SEWARD, Neb. – Nine Bulldogs are making final preparations to compete at the 2026 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship in March 5-7. For the seventh year in a row, Heartland Credit Union Arena in Park City, Kan., will serve as the location for the national tournament. The nine qualifiers for Concordia University, Nebraska Wrestling is an increase from the eight competitors the program sent to the 2025 NAIA Championships. Beginning in 2024, the NAIA revised the format of the tournament and implemented a three-day championship featuring six separate sessions.
2026 NAIA Wrestling National Championships
Thursday-Saturday, March 5-7 | Heartland Credit Union Arena (Park City, Kan.)
--Live Webcast: NAIA Network
--Live Results: FloWrestling
--Preliminary Brackets
Head Coach Josh Watts and his staff will take the following qualifiers to the Wichita area (in alphabetical order): Stevie Barnes (141), Barret Brandt (184), Hagen Heistand (157), Gabe Kant (285), Torrance Keehn (197), Cal Price (149), Cole Price (165), Paul Ruff (133) and Hunter Weimer (174). Eight of the qualifiers earned auto bids based on their place finishes at the GPAC Championships. Barnes received an at-large bid. Of Concordia’s qualifiers, six are returning to the national tournament for a second consecutive year. The first timers on the NAIA national stage will be Kant, Cal Price and Ruff.
On Wednesday, eight Bulldogs were recognized as 2025-26 GPAC All-Conference honorees, including first teamers in Heistand, Cal Price and Ruff. Both Heistand and Price emerged as GPAC champions while helping the team place second at the conference tournament. As a result of Concordia’s accomplishments, Watts was voted the GPAC Coach of the Year. Additional team highlights during this season have included an NAIA national ranking as high as 16th, an 8-1 overall dual record (7-1 GPAC) and the program’s highest ever placement (third) at the Missouri Valley Invite.
Seedings and preliminary brackets were released by the NAIA on Friday (Feb. 27). The NAIA attaches seed ratings next to the top 16 wrestlers in each bracket. Three Bulldogs were tagged with seeds: Hagen Heistand at 157 (No. 4), Paul Ruff at 133 (No. 8) and Barret Brandt at 184 (No. 13). The other six Concordia qualifiers are unseeded and slated to begin their tournaments against seeded opponents. First round matchups are listed below. There are 32 wrestlers in each weight class.
Statistical notes:
• With a 30-8 overall record, Cole Price leads the team in wins in 2025-26.
• With a 20-1 overall record, Hagen Heistand paces Concordia in winning percentage.
• Barret Brandt enters the national tournament with 48 career pins, two shy of the program’s all-time record of 50 by Deandre Chery (2016-20).
• The national runner up last season at 149 pounds, Heistand will be looking to repeat as an All-American. As a program, Concordia has 14 different individuals combine for 20 All-America awards in school history. At the junior college level, Cole Price and Paul Ruff both earned two All-America awards.
• Concordia’s first and only national champion (to this point) was Andrew Schulte in 2016. Since then, three Bulldogs have been national runners up: Ceron Francisco (2017), Tanner Farmer (2020) and Heistand (2025).
Concordia’s school record for national qualifiers in a season is 10, achieved by the 2014-15 and 2015-16 squads. From 2014 through 2018, the Bulldogs placed in the top 25 at the NAIA National Championships each year: 22nd in 2014, 12th in 2015, eighth in 2016, 15th in 2017 and 22nd in 2018. After finishing 26th in 2019, Concordia jumped back up to 15th in 2020. The eighth-place claim in 2016 remains the program’s highest ever finish at nationals. That particular team put three individuals on the podium. Last season, Heistand placed as the national runner up at 149 pounds and Creighton Baughman earned All-America accolades at 141 pounds. The two All-Americans paced the Bulldogs to a tie for 17th place in the team national standings.
This will be Watts’ second experience at the NAIA national tournament, however, he is a veteran on the national stage when factoring in his JUCO success. Watts was named the 2020 NJCAA National Coach of the Year and led Iowa Western’s men’s program to top 10 national placements 10-straight years from 2015 through 2024. Both his 2020 and 2023 squads placed third in the NJCAA.
Brackets were verified and approved by the NAIA-Wrestling Coaches Association Bracketing Committee. Previously, a 16-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members met to select the remaining at-large qualifiers. Next, the 16-member committee, along with three new oversight members, determined the ranking order of each weight class. This was used as the basis for the Bracketing Committee and later verified.
2026 Concordia National Qualifiers
Stevie Barnes, Jr. | 141 | Pacific Junction, Iowa
*Second NAIA nationals appearance
2025-26 Record: 13-6
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. 4 Andrew Voiles, Southeastern (Fla.)
Barret Brandt, Jr. | 184 | Syracuse, Neb.
*Second NAIA nationals appearance
2025-26 Record: 18-8
NAIA National Seed: 13
First match: vs. Matthew Russell, Williams Baptist (Ark.)
Hagen Heistand, Jr. | 157 | Dow City, Iowa
*Second NAIA nationals appearance (2025 NAIA runner up at 149)
2025-26 Record: 20-1
NAIA National Seed: 4
First match: vs. Emmanuel Celestine, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
Gabe Kant, Jr. | 285 | Augusta, Kan.
*First NAIA nationals appearance
2025-26 Record: 21-9
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. 2 Kenneth Copley, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)
Torrance Keehn, Sr. | 197 | Beatrice, Neb.
*Second NAIA nationals appearance
2025-26 Record: 15-5
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. 11 Efren Arizmendez, Life (Ga.)
Cal Price, So. | 149 | La Vista, Neb.
*First NAIA nationals appearance
2025-26 Record: 12-11
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. 5 Victor Guzman, Cumberland (Tenn.)
Cole Price, Sr. | 165 | La Vista, Neb.
*Second NAIA nationals appearance (2x JUCO All-American)
2025-26 Record: 30-8
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. 4 Jasitin Kubwimana, Campbellsville (Ky.)
Paul Ruff, Sr. | 133 | Gering, Neb.
*First NAIA nationals appearance (2x JUCO All-American)
2025-26 Record: 13-2
NAIA National Seed: 8
First match: vs. John Davis, Missouri Baptist
Hunter Weimer, Sr. | 174 | Porterville, Calif.
*Second NAIA nationals appearance
2025-26 Record: 15-11
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. 11 Anthony Rinehart, Marian (Ind.)
Concordia All-Time All-Americans
Creighton Baughman (2025)
Ken Burkhardt Jr. (2015, 2016, 2017)
Giovanni Castillo (2018)
Kodie Cole (2015, 2016)
Tanner Farmer (2020)
Ceron Francisco (2015, 2017)
Alberto Garcia (2019, 2020)
Hagen Heistand (2025)
Adam Joseph (2012)
Austin Mogg (2014)
Andrew Schulte (2015, *2016)
Julian Silva (2012)
Jacob Williams (2012)
Mario Ybarra (2021)
*NAIA National Champion