March 17, 2007

Auburn Hills, MI - Cal State Fullerton sophomore heavyweight Wade Sauer settled for sixth place after losing his final two bouts Saturday at the 2007 NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Palace of Auburn Hills outside Detroit.

Sauer lost to nemesis Ty Watterson of Oregon State for the fifth time in five tries this season, 4-0, in the consolation semifinals and then lost to No. 3-seeded Ryan Gritter of Central Michigan, 9-6, in the match for fifth place.

Sauer's finish is the highest by a Titan since T. J. Hill placed fourth at 125 pounds in 2000. Sauer's All-American status is the first by a Titan since Babak Nejadmaghaddam earned that honor at 197 pounds in 2001. Sauer is only the 12th Titan Div. I wrestling All-American. He went 5-3 at nationals to finish the year 30-15.

The Titans finished 31st in the team standings, fourth best among a closely bunched Pac-10 group. UC Davis tied for 22nd place with one wrestler alive in the championship finals. Oregon State was 26th, Cal Poly was 27th, the Titans were 31st and Stanford was 32nd. In the second half were Arizona State in 34th place, Cal State Bakersfield in 44th and Boise State in 54th. Oregon did not score and Portland State had no qualifiers.

Minnesota won the team title with 98 points ahead of Iowa State at 88.5 and Missouri at 80.