Augustana College Men's Wrestling

Juergens led the Vikings to an 11-6 dual meet record in 2013-14 and the teams first CCIW championship since 2004. The 2013-14 season also saw Juergens team produced three CCIW individual champions, including the CCIWs Most Outstanding Wrestler Thomas Reyhons (along with Jimmy Panozzo and Isaiah Schaub). Juergens was named the CCIW Coach of the Year. In 2015-16, Augustana went 7-6 in dual competition and finished fifth at the CCIW Championships and eighth at the NCAA Central Regional. Panozzo claimed his third straight conference title at 125 pounds.   Augustana went 2-9 in dual meets and finished fourth in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin during Juergens interim season of 2007-08. In 2008-09, the Vikings went 4-11 in dual meets and moved up to third in the CCIW. The 2009-2010 season brought an improved record of 5-10 in dual meets and another third place conference finish, building up to the success the program experienced during the 2010-11 season. The 2010-11 season saw Juergens team achieve a new high, producing Augustanas first two conference champions (freshmen Jacob Scholten and Jordan Graham) since 2005-06, as well as two Scholar All-Americans in Hunter Feraco and Tim Day. The 2011-12 campaign was even more successful than the prior year, as the Vikings compiled a 11-4 dual meet record, in addition to producing their first All-American (Jordan Richardson) since 2002-03, and three CCIW individual champions (Alberto Quiros, Richardson, and Matt Burns). In 2014-15 The Augustana went 7-6 in dual competition, finished second in the CCIWwith two individual champions (Panozzo and Brendan Gould)and sixth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.   In September of 2008, the head wrestling coaching position at Augustana was fully endowed thanks to a generous gift from Terry and Sandy Shockley. Juergens becomes the first Terry and Sandy Shockley Head Wrestling Coach in school history. Augustana is the first school in the CCIW and one of a select few in NCAA Division III to have an endowed coaching position in its athletic department.   I want to thank the administration for giving me the chance as a head coach, said Juergens when the interim tag was removed from his title in the spring of 2008. My intentions and goals will be very simple. I have been coached by some of the greatest names in the sport of wrestling, guys like Dan Gable, Jim Zalesky, Tom and Terry Brands and Lincoln McIlravy just to name a few. I want to take the very methods and techniques that I have learned over the course of my own career and implement them at Augustana.   Juergens had a prolific career as a competitor. Wrestling at the University of Iowa, he won individual national titles both as a junior (1999-00) and as a senior (2000-01). He was third in the NCAA tournament in his freshman (1997-98) and sophomore (1998-99) seasons. As a senior he served as team captain and was the Hawkeyes Most Valuable Performer. He was the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and selected as the University of Iowas Male Athlete of the Year.   During his junior campaign he had an undefeated 33-0 record en route to his first national title. Along the way he won the Big Ten title and was the champion at the Midlands Tournament. He was given the Art Kraft Champion of Champions award at the Midlands.   He finished third in the Big Ten both his freshman and sophomore seasons prior to placing third in the national meet each year. He was named the NCAA Freshman of the Year at the completion of the 1997-98 season.   His high school career at Maquoketa High School in Maquoketa, Iowa was one of unparalleled success. He was 144-0 during his four years, compiling 100 pins and winning four straight state titles. He was the Northern Plains Regional champion and was first team Amateur Wrestling News All-American. He was a second team Asics Tiger All-American as well. He placed second at Cadet Nationals as a sophomore and was an honor roll student.   Juergens graduated from the University of Iowa in 2001 with a B.A. degree in English. He served as a volunteer assistant coach at Augustana in 2006-07 and before that he spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant at Loras. He is the owner of Young Guns Wrestling Club and served as the camp director for the University of Iowa Wrestling Camps from 1998 until 2002.   He leads an Augustana program that has won a total of 37 CCIW titles, more than any other school in the conference.      

Tony Willaert was named in June of 2017 as Augustana’s Terry & Sandy Shockley Endowed Wrestling Coach. He took over in 2017-18 as the 15th head coach in the history of the Viking program. Willaert’s tenure with the Vikings has included three individual CCIW championships and a pair of All-America performances.   From 2014-17, Willaert led the wrestling program at his alma mater—Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He guided the Johnnies to a 6-5 dual-meet record in 2016-17 and third-place finish at the NCAA West Regional. He had four of his grapplers advance to the 2017 national meet, giving him a total of nine national qualifiers during his three seasons.   Willaert’s charges also excelled in the classroom. Four of his athletes earned National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-America honors in 2016-17 and the Johnnies posted the fourth-best team grade point average in the nation.   Prior to being named head coach at Saint John's, Willaert was an assistant on the Johnnie staff for three years. During that time, he mentored three All-Americans and seven Scholar All-Americans and helped lead SJU to top-three regional finishes each year.   In addition to leading the Saint John’s program, Willaert was the head coach of the Central Minnesota Wrestling Club from 2014-17. He trained a pair of state high school champions as well as a half-dozen All-Americans at the Freestyle/Greco-Roman National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota. He was also active with Minnesota/USA Wrestling and the NWCA/Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Academy.   A 2011 graduate of Saint John’s, where he majored in nutrition with a sports medicine minor, Willaert was a four-year letter winner. As a senior captain for the Johnnies, he was ranked as high as third in the nation at 197 pounds and qualified for the national meet, advancing to the round of 12. His performance helped SJU finish sixth in the nation.   YEAR W L .PCT CCIW REGIONAL NCAA CCIW CHAMPS NCAA ALL-AMERICANS 2017-18 1 11 .083 7th 11th 30th 1 1 2018-19 1 10 .091 7th 13th 20th 1 1 2019-20 1 7 .125 3rd 11th 0 0 2020-21 6 4 .600 3rd Cancelled Cancelled 0 0 2021-22 9 7 .563 6th 10th 0 0 2022-23 10 8 .556 7th 10th 0 0 2023-24 14 6 .700 4th 10th 1 0 CAREER 42 53 .442 3 2