Blake Jagodzinske received honors both on and off the mat at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships that concluded Saturday in LaCrosse.
The Martin County West graduate, a junior at Augsburg University, earned all-American honors on the mat for his fifth-place finish at 157 pounds and received a prestigious honor off of it.
First, his accomplishments on the mat.
A national qualifier for the first time, Jagodzinske went 4-2 with two pins on the weekend.
He won his first three matches in the tourney including two falls as he pinned Wenchard Pierre-Louis of Ithaca in a preliminary round match and Jason Rezac of Alvernia University in the first round. Jagodzinske then won in the quarterfinals 11-8 over Ryan Smith of Stevens.
In the semifinals, Jagodzinske lost to eventual champion Nolan Hertel of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
That sent him to the consolation semifinals, where he lost to Clayton McDonough of Luther. In the fifth-place match, Jagodzinske won over Ryan Smith of Stevens for the second time in the tournament, this time an 8-5 decision.
Jagodzinske finishes the season with a 20-8 record and is now 64-17 in his Augsburg career.
The Auggies won the national title with 95 points, with Wartburg second with 87.5 points. It’s the second straight and 15th overall national title, tying Wartburg for the most NCAA Division III men's wrestling team titles in tournament history.
On Saturday evening, Jagodzinske was named the recipient of the NCAA Elite 90 Award as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing in the national tournament.
He is a finance and accounting major with a perfect 4.00 grade-point average. He was presented with the award by J.P. Williams, NCAA Associate Director of Championships and Alliances and tournament director for the NCAA Division III Men's Wrestling National Championships.
Blake’s twin brother, Lucas, is also a member of the wrestling team at Augsburg. Both were named National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Scholar All-Americans last year.
They are the sons of Mark and Emily Jagodzinske.
Here are Blake’s results from the national tournament:
Preliminary round: Pinned Wenchard Pierre-Louis (Ithaca) 3:24.
First round: Pinned Jason Rezac (Alvernia University) 1:06.
Quarterfinals: Dec. Ryan Smith (Stevens) 11-8.
Semifinals: Lost to Nolan Hertel (Wisconsin-La Crosse) 11-3.
Consolation semifinals: Lost to Clayton McDonough (Luther) 5:53.
Fifth place: Dec. Ryan Smith (Stevens) 8-5.