Lindenwood wins NAIA National Title
DATE: 3/8/2008 11:49:00 PM
The Lindenwood wrestling team repeated as national champions on Saturday evening as the Lions captured the 2008 NAIA Wrestling National Championship. The Lions are the first NAIA program to repeat as national champions since Montana State-Northern won three straight from 1998-2000.

The Lions led throughout the tournament, but needed at least one win in Saturday’s championship finals to seal the victory. Lindenwood got more than that as Ray Stephens (133), Ryan Moyer (149) and Matt Cauley (174) all won individual national titles.

Lindenwood finished with 130 points, defeating second-place McKendree by 20.5 points. Dickinson State (107.5), Great Falls (101) and Dana (91.5) rounded out the top-five.

Ray Stephens (Miami, Fla./South Dade) had little trouble winning his weight class, with his closest match being a 9-7 decision win in the quarterfinals. He had one pin and two major decision wins in his other matches, including an 18-7 win in the finals against Dana’s Burke Barnes.

Ryan Moyer (Kansas City, Mo./Park Hill) also did not receive much of a challenge at 149 pounds. He advanced to the finals with two major decisions, one technical fall and one pin. In the finals, he had his toughest match but won by a 13-9 margin over Missouri Valley’s Brian Graham.

Matt Cauley (O’Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt West) put the icing on the cake for Lindenwood by winning the 174 pound title. Cauley went 4-0 at nationals with one fall and two major decision wins. He won the finals by a 22-8 major decision over Great Falls’ Brendon DeCock.

Other Lindenwood wrestlers to place at the event were Dennis Kakrah (Miami, Fla./South Miami), who was second at 125 pounds, Lance Shunia (Southfield, Mich./Walled Lake Western), who was sixth at heavyweight, and Sam Schmitz (Salem, Ore./Newberg), who finished eighth at 149 pounds.

Kakrah won three matches, one by technical fall and two by decision, to advance to the finals at 125 pounds. In the finals, he dropped an 11-5 decision to Montana State-Northern’s Cody Borges, who was the number one ranked wrestler in that weight class.

Shunia went 4-3 at the event for his sixth-place finish. He won his first two matches before falling in the championship quarterfinals. Shunia bounced back with two decision victories before falling in the wrestleback semifinals and fifth-place match.

Schmitz also started the tournament with two wins before falling in the quarterfinals. He went 1-2 in wrestlebacks to finish the tournament with a 3-3 record.

The other six Lindenwood wrestlers all recorded at least one win to help contribute to the national championship. Michael O’hara (Redland, Calif./Redland East Valley) won three matches at 157 pounds. Richard Zuniga (Granger, Wash./Granger) (125), John Lloyd (Indianapolis, Ind./Warren Central) (133), John Sumner (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) (165) and Neil Kemp (Detroit, Mich./Melvindale) (184) all won two matches. Those five wrestlers all lost in the fourth-round of wrestlebacks. Glen Shaw (Fallon, Nev./Churchill Co.) (165) won his opening match before two straight losses to end his tournament.

Lindenwood has now won four national championships since 2002 and have finished second or better in six of the last seven seasons. The program’s four national titles tie for the fourth most in the NAIA’s 51-year history, and the team’s 22 individual national championships are the sixth-best in NAIA history.