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CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Saint John's went 2-1 in the first day of the elite 16-team NWCA/Cliff Keen Division III National Duals on Saturday, Jan. 9, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Johnnies suffered a 22-15 loss to No. 12 Delaware Valley in the opening round before defeating Dubuque (Iowa) 19-18 and North Central (Ill.) 15-15 (won by tie-breaker criteria, most near-fall points).

SJU, ranked No. 11 nationally, will face familiar foe No. 10 Concordia-Moorhead at 9 a.m. Sunday morning. The winner/loser will then face the winner/loser of No. 1 Wis.-La Crosse/No. 16 Cornell (Iowa) at 1 p.m.

Juniors Matt Baarson (165 lbs.; Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park) and Minga Batsukh (141 lbs.; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict's Prep, N.J.) went 3-0 on the day, while senior Mogi Baatar (133 lbs.; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict's Prep, N.J.) and Tony Willaert (197 lbs.; North Mankato, Minn./Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial) posted 2-1 records. Batsukh, unranked and the defending national champion at 141 pounds, upset No. 3 John Starzyk of North Central in the day's final dual. Saturday's competition was the first for Batsukh since the 2009 NCAA Division III Championships last March.

Sophomore Cody Socher (Delano, Minn.) recorded a hard-luck 0-2 record thru the first two duals with back-to-back one-point losses, including a 3-2 loss to Delaware Valley's Kyle Bilquist, who is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation. He went on to defeat Wis.-La Crosse's Dan Laurent, the top-ranked heavyweight in the nation, 7-4. Socher proved to be the clinching victory, however, with his 4-3, quadruple-overtime victory over North Central's Rodney Knowlton. The match lasted 11 minutes.

No. 12 Delaware Valley College (DV) 22, No. 11 Saint John's University (SJU) 15
125 - Charlie Frankel (DV) pinned Chad Henle, 2:55
133 - Mogi Baatar (No. 2, SJU) dec. Eric McCann, 3-1
141 - Minga Batsukh (SJU) dec. Dale Fava, 9-2
149 - Emanual Ajagbi (DV) dec. Drew Larson, 2-1
157 - Jesse Harrington (No. 1, DV) dec. John Vaith, 8-5
165 - Matt Baarson (SJU) dec. Justin Barowski, 8-6
174 - Dan Daddino (DV) dec. Matt Pfarr (No. 5), 7-4
184 - Martin Porter (No. 10, DV) major dec. Mitch Hagen, 14-6
197 - Tony Willaert (SJU) pinned Jeff Siciliana, 5:38
Hwt - Kyle Bilquist (No. 4, DV) dec. Cody Socher, 3-2

No. 11 Saint John's University (SJU) 19, No. 26 University of Dubuque (UD) 18
125 - Derick Smith (UD) pinned Chad Henle, 1:53
133 - Mogi Baatar (No. 2, SJU) major dec. Mark Schultz, 13-2
141 - Minga Batsukh (SJU) pinned Ben Watts, 3:40
149 - Drew Larson (SJU) dec. Andrew Knoll, 9-6
157 - Ryan Warczynski (UD) dec. John Vaith, 7-5
165 - Matt Baarson (SJU) dec. Logan Einerson, 9-7
174 - Josh Terrell (No. 4 at 165, UD) dec. Matt Pfarr (No. 5), 5-4
184 - Evan Brown (No. 1 at 174, UD) dec. Alex Bach, 6-0
197 - Sam Johnson (UD) dec. Tony Willaert, 4-1
Hwt - Chris Schiewe (UD) dec. Cody Socher, 1-0

No. 11 Saint John's University (SJU) 15, No. 10 North Central College (NC) 15
125 - Joe Norton (NC) dec. Chad Henle, 9-7
133 - Nathan Fitzenreider (No. 6, NC) dec. Mogi Baatar (No. 2), 3-1
141 - Minga Batsukh (SJU) dec. John Starzyk (No. 3), 6-5
149 - Drew Larson (SJU) dec. Andrew Zobac, 10-4
157 - Tim Gingerich (NC) dec. John Vaith, 3-2
165 - Matt Baarson (SJU) dec. Joby Bodi, 9-2
174 - Cowan Brown (NC) dec. Matt Pfarr (No. 5), 9-4
184 - Gabe Youel (No. 3, NC) dec. Mitch Hagen, 4-0
197 - Tony Willaert (SJU) dec. Vinnie Sapienza, 7-4
285 - Cody Socher (SJU) dec. Rodney Knowlton, 4-3 (4OT)
*SJU won the dual by criteria (most total near-fall points)