LeRoy Gardner III was an American amateur wrestler

Amateur wrestling

Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of FILA : Greco-Roman and freestyle. Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style...

.

Biography

Gardner was the first NCAA Heavyweight National Champion in history for Wartburg College

Wartburg College

Wartburg College is a selective four-year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Waverly, Iowa. Wartburg West is in Denver, Colorado....

, Waverly, Iowa

Waverly, Iowa

Waverly is a city in Bremer County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,874 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bremer County and is part of the Waterloo–Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area....

 in 2003 This individual contribution helped Wartburg College win the 2003 NCAA Wrestling Team Championship

NCAA Wrestling Team Championship

The NCAA Wrestling Team Championship was first officially awarded in 1929 and began to be continuously awarded on an annual basis in 1934 except during World War II 1943-1945. In 1928 and from 1931 to 1933, there was only an unofficial title. Oklahoma A&M, now Oklahoma State, won the 1928, 1931...

, including NCAA records for largest margin of victory and most team points scored.

He was a 1999 Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 State High School League Wrestling Championships qualifier for Hopkins High School

Hopkins High School

Hopkins High School is a public high school located in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis. It offers classes for grades 10, 11, and 12. Hopkins High School is part of the Hopkins School District 270 and draws students from the city of Hopkins, central and eastern parts of...

. He was a 5th place winner at 1999 USA Wrestling Junior National Freestyle Wrestling Championships at 220 lbs.
He was a 2001 United States Fila Jr. Greco-Roman National Champion and World Team Member at 130 kg, he also placed 4th at the 2001 United States Fila Jr. Freestyle National Championships. He placed 8th at 2001 Fila Jr. Greco-Roman World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He placed 5th at the 2001 Greco-Roman World Team Trials at 130 kg.

He was a three time NCAA All-American at 285 lbs. placing 6th (2001), 3rd (2002) and 1st (2003) for Wartburg College of Waverly, IA. He was also a two time Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is an College Athletic Conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. As the name implies, member teams are located in the state of Iowa.-History:...

 wrestling champion in 2002 and 2003.

External links and references

• MSHSL 1999 Wrestling Tournament "MSHSL State Wrestling Tournament 1999275 AAA, Tstuff.com.
• 1999 State Tournament Results
• Abbot, Gary "Three wrestlers defend their Asics/Vaughan Junior National freestyle titles", Themat.com, 1999-07-25.
• 2001 Fila Jr Greco-Roman World Championships results
• World Team Trials Greco-Roman Challenge Tournament results
• National Wrestling Hall of Fame
• D3 Wrestling Interview