GPAC wrestling championships scheduled for Saturday at Hastings College

The Great Plains Athletic Conference will hold its wrestling championships this Saturday at Hastings College.

Up to 12 wrestlers from each of the eight GPAC wrestling schools will contend for conference honors.  The University of Sioux Falls, Dakota Wesleyan University, Briar Cliff University, Morningside College, Northwestern College, Midland University, Hastings College, and Concordia University will compete in this year’s championships.

Morningside College (#13), Midland University (#14) and Hastings College (#20) are the favorites heading into this weekend’s conference championships.  

Concordia’s line-up is expected to be:

125 – Gordie Fowlkes, So. (Newman Grove, Neb.) - ranked #6 in NAIA North, National qualifier, 16-9

133 – Adam Joseph, Fr. (Hastings, Neb.) National qualifier, 17-6, and Travis Patrick Fr. (Castle Rock, Wash.) National qualifier, 16-11

141 – Alex Rostvet, So. (Hastings, Neb.) National qualifier, 14-9, and Robbie Resendiz Fr. (San Jacinto, Calif.) 9-14

149 – Brandon Starkey, So. (St. Paul, Neb.) National qualifier, 23-14

157 – Zach Schnell, So. (Lincoln, Neb.) 7-9

165 – Blake Augustyn, Fr. (Ord, Neb.) National qualifier, 18-11

174 – Ryan Perez, Fr. (Lake Charles, La.) 9-13

184 – Andrew Lords, Fr. (Rigby, Idaho) 5-4

197 – Julian Silva, Jr. (Covina, Calif.) ranked #3 in NAIA North, National qualifier, 24-7

285 – Frank Ayala, Jr. (West Covina, Calif.)  8-2, ranked #5 in NAIA North, National qualifier, 8-2

“Our goal is to simply keep improving as we progress towards the national championships in early March,” said head coach Doug Reese.  “We have been doing that all season.  If we wrestle to our potential, we can do some damage at the conference tournament.  I expect some good things to happen.”

The GPAC Wrestling Championships will start at 9 am in the Hastings College gymnasium and will continue straight through until completion.