No. 7 Concordia Wrestling Wins NAIA North National Qualifier
by Garrett Suchanek
Updated on 2/24/16 at 10:24 a.m.
Saturday was a do or die day for the No. 7 Concordia wrestling team; the Bulldogs came prepared and successfully claimed the NAIA North National Qualifier.
Concordia won the team standings with a final score of 169 points. The second-place team was Morningside College, who finished with a total of 115.5 points.
Individually the Bulldogs entered 12 wrestlers throughout the 10 different weight classes. Six Bulldogs clinched national berths by claiming first or second place, while two more Bulldogs clinched berths by winning their third-place matches.
“It was nice having six guys in the finals, but I don’t think we were satisfied with that,” said coach Dana Vote. “I think as a team and staff we felt like we could have put more in the finals. Overall it was a great performance by the team and I am very proud of their efforts.”
Four Bulldogs claimed first-place finishes: junior Andrew Schulte (141 weight class), senior Jr Lule (157 weight class), senior Matt Atwood (184 weight class) and junior Ceron Francisco (285 weight class). Schulte and Francisco each won their weight classes with major decisions of 11-3 and 14-3 respectively. Lule won by technical fall, 21-2. Atwood won with an 8-6 decision.
Other Bulldogs that qualified for nationals were juniors Dmitri Smith, Kodie Cole, Foster Bunce and Ken Burkhardt Jr. Cole and Burkhardt Jr. each made it to their respective championship matches and placed second. Smith and Bunce fought out of the loser’s bracket after losing in the quarterfinals. Both Smith and Bunce claimed third-place finishes.
Concordia will travel to Topeka, Kansas, for the 2016 NAIA Wrestling National Championships, which will be held on March 4 and 5.
“Going into the national tournament our expectations are to wrestle at a high level,” said Vote. “We are not focused so much on the wins and losses, but more about the process and being able to perform at a high level. I feel really good about where we are at right now and I’m excited to get down to Topeka and compete.”
Last year, the Bulldogs finished 12th nationally and four wrestlers earned All-American honors.
