Takedown Report

NAIA Men’s Championship News – Mar. 2nd

2024 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship Official Brackets Finalized
KANSAS CITY, Mo. –  The official brackets (PDF) for the 2024 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championships have been finalized ahead of event starting tomorrow morning. The Battle For The Red Banner is hosted by Visit Wichita at Harman Arena in Park City, Kansas and concludes on Saturday, March 2nd. To purchase tickets for the three-day event, click HERE.
All matches at the national championships for Sessions I through V will be stream live via FloWrestling. Access to the live results and brackets can be found through TrackWrestling. The championship bouts on Saturday, during Session IV, will air on ESPN3 (www.watchespn.com).
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 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. 
Brackets were verified and approved by the NAIA-Wrestling Coaches Association Bracketing Committee. Previously, a 16-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members met to select the remaining at-large qualifiers. Next, the 16-member committee along with three new oversight members determined the ranking order of each weight class. This was used as the basis for the Bracketing Committee and later verified. 
Each conference tournament was awarded automatic bids per weight class based on the final regular-season rating, which can be seen HERE. Each conference is awarded automatic berths based on … story at … NAIA.org/2023-24/Releases/Final_Brackets
And …

2024 NAIA Wrestling Championships Storylines To Follow
The NAIA Championships begin Thursday with nine past national champions and perennial team powers vying for titles
The NAIA National Championships return Thursday to Hartman Arena near Wichita for the fifth year in a row. For the first time in more than a decade, the tournament is back to a three-day format. This time around, each bracket features 28 wrestlers with the top 16 seeded. 
Here are the brackets and here’s a look at some of the top storylines to follow. 
The Team Race
We’re set for what should be a dramatic and exciting team race. Grand View won its 11th national title in 12 years last year, finishing 48.5 points ahead of second-place Life. The Running Eagles ended Grand View’s 13-year run without an NAIA dual loss in January when Life knocked off the Vikings in the NWCA National Duals championship. 
Grand View, Life and Southeastern each qualified the maximum 12 wrestlers for the this week’s tournament. Grand View has five #1 seeds, while Life has three. As for All-American projections according to seed, Grand View has 10, Life has nine, and Southeastern has five. 
Cumberland, Menlo and Providence each qualified 11 wrestlers. Menlo has five projected All-Americans, while Cumberland has four and Providence has three. 
Grand View and Life are seeded first and second at two weights. At 125, Grand View has #1 Aden Reeves, while Life has returning national champion Brandon Orum seeded second. At 184, Grand View has #1 Isaiah Luellen to Life’s #2 Kyle Homet. 
Life has an opportunity for separation at 165, where it has #1 seed Steven Villalobos and Grand View doesn’t have a representative. On the flip side, Grand View will want to capitalize at 149 with #1 Blake Gonzalez and #9 Blake Haney, a weight where Life does not have an entry.
The Returning Champions
Nine returning or past national champions are in the field this weekend. … story at … Flowrestling.org/NAIA-wrestling-championships-storylines-to-follow
And …

2024 NAIA Men’s National Championship Preview
Subscribe to this show via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More
Checking out what’s coming up at the 2024 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championships this weekend at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas.  Host Jason Bryant will look at the draws, point out who to keep an eye on and provide some history of the championships. 
Event kicks off Feb. 29 and will be streamed live on Flowrestling. Brackets at Trackwrestling.com
Check out The Guide, Mat Talk Online’s massive Division I Men’s Wrestling Championship Preview Guide with pre-orders now available at WrestlingPreviewGuide.com. Use the Discount Code “podcast” to save $10. You won’t be disappointed.
Want an ad-free version of the show? Hit up the Patreon link at patreon.com/mattalkonline to contribute … story at … Mattalkonline.com/2024-naia-mens-national-championship-preview
And …

2024 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship – Day One Recap
PARK CITY, Kan. – The 67^th Annual NAIA Men’s Wrestling Championships, hosted by Visit Wichita at Hartman Arena, began Day One of competition on Thursday, February 29^th. With morning and evening sessions, each with two rounds, Life (Ga.) and Grand View (Iowa) have once again emerged as the teams at the top of the standings. The Running Eagles lead 52 to 49.5.
The 2024 Championship features a move to a three-day event, aimed to create a better experience for the student-athletes on the mat, the coaching staff’s, and fans alike. Session I on Thursday morning saw the First Round (Championship) and First Round (Consolation) wrestled before the intermission. Thursday evening, in Session II, the 2nd Round (Championship) and 2nd Round (Consolation) competed after the Opening Ceremonies.
Click HERE to see the full schedule and results page. Click HERE for the team scores after Day One.    
Session I Highlights:

• Nathan Rizek, the 125 pounder from Doane (Neb.), recorded the first victory and first fall of the tournament
• Drake Vannoy of Oklahoma City, the eight seed in 149, recorded the fastest fall of 1:13  in the First Round (Championship)
• Through 120 bouts in the First Round (Championship), there were 13 total upsets
• Weight classes 149, 157, 174, and 197 saw all seeded wrestlers move past the First Round
• 133 and 285 saw one upset each as Isaiah Miller of Jamestown (N.D.) earned a 10-4 decision over the 15^th seed in 133; Wilkinson Saul posted a 15-0 tech fall over the 13 seed in 285
• The most upsets occurred in 141 as four unseeded wrestlers pulled off the stunner, knocking off the 11, 12, 13, and 14 seeds
• Chandler Woenker of Campbellsville (Ky.) pulled off the highest upset as he defeated the six seed in 184 by decision 4-1 … story at … NAIA.org/2023-24/Releases/DayOne
  And …

2024 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship – Day Two Recap
PARK CITY, Kan. – The 2024 NAIA Men’s Wrestling Championship at Hartman Arena, hosted by Visit Wichita, continued with Day Two action in the 67^th annual event. Grand View (Iowa) and Life (Ga.) have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
Friday’s schedule included the Session III wrestling Third Round (Championship Quarterfinals) and Third Round (Consolation) in the morning. After the intermission and Parade of Scholar-Athletes, Session IV welcomed Fourth Round (Championship Semifinals), Fourth Round (Consolation All-America Round), and Fifth Round (Consolation Quarterfinals) in the nightcap. Click HERE to see the full schedule and results page. Click HERE for the team scores after Day Two.    
Session III Highlights:

• Third Round (Championship Quarterfinals) Notes
• Reigning 125 pound national Champion Brandon Orum of Life (Ga.) and third seeded Hunter Sparks of Eastern Oregon will collide in the semifinals while the top of the bracket will see Cinderella’s No. 13 Nicolas Aguilar of Menlo (Calif.) and No. 16 Allen Calderon of Indiana Tech square off for a berth in the finals
• After the top three seeds all advanced to the semifinals, No. 6 Dominic Chaves of Texas Wesleyan used a sudden victory takedown to advance and secured the Rams first-ever All-American in school history
• Evan Potter of Southern Oregon, the top seed in 141, needed the riding time point to set up his semifinal matchup against No. 4 Nicholas Yancey of Campbellsville (Ky.); meanwhile on the bottom half of the championship bracket, unseeded Gage Hudson of Cumberlands (Ky.) will battle No. 15 Hartwell Taylor of Saint Mary (Kan.)
• Jack Latimer from Cumberland (Tenn.) pulled a narrow upset over the fourth seed to advance to the 149 pound semifinals and set up a match with top overall seed Blake Gonzalez of Grand View (Iowa); on the bottom side, No. 2 Nathan Lendt of Doane (Neb.) and No. 3 Chase Zollman of Missouri Valley will face off this evening
• No. 12 Trevor Burdick of Reinhardt (Ga.) upset the No. 4 seed and kept the 157 pound weight class from being all four top seeds advancing to the semifinals … story at … https://www.naia.org/sports/mwrest/2023-24/Releases/DayTwo

March 2, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized