Grand View seeks three-peat at NAIA Men’s Nationals which starts today, with Life in the hunt

NAIA Men's Nationals Schedule

NAIA Men's Nationals bracket

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The 2023-24 NAIA preseason started off with Grand View University in Iowa tabbed to win the NAIA title for a third consecutive time based on returning points and ranked wrestlers from last season. 

The NAIA Men’s National Wrestling Championships will be held February 29 - March 2, 2024, at Hartman Arena, in Park City, Kansas. The 67th annual event has been extended this year, with the tournament starting a day earlier than usual and opening with two sessions on February 29th. The first session begins at 11:00 a.m., while the second session will resume at 6:00 p.m.

During the 2022-23 national campaign, the Vikings led by Coach Nick Mitchell piled up 206 team points to win their 11th NAIA national team championship, their 11th in the last 12 seasons.  Grand View dominated the field, beating runner-up Life University by a insurmountable 48.5 points. The distance between second and third in the team race was just as incredible, as Life’s 157.5 team points were 67.5 points better than third-place Southeastern Florida, who scored 90, with Menlo (Calif.) coming in fourth with 74 points and Indiana Tech with 61, rounding out the top five.

Grand View finished with 11 All-Americans, led by three individual champions, in Shae Ruffridge (141) Owen Braungardt (197), and Greg Hagan (285). Three others made the finals, and all 11 finished sixth or higher. The weekend saw multiple program bests for runner-up Life University men's wrestling program at the NAIA’s, the team placing six guys in championship bouts with three titlists. The Running Eagles and Grand View both claimed three individual champions.

The only NAIA team title that Grand View hasn’t won in the last 12 years was in 2021, when Grand View was gunning to the all-time record of 10 consecutive national titles and was edged by the Running Eagles by five points, 158 to 153 point for the title.  The win in 2021 would have given the Vikings bragging rights as the only college wrestling team, in ANY division to win 10 consecutive team titles. 

Life showed that they can compete again with Grand View for a title when they defeated the Vikings in the NWCA National Duals in Cedar Falls, back in January.

The 2023-2024 season is shaping up to have a possible finish reminiscent of the 2021 national championship.  Heading into the NWCA Dual Championship round on January 6th, in the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Grand View held an all-time record of 5-0 over Life and had only lost one dual since 2013. Despite the odds, the Running Eagles made history, winning their first ever NWCA National Duals title. The No. 2 Life University men's wrestling team secured the victory over Grand View, 24-17, their first dual win over the Vikings.

After the National Duals win, the NAIA rankings changed at the top of the standings, as Life overtook Grand View, with Menlo (Calif.) remaining third.  Since January, Grand View has regained the top spot in the NAIA rankings into the national tournament.

The NAIA announced that Grand View has earned 12 qualifier spots as has Life. In NAIA wrestling a team can qualify and score up to 12 wrestlers in the tournament, but no more than two at any given weight class.   

Earning automatic-qualifier status for the Vikings include No. 1 Aden Reeves (125), No. 1 Carson Taylor, and No. 5 Jackson Cockrell (133), No. 1 true freshman Blake Gonzalez (149) and sixth ranked Dylan Whitt (157). No. 4 Alex Reynolds will return to the tournament (174), plus No. 1 Isaiah Luellen and No. 12 Jameel Coles (184), No. 3 Owen Braungardt and No. 7 Garavous Kouekabakilaho (197), and top-ranked Greg Hagan (285). Blake Haney (149) earned one of the 36 at large bids, The Vikings return individual National champions in 197-pounder Owen Braungardt and HW Greg Hagan. GVU also returns two runner-ups, at 133 Taylor (133) and Luellen (now at 184. Also) returning to the tournament for Grand View is 149-pounder Blake Gonzalez, who placed third in 2023.

Heading into the NAIA Nationals, Life and Coach Omi Acosta are lead a trio top seeded wrestlers in Brevin Balmeceda (157), Riley Smucker at 174, and 165-pounder Steven Villalobos. They also boast a trio of second seeded wrestlers in Brandon Orum (125) and Kyle Homet at 184, and   Demarco Lee (197). Coach Acosta has another pair of Running Eagles seeded third Tyree Johnson (141)  and Zane Lanham (285). Thaddeus Long (133) is a No. 4 seed, Bret Minor (141) a No. 9 seed, and a pair of No. 11 seeds, Antonio Saldate (125) and Tre Morrisette (174).   

Menlo College comes in as the No. 3 ranked team in the NAIA poll, with 11 athletes named in the top 25.  Menlo faced all nationally ranked opponents at the NWCA National Duals where they placed third.  Menlo’s ranked wrestlers include No. 13 seed Nicholas Aguilara (125), No. 2 seed Jovan Garcia (133), No. 11 seed Jeramiah Steele (133),  Kanaipono Tapia (157),  No. 2 Rysan Leong (165), No. 11 seed Seth Borba (165), No. 8 seed Maximus Zamora (174),  No. 15 seed Ledger Petracek (174). Isaiah Morales (184) and No. 6 seed Antonio Dacosta (HWT). Hunter James (197) is unseeded.  

The remaining top ranked wrestlers in NAIA are 141-pound Evan Potter of Southern Oregon and 197-pound Bradley Antesberger of Doane (Neb.). 

Rounding out the top 10 ranked teams in NAIA men’s wrestling include No. 4 Providence (Mont.), No. 5 Southeastern (Fla.), N. 6 Campbellsville (Ky.), No. 7 Doane (Neb.), No. 8 Ottawa (Kan), No. 9 Cumberland (Tenn., and No. 10 Cumberlands (Ky.).

The Cascade Collegiate Conference led all conferences with 65 individual qualifiers. The Mid-South Conference qualified 41 for second; The Heart of America Athletic Conference qualified 38 which narrowly edged out the Appalachian Athletic Conference for third.

Grand View (Iowa), Southeastern (Fla.), and Life (Ga.) will travel a full roster of 12 wrestlers to the national championships while Cumberland (Tenn.), Cumberlands (Ky.), Menlo (Calif.), Ottawa (Kan.), and Providence (Mont.) will bring 11 wrestlers total. 

The NAIA National Wrestling Championships looks to be a two team race once again between Grand View University and Life University.
(Qualifiers by Weight Class | Qualifiers by School | Qualifiers by Conference)