling championship was seventh in 1987.  UW-W also had top ten finishes in 1988 (ninth), , 1982 (tenth) and 1981 (eighth).  Whitewater's best finish in a national championship meet came in 1967, when, as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the Warhawks placed third.  UW-W had seven top ten finishes in the NAIA championship before joining the NCAA for the 1980-81 school year.

Augsburg College (MN) won the 2010 team title.  Augsburg or Wartburg College (IA) have won the last sixteen NCAA III wrestling championships.  Wartburg College leads the 2011 field with ten qualifiers.

For additional information:  Tim Fader, UW-W coach