CUNE wrestling enters winter season, aims for All-American titles
Hagen Heistand.
Photo credit: Concordia Athletics
By Ransom Watts
This article is featured in the November print edition of the Sower newspaper.
Evan Sepanlou. Photo: Concordia Athletics.
The Bulldog wrestling team is moving out of offseason and preseason training mode, hoping this season will exceed the success they had last year.
Last season in dual tournaments the team performed consistently and ended with a 6-2 record. The same can be said in the larger invitationals, where the Bulldogs routinely saw high placement deep into the rounds across all weight divisions.
Throughout these regular-season tournaments, a few Concordia wrestlers made their mark with regular wins in their weight classes. Top performers were senior Cole Price, sophomore Cal Price, senior Steve Barnes, senior Hunter Weimer, junior Barrett Brandt, senior Torrance Keehn and sophomore Simon Arredondo.
The team’s final Invite of the 2024-2025 season, the Missouri Valley invite, saw Concordia place sixth out of 53 teams, with several individual placements in the top 10.
The Great Plains Athletic Conference Championships netted a third-place finish, with standout performances from Price and seniors Hagen Heistand, Tommy Wentz and Brent Ward.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Wrestling Championships saw Concordia’s qualifiers combine for a total of 29 points and an overall team placement of 17th. Heistand, a junior last year, scored 17 points and placed second overall in the 149 weight division.
This year the team is looking to take their consistency and performance to the next level, and Heistand is among those with the highest expectations.
“Some goals we have as a team are to win the GPAC conference and finish top 10 at the national tournament, minimum,” Heistand said. “We have a handful of guys that were national qualifiers last year that have some unfinished business there that are looking to be All-American.”
Sophomore Evan Sepanlou couldn’t agree more with his teammate.
“To see as many All-Americans as possible at Nationals is our goal; we want to see each other succeed,” Sepanlou said.
Heistand and Sepanlou agreed that the preseason training was difficult, but their optimism was clear.
“We approached preseason hard, we wrestled tough and we went really hard on our cardio,” Heistand said. “All the guys were disciplined with doing the right things like hitting the mat, hitting the weights, and doing cardio to prepare for the season. The guys are looking 10 times better than we did at this time last year.”
Sepanlou was excited about their preseason intensity. “This preseason has been a lot harder than that of the prior year, and we look really sharp,” he said. “Everyone is in good shape and excited to compete.”
It’s not only the preseason focus that gives the Bulldogs confidence, but some new talent as well that is looking to make an impact.
“We have gained a few transfers and freshmen that can help make an impact on the program,” Heistand said. “One guy that comes to mind is Paul Ruff, a 133-pounder. He does the right things and is a tough dude.”
Sepanlou thinks that the new transfers and freshmen will be a huge contributing factor to this year’s success. “I think that the new transfers as well as the returners from last year will have the greatest impact on our performance as a whole,” he said.
The hard work that the team has done in the offseason is looking, so far, to be their greatest asset and already is paying off for the Bulldogs.
Concordia’s first competition, the 2025 Falcon open on Nov. 1, saw some great performances across the board from the Bulldogs.
Although the team’s heaviest hitters like Heistand and Price didn’t compete at the Falcon invite, Concordia’s other wrestlers showed up. Arredondo won 4 of 6 matches and placed in the top six.
With confidence running high and hard work continuing as the season gets underway, there likely will be many exciting matches as the season unfolds and Concordia wrestling chases its GPAC and National goals.
