SEWARD, Neb. – The two squads with the most overall dual wins among GPAC wrestling programs will meet up on Friday inside Friedrich Arena. The Concordia University Wrestling team is ready to square off against fourth-ranked Doane, the defending GPAC champion. Head Coach Chase Clasen’s squad last competed in dual action back on Dec. 17 when it went 4-0 at the Concordia Bulldog Duals. A group of 11 Bulldogs took to the mat this past weekend at the Hastings Open. Concordia will enter the matchup at 8-1 overall (3-1 GPAC) while Doane stands at 13-1 (3-0 GPAC).
Concordia (8-1, 3-1 GPAC) vs. Doane (13-1, 3-0 GPAC)
Friday, Jan. 13 | 7 p.m. | Friedrich Arena (Seward, Neb.)
Webcast: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cun/
--NOTE: It will be Seward Wrestling Club night on Friday as the Bulldogs will welcome local youth wrestlers to the dual.
To recap the Bulldog Duals from Dec. 17, Concordia went 4-0 with wins over Central Methodist University (Mo.), 23-19, Texas Wesleyan University, 33-15, Benedictine College (Kan.), 32-13, and Oklahoma Wesleyan University, 37-12. The stars of the show included the likes of Creighton Baughman (141), Logan Davidson (197) and Bryce Karlin (125). Baughman and Davidson both went 4-0 while Karlin went 3-0 with three pins. Baughman’s day featured a victory over NAIA 16th-ranked Dante Lopez of Oklahoma Wesleyan. As for Davidson, he burst onto the scene after playing for the football team in the fall. Baughman is now ranked 17th in the NAIA at 141 while Davidson cracked the national rankings at 25th in the 197-pound division.
The season to date has included nine duals five tournaments. At 8-1 in duals, the Bulldogs have already surpassed their win total from 2021-22 when they went 6-6 (3-5 GPAC). The one loss this season came at the hands of then No. 12 Morningside. To this point, 24 Bulldogs have wrestled in at least one match. The following Concordia competitors own at least five wins on the season: Creighton Baughman (13-4), Tommy Wentz (12-6), Grant Wells (10-8), Bryce Karlin (8-4), Stephen Duffy (8-6), Jeaven Scdoris (8-7), Garret Moser (8-8), Issiah Burks (7-8), Thomas Ivey (7-9), Jose Sanchez (7-10), Kobe Lyons (6-2), Torrance Keehn (6-8) and Cy Renney (6-10). The team pins leaders are Karlin, Renney and Wentz with four apiece.
Concordia and Doane have a combined 18 wrestlers that are ranked at the conference level (see list below). Head Coach Dana Vote’s Tigers are coming off a third-place claim at the NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Ky., where they took wins over No. 19 Oklahoma City University, 39-6, No. 5 Indiana Tech, 19-13, and No. 3 Southeastern University (Fla.), 24-11. A 36-0 loss was endured at the hands of top-ranked Grand View University (Iowa). The most accomplished wrestler on the Doane roster is 141-pounder Baagii Boldma, a three-time NAIA national champion. He’s one of 11 nationally ranked competitors on the current roster. As a program, the Tigers have won 19 straight GPAC duals. They defeated the Bulldogs, 39-3, in Crete last season.
Ranked Competitors
Concordia (8-1, 3-1 GPAC)
125 – Bryce Karlin: GPAC – 5th
125 – Grant Wells: GPAC – 6th
141 – Creighton Baughman: GPAC – 2nd | NAIA – 17th
165 – Issiah Burks: GPAC – 5th
184 – Stephen Duffy: GPAC – 5th
197 – Logan Davidson: GPAC – 2nd | NAIA – 25th
Doane (13-1, 3-0 GPAC)
125 – Daniel Vargas: GPAC – 1st | NAIA – 4th
125 – Hunter Bennett: GPAC – 2nd | NAIA – 20th
133 – Devin Avedissian: GPAC – 2nd | NAIA – 13th
141 – Baagii Boldmaa: GPAC – 1st | NAIA – 1st
149 – Tristan Zamilpa: GPAC – 2nd | NAIA – 10th
149 – Nathan Lendt: GPAC – 3rd | NAIA – 12th
165 – Benjamin Dobler: GPAC – 2nd | NAIA – 17th
174 – Chinges Tsermaa: GPAC – 1st | NAIA – 5th
174 – Michael Scarponi: GPAC – 3rd | NAIA – 20th
184 – Cael Jordan: GPAC – 3rd
197 – Bradley Antesberger: GPAC – 1st | NAIA – 2nd
285 – Brandon Antesberger: GPAC – 2nd | NAIA – 9th
Following Friday’s dual, the Bulldogs will have Saturday off while looking ahead to the Missouri Valley College Invite on Jan. 20-21. Concordia will complete its 2022-23 GPAC dual schedule on Jan. 28 when it wrestles three conference opponents in Sioux City, Iowa.