Miller, Kwiat earn All-American honors at NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships

LACROSSE, Wis. — Senior Luke Miller and sophomore Kyle Kwiat repeated as All-Americans by assuring themselves of top-8 finishes on the first day of the 2011 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships Friday at the La Crosse Center.

Miller advanced to the semifinals of the 165-pound weight class with a pair of victories, while Kwiat reached the consolation quarterfinals with a 2-1 record at 174 pounds.

Junior Mick Letcher finished the tournament with a 1-2 record and was just one round shy of earning All-America honors as well..

Fifth-seeded Miller, who is now a three-time All-American and won the 2010 national title at 157 pounds posted an impressive 13-0 major decision victory over Nick Samko of Ithaca (N.Y.) at 165 pounds in his first round match.

His quarterfinal round victory was even more impressive, as he posted a 6-0 decision over defending NCAA Champion and the 2010 Most Valuable Wrestler Vincent Renault of Merchant Marine Friday night.

Miller is now 27-4 on the season and will face top-seeded Josh Terrell of Dubuque (Iowa) in the semifinals Saturday afternoon.

Miller is just the second three-time All-American in ONU history, joining Joe Maiani (1996-98) with that distinction.

In four seasons as a Polar Bear, Miller has a 131-28 career record. He is just two wins shy of tying the ONU all-time record of 133 wins set by 1989 national champion Vinny Cameron from 1986-89.

Top-seeded All-American Kwiat, who finished fourth in his weight class in 2010 and was the 2010 NCAA Division III National Freshman of the Year, won with a major decision 10-2 over Ryan Domann of Stevens (N.J.) in the first round.

Kwiat (31-5) then fell to No. 8 seeded Brad Banks of Wartburg (Iowa) 9-5 in the quarterfinals Friday night.

Kwiat then assured himself of a top-8 finish with a pin of Scott King of Coe (Iowa) in the consolation quarterfinals Friday night in 4:10. Kwiat dominated from the onset and led 13-2 when he registered the pin.

He is just the seventh Polar Bear to earn All-America honors twice in his career.

Letcher (29-9) got a reversal, an escape and a stalling point and had an advantage in riding time, but fell 9-4 to No. 7 seeded Nick Loughlin of Cornell (Iowa) in his first round match at 157 pounds.

He rebounded to defeat Ryan Warczynski of Dubuque (Iowa) 5-3 Friday night in the consolation second round.

He was then eliminated from the tournament in the consolation third round by Erik Hanson of Loras (Iowa) Friday night by fall in 2:41.

Letcher is making his first appearance at the NCAA Championships.

The Polar Bears are in 12th in the team standings after the first day with 17.5 points.

The third and fourth sessions will be held Saturday with session three starting at Noon (EST) and the fourth and final session getting underway at 7 pm.