Senior Corey VanGroll is going out an All-American.

Junior Craig Becker extended his family's All-American streak.

And Malcolm Briggs became the Rangers' first freshman All-American since 2003.

While the ninth-ranked UW-Parkside wrestling team didn't fare as well as coach Jim Koch had hoped at the NCAA Division II Tournament at the University of Houston, the 2008-09 Rangers team made quite a mark.

VanGroll, a 165-pounder, and Becker, a 149-pounder, both placed fourth Saturday, while Briggs, a 197-pounder, placed eighth, giving the Rangers three All-Americans at the national meet (the top eight in each weight class earn All-America status).

"We're a little bit disappointed," Koch said. "We were ranked ninth going into the tournament and we had aspirations of being in the top 10 and if everything went well of possibly finishing in the top five. But we have only one senior (VanGroll) and some pretty good young people in our program who redshirted this year, so the future looks pretty good."

VanGroll ended his collegiate career with a 43-8 record and 122 career wins, placing him sixth on Parkside's all-time wins list.

After winning his first two matches Friday, VanGroll lost 4-0 to No. 1-ranked Josh Shields of Mercyhurst in the semifinals. VanGroll came back to beat Tyler Tubbs of Minnesota State-Moorhead 6-2 in the consolation semifinals, but lost 9-2 to Tad Merritt of St. Cloud State in the third-place match. VanGroll had beaten Merritt 8-6 Friday in the second round, avenging a December loss to Merritt at the St. Paul Open.

Becker was looking to follow in his brother Brad's footsteps and become the second Becker to win a national championship (Brad Becker won in 2006). Becker lost in the semifinals Saturday, getting pinned in 1:42 by Christoper Freije of Western State (Colorado) for his first loss of the season. In the consolation semifinals, Becker rebounded with a 9-2 decision over Luke Elmore of Central Oklahoma, but then lost 6-4 in overtime to Esai Dominguez of Nebraska-Omaha in the third-place match to finish his season with a 33-2 record.

In the match against Freije, Becker lost on a defensive fall. "I can't remember the last time one of our wrestlers got beat on a defensive fall," Koch said. "That doesn't happen very often. But, he put himself in position (for that to happen). Craig was in the control position, but he (Freije) took him down, reversed him and got him on a defensive fall."

Against Dominguez, Becker lost 6-4 in overtime on a tiebreaker. Two weeks ago at the Midwest Regionals, Becker had beaten Dominguez.

"He's only a junior," Koch said of Becker, who extended the family streak of All-American honors to four years. Brothers Brad (three-time All-American) and Kyle had won All-American honors the last three years. "He had a great year. I'm pretty sure he'll be back in contention next year (at nationals)."

Briggs finished his freshman season 30-13. In his first match Saturday, he was pinned by Matt Farrell of Nebraska-Kearney in 5:54. Koch said Briggs was ahead in the match, but suffered a leg injury and kept wrestling. "He probably should have taken an injury default, but he tried to continue," Koch said.

Briggs defaulted the seventh-place match to Tyler Copsey of Augustana (S.D.) to place eighth.

Heading into the championship finals Saturday night, Parkside was in 11th place with 34.5 points. Depending upon the outcome of a couple of championship matches, two teams could have passed Parkside in the standings, but the Rangers were assured of placing no lower than 13th.

Track & fieldDIVISION II: The UW-Parkside women's track & field team took just four athletes to the NCAA Division II National Indoor Track Championships at the University of Houston.

All four are coming back as

All-Americans.

Senior Jessica Monson earned NCAA Division II All-America honors for the 12th time in her collegiate career, placing fourth in the mile run Saturday in 4:49.24.

Friday night, the Rangers' distance medley team of junior Heidi Ertl, freshman Brittany Glassburn, sophomore Hope Christie and Monson earned All-America honors by placing seventh in its event. The top eight in each event earn All-America honors.

Junior Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific won the mile run in 4:43.69. Fellow junior Jane Larson of Seattle Pacific was second in 4:48.87 and freshman Monica Kinney of Grand Valley State was third in 4:48.98.

Pixler took charge early and ran away from the field, with Monson, who was seeded No. 2 in the mile run, Larson and Kinney battling it out for 2-3-4.

"They just battled all the way to the finish and had a NASCAR finish," Parkside women's track coach Mike DeWitt said of the race. "There was a little bit of bumping going on at the end. Not anything intentional, just from them trying to get into position."

DeWitt said the indoor track at the University of Houston is an older track with tight turns, which held down the times at the meet.

Monson had been seeded second with a time of 4:47.54.

The distance medley relay of Ertl (1,200 meters), Glassburn (400 meters), Christie (800 meters) and Monson (1,600 meters) was seeded ninth with a seed time of 11:57.66.

The Rangers finished in 11:59.11. Shippensburg State won the race in 11:24.54.

When Monson took the baton for the final leg of the relay, the Rangers were in 10th place.

"We don't match up real well with the other teams" for the first three segments of the relay, DeWitt said, but "we close real well with Jessica."

Monson moved up from 10th to seventh in the final 300 meters of the race, DeWitt said.

While Monson has won All-America honors 12 times, Ertl and Christie earned All-America honors for the first time.

"You bring four athletes (to the national meet) and you get four All-Americans, that's pretty good," DeWitt said.

DIVISION III: Junior Buzzy Brown of Carthage College placed eighth in the long jump (23-0) and earned All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships at Terre Haute, Ind.

Senior Spencer Williams of Carthage was ninth in the shot put (52-3 3/4), just missing earning All-America honors.

Carthage tied for 66th in the team standings.