Mankato misses NCAA title in last match

Last Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the NCAA Division II wrestling champion wasn't determined until the meet's final match.

Neb.-Kearney's Tervel Diagnev won the heavyweight championship match, giving his team the title by 1/2 point (108 1/2 to 108) over second-place Minnesota State Mankato.

For Mankato, the second-place finish was the program's best since a second-place finish at the 1994 meet. It was the fourth consecutive year the Mavericks have finished in the Top 5.

The Mavericks' Jason Rhoten (157 pounds) and Andy Pickar (165) won national titles. It was the program's first individual champions since 2001 and the first time since 1967 the school has produced two individual champions in the same year.

Jimerson wins 2 titles St. Cloud State diver Nate Jimerson, a junior from Apple Valley, won two titles at the NCAA Division II Championships in Columbia, Mo., last week.

Jimerson became the first St. Cloud State diver to win a national title when he won the 1-meter competition Thursday with a score of 520.75. On Saturday, Jimerson, an Eastview High School graduate, won the 3-meter title with a score of 546.15.

As a freshman two years ago, Jimerson finished second in each event at the NCAA meet. Last year, he was second in the 1-meter and fourth in the 3-meter.

In the meet, held at Mankato's Myers Fieldhouse, Rains cleared 14 feet, 1¾ inches, breaking her own NCAA Division II indoor record (14-0 set at last year's meet). It was her third consecutive title in the event.

Minnesota State Mankato's Brittany Henderson, a sophomore from Milwaukee, also earned All-America honors in two events with a third-place finish in the 60-meter dash (in a school record time 7.51 seconds) and a seventh-place finish in the 200.

Etc. • Also at the NCAA Division II Indoor meet, Bemidji State's Sheena Devine, a senior from North Branch, won her third consecutive (second indoor) NCAA Division II shot put national championship, and Bemidji State's Joe Remitz, a senior from North Branch, finished second in the men's shot put.

• St. Cloud State is expected to complete interviews for its football coaching position today. The three finalists are Scott Underwood, who was the Huskies' defensive coordinator last season; Wartburg athletic director Rick Willis and Bemidji State coach Jeff Tesch.