PARK CITY, Kan. – Five of the nine Bulldogs who made their way to the Wichita area remain alive in their respective brackets at the conclusion of day one at the 2026 NAIA Wrestling National Championships. Both Hagen Heistand and Paul Ruff went 2-0 on Thursday (March 5) in representation of Concordia University, Nebraska Wrestling. Heistand (157) and Ruff (133) will wrestle in the quarterfinals on Friday while Stevie Barnes (141), Barret Brandt (184) and Torrance Keehn (197) will attempt to winning in the consolation rounds.
Head Coach Josh Watts’ squad has tallied 21.0 team points and sits in 12th place with two days remaining in the championship event.
“This tournament is always a rollercoaster ride,” Watts said. “You have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. We’re competing hard and fighting through. I think we have two more guys advancing to day two than we had last year. We just need to keep them alive as long as possible.”
A two-time junior college All-American, Ruff is seeded eighth at 133 pounds. The Gering, Neb., native had little trouble in the first round as he schooled Missouri Baptist’s John Davis by a 17-0 technical fall. Then in round two, Ruff met up with familiar foe Justin Rodriguez of Hastings and eked by, 1-0. The results will set Ruff (15-2) up with the top seed in the bracket on Friday morning.
Said Ruff, “That match (versus Rodriguez) – I’ve wrestled the kid three times. He knew what I was going to do, and I also knew what he was going to do. I knew it was going to be a tough match … I just have to have a gameplan, hydrate correctly, and that’s pretty much it.”
The NAIA national runner up last season at 149, Heistand is hoping to make a return to the finals, this time at 157. The Dow City, Iowa, native pulverized his two Thursday foes, winning by scores of 22-5 over both. The GPAC champion Heistand (22-1) is the No. 4 seed in his weight class.
Said Watts of Ruff and Heistand, “They have both been wrestling well. Hagen has been dominant and Paul’s been finding ways to win. They’ve been consistent all year for us as far as performing on the mat. Hopefully we can secure them on the podium tomorrow morning. They’re both doing a good job.”
The fight continues for Barnes, Brandt and Keehn. All three Bulldogs won in consolation round two as part of session II on Thursday evening. Seeded 13th at 184, Brandt fell in his second match to the No. 4 seed. He then collected the 49th pin (one shy of a school record) of his career to close the day. The path was slightly different for Barnes and Keehn, both of whom began the tournament with a loss to a ranked foe before collecting two victories. Unfortunately, it was the end of the line for senior Hunter Weimer at 174. He sandwiched a pin between two losses. As part of Weimer’s challenging draw, he fell at the hands of opponents seeded 11th and 12th, respectively.
Three Bulldogs saw their seasons end in session I. While faced with difficult draws of their own, Cal Price (149), Cole Price (165) and Gabe Kant (285) each went 0-2 on Thursday. All three faced top-five seeds in their first round matches. Kant was narrowly edged by Emrbry-Riddle (Ariz.)’s second-seeded Kenneth Copley, 2-1, in a tussle without an offensive point scored. The highlights of this season for the Price brothers included a GPAC championship for Cal and a team-high 30 wins for Cole.
The action will resume with session III beginning at 11 a.m. CT on Friday from Heartland Credit Union Arena. All matches can be viewed live via NAIAnetwork.com.