No. 7 Concordia Wrestling Repeats as Outright GPAC Dual Champions

by Garrett Suchanek

Thursday night was a special night for not only the entire Concordia wrestling team, but for the seniors as well. On a night when Concordia honored its seniors, the Bulldogs earned their second-straight outright GPAC dual championship by defeating Morningside College 32-7. With the win the Bulldogs extended their GPAC dual winning streak to 14 matches.

Concordia (13-4, 7-0) dominated the night and collected eight of the 10 matches. The match started with the 184 weight class. The Bulldogs won the first three matches of the night with Matt Atwood (184 weight class), Ken Burkhardt (197 weight class) and Ceron Francisco (heavyweight class), and led 12-0.

Morningside got on the scoreboard with a major decision victory at the 125 weight class, but Concordia responded with back-to-back wins. Kodie Cole and Andrew Schulte won by decision and technical fall to push the Bulldog’s lead to 20-4.

The Mustangs picked up their only other win on the night at the 149 weight class matchup. Morningside’s Steven Garcia won by a 7-5 decision over Foster Bunce.

The Bulldogs closed the night with three more wins by Jr Lule, Tommy Bailey and Travian Cooke.

Concordia will now have nine days to prepare for the North Qualifying Group Tournament, which the Bulldogs will host in Walz Arena at 9 p.m. on Feb. 20. The North Qualifier will determine who advances to the NAIA National Championships which are held in Topeka, Kansas on March 4 and 5.