Grand View going for seventh straight NAIA title this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa
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by Johnnie Johnson, Special to TheMat.com
Grand View graphic from GVVikings.com
NAIA Nationals official brackets
Live Video Stream on TrackWrestling
In the final NAIA ranking for the 2017-18 regular season, six-time defending champion Grand View holds the No. 1 ranking for the 48th time in program history, the most for any program dating back to the start of the 2000-01 season record keeping. The last time Coach Nick Mitchell’s Vikings were not ranked No. 1 was on Oct. 17, 2012.
Grand Valley has extended its streak to 43-straight No. 1 rankings in NAIA. Going wire to wire as the No. 1 ranked team in the NAIA is rare, but something Grand Valley has made commonplace. Besides this long streak, only former NAIA members Notre Dame of Ohio (2010-11) and Lindenwood of Missouri (2006-07) have gone the entire season ranked No. 1.
The Vikings look to add to their legacy at the NAIA National Championships at the Jacobson Exhibition Center in Des Moines, Iowa, March 2-3.
Unique to NAIA wrestling is that a team can qualify 12 wrestlers for the national tournament. In addition to having all 12 of its qualifiers ranked nationally, Grand View has five wrestlers who hold No. 1 NAIA individual rankings heading in the NAIA Championships: Josh Wenger (141), Grant Henderson (165), Lawton Benna (174), Evan Hansen (197 pounds), and Dean Broghammer (285).
Grand View collected a pair of impact transfers coming into the 2017-18 season at 125 pounds. Senior Matthew Nguyen, who transferred from Eastern Oregon is ranked No. 4 at 125, while Justin Portillo, a transfer from South Dakota State comes in ranked No. 9 Other ranked Vikings include No. 5 Devin Reynolds at 149, No. 6 Trevor Murano at 133, No. 6 Artie Bess at 184, No. 7 Dylan Blackford at 174 and No. 13 Mason Miller at 157.
The Vikings also secured their record-setting seventh consecutive NWCA National Duals crown by beating No. 5 Williams Baptist, 33-9, at the Fort Wayne Convention Center in the finals. The Vikings went 4-0 on the weekend and outscored their opponents a combined 154-28 during the competition while dropping just seven individual bouts in four duals. Altogether, Grand View wrestlers combined for 22 bonus-point victories in 40 matches, including 11 pins.
Adding to their dominance, in their final dual of the season, Grand View took out No. 2 Missouri Valley, 28-13 to finish with an overall 12-0 dual record on the 17-18 season (and 113-9 as a program). So far in their post-season, in Grand View style, the Vikes won eight individual championships on the way to capturing the 2018 Heart of America Athletic Conference title held on the Baker (KS) campus. Grand View advanced 12 into the semifinal round and had one wrestler in all 10 weight class gold-medal bouts.
Cumberlands (Ky.) boasts three No. 1 ranked wrestlers heading in the NAIA Nationals, Hayden Lee (125), Jake Sinkovics (133), and Cameron Jones (184). The other top ranked NAIA wrestlers are Cam Tessari of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) at 149, and Nosomy Pozo of Life (Ga.) at 157.
The official brackets were released today, and some of the No. 1 ranked wrestlers did not get the No. 1 seed. Of those ranked No. 1, Sinkovics (133), Wenger (141), Tessari (149), Pozo (157), Henderson (165), Jones (184), Hansen (197) and Broghammer (285) also snagged No. 1 seeds.
The other No. 1 seeds for the tournament include Mikel Perales of Menlo (125) and Lucas Lovvorn of Baker (174).
Returning NAIA national champions include Grand View’s Wenger, Henderson, Benna and Hansen, plus Brandon Weber of Montana State-Northern (157) and Demetrius Thomas of Williams Baptist of Arkansas (285) Weber was the Outstanding Wrestler at last year’s NAIA Nationals.
If the current season and past history are any indication of what can be expected at the NAIA National, you should not miss out on the championship in Des Moines, Iowa. Last year, Grand View (Iowa) rewrote the record book by winning its sixth-straight team title and set a new scoring record of 234.5 during the 2017 NAIA Championships, blowing away their previous season’s mark of 210.0 points. GV has either tied or set a new scoring record in three out of the last four years. The Vikings are the first team in NAIA Wrestling history to win six-consecutive national titles.
Also, the Vikings are only the fourth program in collegiate wrestling history (NAIA, NJCAA, NCAA) to garner six straight titles. The other programs to do so are NCAA Division I Iowa (six-straight in 1995-2000 and nine-straight in 1978-1986), NCAA Division I Oklahoma State (seven-straight in 1937-1949) and NCAA Division II Cal Poly (seven-straight in 1968-1974). Grand View has a chance to tie Oklahoma State and Cal Poly with seven titles this year.
2017 NAIA individual champions
125 – Troy Lakin (Menlo)
133 – Jacob Colon (Grand View)
141 - Josh Wenger (Grand View)
149 – Scottie Bonds (Midland)
157 – Brandon Weber (Montana State-Northern)
165 - Grant Henderson (Grand View)
174 - Lawton Benna (Grand View)
184 – Ben Stroh (Montana State-Northern)
197 - Evan Hansen (Grand View)
285 – Demetrius Thomas (Williams Baptist)
Outstanding Wrestler – Brandon Weber (Montana State-Northern)
Top Teams – 1. Grand View (Iowa), 234.5; 2. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), 74.5; 3. Campbellsville (Ky.), 64.5; 4. Williams Baptist (Ark.), 61.5; 5. Southern Oregon, 60.5; 6. Indiana Tech, 59.5; 7. Midland (Neb.), 54.5; 8. Montana State-Northern, 53.5; 9. Life (Ga.), 52.5; 10. Cumberlands (Ky.), 49.0
NAIA Nationals official brackets
Live Video Stream on TrackWrestling
In the final NAIA ranking for the 2017-18 regular season, six-time defending champion Grand View holds the No. 1 ranking for the 48th time in program history, the most for any program dating back to the start of the 2000-01 season record keeping. The last time Coach Nick Mitchell’s Vikings were not ranked No. 1 was on Oct. 17, 2012.
Grand Valley has extended its streak to 43-straight No. 1 rankings in NAIA. Going wire to wire as the No. 1 ranked team in the NAIA is rare, but something Grand Valley has made commonplace. Besides this long streak, only former NAIA members Notre Dame of Ohio (2010-11) and Lindenwood of Missouri (2006-07) have gone the entire season ranked No. 1.
The Vikings look to add to their legacy at the NAIA National Championships at the Jacobson Exhibition Center in Des Moines, Iowa, March 2-3.
Unique to NAIA wrestling is that a team can qualify 12 wrestlers for the national tournament. In addition to having all 12 of its qualifiers ranked nationally, Grand View has five wrestlers who hold No. 1 NAIA individual rankings heading in the NAIA Championships: Josh Wenger (141), Grant Henderson (165), Lawton Benna (174), Evan Hansen (197 pounds), and Dean Broghammer (285).
Grand View collected a pair of impact transfers coming into the 2017-18 season at 125 pounds. Senior Matthew Nguyen, who transferred from Eastern Oregon is ranked No. 4 at 125, while Justin Portillo, a transfer from South Dakota State comes in ranked No. 9 Other ranked Vikings include No. 5 Devin Reynolds at 149, No. 6 Trevor Murano at 133, No. 6 Artie Bess at 184, No. 7 Dylan Blackford at 174 and No. 13 Mason Miller at 157.
The Vikings also secured their record-setting seventh consecutive NWCA National Duals crown by beating No. 5 Williams Baptist, 33-9, at the Fort Wayne Convention Center in the finals. The Vikings went 4-0 on the weekend and outscored their opponents a combined 154-28 during the competition while dropping just seven individual bouts in four duals. Altogether, Grand View wrestlers combined for 22 bonus-point victories in 40 matches, including 11 pins.
Adding to their dominance, in their final dual of the season, Grand View took out No. 2 Missouri Valley, 28-13 to finish with an overall 12-0 dual record on the 17-18 season (and 113-9 as a program). So far in their post-season, in Grand View style, the Vikes won eight individual championships on the way to capturing the 2018 Heart of America Athletic Conference title held on the Baker (KS) campus. Grand View advanced 12 into the semifinal round and had one wrestler in all 10 weight class gold-medal bouts.
Cumberlands (Ky.) boasts three No. 1 ranked wrestlers heading in the NAIA Nationals, Hayden Lee (125), Jake Sinkovics (133), and Cameron Jones (184). The other top ranked NAIA wrestlers are Cam Tessari of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) at 149, and Nosomy Pozo of Life (Ga.) at 157.
The official brackets were released today, and some of the No. 1 ranked wrestlers did not get the No. 1 seed. Of those ranked No. 1, Sinkovics (133), Wenger (141), Tessari (149), Pozo (157), Henderson (165), Jones (184), Hansen (197) and Broghammer (285) also snagged No. 1 seeds.
The other No. 1 seeds for the tournament include Mikel Perales of Menlo (125) and Lucas Lovvorn of Baker (174).
Returning NAIA national champions include Grand View’s Wenger, Henderson, Benna and Hansen, plus Brandon Weber of Montana State-Northern (157) and Demetrius Thomas of Williams Baptist of Arkansas (285) Weber was the Outstanding Wrestler at last year’s NAIA Nationals.
If the current season and past history are any indication of what can be expected at the NAIA National, you should not miss out on the championship in Des Moines, Iowa. Last year, Grand View (Iowa) rewrote the record book by winning its sixth-straight team title and set a new scoring record of 234.5 during the 2017 NAIA Championships, blowing away their previous season’s mark of 210.0 points. GV has either tied or set a new scoring record in three out of the last four years. The Vikings are the first team in NAIA Wrestling history to win six-consecutive national titles.
Also, the Vikings are only the fourth program in collegiate wrestling history (NAIA, NJCAA, NCAA) to garner six straight titles. The other programs to do so are NCAA Division I Iowa (six-straight in 1995-2000 and nine-straight in 1978-1986), NCAA Division I Oklahoma State (seven-straight in 1937-1949) and NCAA Division II Cal Poly (seven-straight in 1968-1974). Grand View has a chance to tie Oklahoma State and Cal Poly with seven titles this year.
2017 NAIA individual champions
125 – Troy Lakin (Menlo)
133 – Jacob Colon (Grand View)
141 - Josh Wenger (Grand View)
149 – Scottie Bonds (Midland)
157 – Brandon Weber (Montana State-Northern)
165 - Grant Henderson (Grand View)
174 - Lawton Benna (Grand View)
184 – Ben Stroh (Montana State-Northern)
197 - Evan Hansen (Grand View)
285 – Demetrius Thomas (Williams Baptist)
Outstanding Wrestler – Brandon Weber (Montana State-Northern)
Top Teams – 1. Grand View (Iowa), 234.5; 2. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), 74.5; 3. Campbellsville (Ky.), 64.5; 4. Williams Baptist (Ark.), 61.5; 5. Southern Oregon, 60.5; 6. Indiana Tech, 59.5; 7. Midland (Neb.), 54.5; 8. Montana State-Northern, 53.5; 9. Life (Ga.), 52.5; 10. Cumberlands (Ky.), 49.0
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