CRETE, Neb. – In the team’s first action since hosting GPAC Day of Duals No. 1, Concordia University, Nebraska Wrestling entered 26 athletes into competition for an all-day affair at the Connor Oppenheim Open hosted by Doane on Saturday (Dec. 7). Bulldog wrestlers combined for 51 wins and a trio of place finishes at the event in Crete, Neb., where 38 institutions were represented. Most notably, Creighton Baughman won the 141-pound open division and both Cal Price and Evan Sepanlou took home place finishes in the amateur division.
The outing marked the fourth tournament on the 2024-25 season for Head Coach Josh Watts’ squad.
“Creighton wrestled really well,” Watts said. “Steven Barnes also looked really good and had a ranked win. The first semester has been kind of up and down, but we’re making forward progress. We just have to keep working towards that in the second semester and get our lineup straightened out.
“We had a couple young guys, Cal Price and Evan Sepanlou, show promise with place finishes in the open division. Unfortunately, we also had some guys get dinged up and hurt. We have to try to get healthy before Friday.”
Now in his fifth season of collegiate wrestling, Baughman has improved to 8-0 this season after winning all five of his matches at the Oppenheim Open. All five of his opponents were NAIA wrestlers, including Grand View University (Iowa)’s Drew Woodley, who Baughman defeated, 6-4, in the championship bout. Baughman ran his career Concordia win total to 66 (106 counting his two seasons at Iowa Western Community College).
In the amateur division, both Cal Price (141) and Sepanlou (174) collected four wins. A freshman from La Vista, Neb., Price posted four pins on the day. His final fall came over Missouri Baptist University (Mo.)’s Geno Cardenas in the third-place match. As for Sepanlou, he won once by major decision and three times by decision before ultimately being defeated in a third-place tussle.
The aforementioned ranked win for Barnes at 149 pounds came over No. 20 Tyler Okada of Waldorf in a 5-4 decision. Barnes went 3-2 with a pin at the tournament. Barnes was one of 22 Bulldogs to emerge with at least one victory on Saturday. At heavyweight, Mason Garcia put together a 3-2 performance with a pair of falls.
Concordia competitors with at least three wins at the tournament included Baughman (5-0), Cal Price (4-1), Simon Arredondo (4-2), Sepanlou (4-2), Ramon Arredondo (3-2), Barnes (3-2), Blake Boehmer (3-2) and Garcia (3-2). Boehmer and Luke Howitt registered two pins apiece. At 174 pounds, Hunter Weimer started 2-0 before dropping out of the field (medical forfeit). There were four Bulldogs who reached the semifinals of their respective brackets.
The Bulldogs are slated to make a home appearance on Friday, Dec. 13 for a standalone dual with eighth-ranked Doane. The action will get underway at 7 p.m. CT from Friedrich Arena. The Tigers are the top ranked team in the GPAC and boast 11 nationally ranked wrestlers.