CRETE, Neb. – In true Cinderella fashion, Issiah Burks surprised his way to a 165-pound GPAC title while helping spur the Concordia University Wrestling team to a third-place team finish at the 2023 GPAC Wrestling Championships. Nine of the 12 Bulldogs who competed earned place finishes within their respective weight classes while piling up 110 team points. Concordia emerged with five semifinalists, one champion and two runners up in another sign of the program’s quick rise compared to a year ago.
Head Coach Chase Clasen’s squad has placed third in the GPAC in both the regular season and at the conference tournament. The Bulldogs will send four automatic qualifiers to the national tournament in early March.
“We weren’t paying attention to the team score – we just wanted to put our best foot forward and try to get as many qualifiers to the national tournament as we could,” Clasen said. “The pieces fell where they fell because our guys went through the back end of the tournament and scored as many points as possible. Conference and national tournaments are won by those guys on the back end coming back and scoring points. They were the ones that really helped us get that third-place finish.”
Individual place finishes:
· Creighton Baughman: 2nd at 141
· Issiah Burks: 1st at 165
· Logan Davidson: 3rd at 184
· Stephen Duffy: 4th at 184
· Bryce Karlin: 5th at 125
· Garret Moser: 6th at 174
· Jeaven Scdoris: 4th at 149
· Tavoris Smith: 2nd at 157
· Tommy Wentz: 5th at 157
The championship run for Burks became one of the major stories of the weekend. The Hemet, Calif., native will be headed to the NAIA National Championships along with teammates and fellow automatic qualifiers Creighton Baughman, Logan Davidson and Tavoris Smith. A sixth-year member of the program who has moved into the top five on Concordia’s all-time wins list, Burks made waves on Saturday when he pulled an 11-4 upset of the top seed at 165 pounds, Caleb Connor of Morningside (ranked No. 12 in the NAIA). In the title bout, Burks left no doubt by nailing Dakota Wesleyan’s Kaleb Bigelow to the mat in just 1:15. Burks went 4-0 on the weekend with a pair of pins and a major decision.
Said Clasen, “There was nobody in the country that was going to beat Issiah Burks this weekend. If this was in the national tournament, he would have been a national champion. When he’s on, he’s on. We have to ride that momentum now going into nationals and not get too high up. We’ve still got more matches to win. He does all the right things. I couldn’t ask for a better athlete. Everything he’s worked for is coming to fruition.”
In the semifinals at 141, Baughman (seeded No. 2 in the GPAC) matched up with Briar Cliff’s Ethan Krey (seeded No. 4). Just before the clock ran out on the first period, Baughman earned the pin of Krey for his 23rd win of the season. The two-time JUCO All-American then drew three-time national champion Baagii Boldmaa, who took the title via a 13-4 major decision. Baughman wound up 3-1 on the weekend and did not give up an offensive point until facing Boldmaa in the finals.
Davidson (184), Stephen Duffy (184) and Tommy Wentz (157) were each defeated in their semifinal matches. However, Davidson recovered to place third and ended his tournament with wins over Doane’s Garrett Cornwall and then Duffy in the third-place matchup. Davidson (12-5) will head to nationals after joining the wrestling team for the second semester. Both transfers, Duffy and Wentz made their presences felt throughout this winter. Duffy placed fourth in the GPAC at 184 while Wentz placed fifth at 157.
Smith (St. Petersburg, Fla.) got his 2022-23 season started late, but made the most of his opportunities. He was credited with taking true second place at the conference meet and garnered the automatic bid. Smith produced three contested wins on Saturday, taking matches over Tyson Johnson, Wentz and Brody Hovertsen. Smith ran his record to 6-3.
Additional place finishers were Bryce Karlin, Garret Moser and Jeaven Scdoris. The Milford, Neb., native Scdoris made hay on the back side of the bracket and claimed two victories on Saturday before finishing his tournament in fourth place. For the weekend, nine Bulldogs won multiple matches with each scoring at least 7.0 points towards the team total.
Added Clasen, “A lot of the matches we won this weekend were revenge matches – matches we lost earlier in the season. There’s been lots of improvement over the course of the season.”
Concordia’s national qualifiers will advance to compete at the 2023 NAIA Wrestling National Championships, which will be held in Wichita, Kan., March 3-4. National qualifiers will be officially announced next week by the NAIA. This will mark the fourth-straight year that Wichita has hosted the NAIA wrestling tournament.