SEWARD, Neb. – Postseason tournament time is here across the NAIA wrestling landscape. The Concordia University Wrestling team has hopes of building upon its strong GPAC dual season while entering the fray at the 2023 GPAC Wrestling Championships to be hosted by Doane this Friday and Saturday. The format features a first session beginning in the afternoon on Friday before action resumes at 10 a.m. CT on Saturday. There will be 27 automatic berths to nationals at stake at the GPAC Championships.
2023 GPAC Wrestling Championships
Session I – Friday, Feb. 17, 2 p.m.
Session II – Saturday, Feb. 18, 10 a.m.
Fuhrer Fieldhouse | Crete, Neb. (Doane campus)
--Live Streaming: Doane Sports Network
--Live Results: Track Wrestling
--Admission: $10 for adults/senior citizens, $3 for K-12; only those with NAIA passes and GPAC student ID’s will be admitted free of charge.
Overview
The NAIA announced automatic bid national tournament allocations for each of the NAIA wrestling conferences on Feb. 9. Those allocations are based on the number of individuals ranked nationally in each weight class. For example, the GPAC boasts four nationally ranked heavyweights and will get four auto bids to nationals in that weight class. No matter the rankings, every conference is guaranteed to get at least one bid at each weight class, with auto bids going to each conference champion in all 10 classes. The NAIA auto bid allocations can be found HERE.
Each of the 12 Bulldogs that Head Coach Chase Clasen will lead into the conference tournament will be attempting to reach NAIA nationals for the first time in their careers. Concordia’s most accomplished current wrestler from a national perspective is 141-pounder Creighton Baughman, a two-time All-American at Iowa Western Community College. The Bulldogs did not return their two national qualifiers from last season: Mario Ybarra (graduated) and Jacob Telles (transferred). Ybarra garnered All-America status at 133 pounds in 2021. The program’s string of eight-straight years (2014 through 2021) with at least one All-American ended in 2022.
Two returning Bulldogs were place finishers at the 2022 conference tournament: Issiah Burks (fourth at 165) and Jose Sanchez (fifth at 165). A sixth-year member of the program, Burks hopes to take advantage of his last opportunity and punch a ticket to nationals. Burks has climbed to No. 6 on the program’s all-time wins list with 72 career victories. The native of Hemet, Calif., could move into the top five with two additional wins.
In the most recent NAIA national rankings, Baughman (16th at 141) and Logan Davidson (25th at 184) continued to hold down spots within their respective weight classes. At the conference level, Concordia is ranked third while having eight wrestlers represented. Below is a listing of those competitors. The Bulldogs have come a long way since being ranked at No. 6 in the GPAC preseason rating. Clasen’s bunch outperformed those expectations in placing third with a conference dual record of 6-2. At 13-2 overall in duals, Concordia equaled a program record for dual wins in a season, pulling even with the 2015-16 and 2019-20 teams.
GPAC Rankings
125 – Bryce Karlin: 6th
141 – Creighton Baughman: 2nd (16th in NAIA)
149 – Jeaven Scdoris: 6th
157 – Tommy Wentz: 5th
165 – Issiah Burks: 5th
174 – Jose Sanchez: 6th
184 – Logan Davidson: 3rd (25th in NAIA)
184 – Stephen Duffy: 5th
Through the season to date, nine Bulldogs have notched double digit win totals: Creighton Baughman (21-7), Tommy Wentz (18-10), Stephen Duffy (13-8), Issiah Burks (13-11), Bryce Karlin (12-8), Jose Sanchez (12-14), Garret Moser (11-11), Jeaven Scdoris (11-13) and Grant Wells (11-13). Karlin paces the team with nine pins while Baughman, Duffy and Cy Renney have collected six pins apiece.
The latest GPAC ratings show Doane at No. 1 and Morningside at No. 2 with Concordia following at No. 3. The next six teams, in order, are Briar Cliff, Dakota Wesleyan, Northwestern, Jamestown, Midland and Hastings. Returning GPAC wrestlers who earned All-America honors in 2022 include Doane’s Daniel Vargas (sixth at 125), Baagii Boldma (first at 141) and Bradley Antesberger (third at 197) and Morningside’s Hunter DeJong (eighth at 197). Last year’s individual GPAC champions are listed below. Of the 10 winners, seven will be back to defend their titles.
2022 GPAC Champions
125 – Daniel Vargas, Doane
133 – Taylor Vasquez, Morningside
141 – Baagii Boldma, Doane
149 – John Diener, Morningside
157 – Chinges Tsermaa, Doane
165 – Taygen Smith, Hastings
174 – Trenton Munoz, Hastings
184 – Luke Jenness, Northwestern
197 – Tyson Beauperthuy, Midland
285 – Bradley Antesberger, Doane
The 66th annual NAIA Wrestling National Championship is slated to play out March 3-4 at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan., where the event was first held in 2020. Automatic qualifiers for the national championships will be known at the conclusion of the conference tournaments. Concordia traveled two wrestlers to Park City last year.