SEWARD, Neb. – Back in October, the thought of a record-setting season for the 2022-23 Concordia University Wrestling team may have seemed a bit farfetched. The Bulldogs were coming off only modest success the previous winter, but they were bound and determined for something more. Concordia made its final home appearance of the season on Thursday (Feb. 2) and dropped the hammer on Colby Community College, 49-4, and York University, 44-6. The Bulldogs took 17 of 20 matches on the evening.
The results gave a proper sendoff for seniors Brandon Gonzalez, Jose Sanchez and Tavoris Smith and for sixth-year competitor Issiah Burks. By night’s end, Head Coach Chase Clasen’s squad (13-2, 6-2 GPAC) had equaled the program record for most dual wins in a season with 13.
“The biggest thing is this team really bought in,” Clasen said. “When everyone is bought in and we have a group of guys all doing the right things, and they want to win, good things happen. They’ve made a culture shift in their mindset. The improvement they’ve made from day one has been dramatic. I can’t imagine three or four years down the road because we’re so young. I know we tied the dual record for Concordia, but our guys aren’t satisfied. They want to break the record.”
The Bulldogs are wrestling the way Clasen had envisioned – with ultra-aggression. Often on Thursday, the guys wearing the home gray singlets were taking the opposition to the mat mere moments after the first whistle. At 125 pounds, Bryce Karlin helped set the tone for the evening by pinning his opponent from Colby in 2:05. The pins became contagious as the Trojans were victimized by additional falls from Jeaven Scdoris (149), Smith (157), Stephen Duffy (184), Logan Davidson (197) and Cy Renney (285). Meanwhile, Creighton Baughman (141) and Burks (165) won by technical fall and Jose Sanchez (174) pulled out a 9-6 decision.
A native of Wylie, Texas, and a transfer from MacMurray College, Sanchez has stood out as a clear leader in the room. The Business Administration major enjoyed a 2-0 night capped with another decision in the second dual. Said Sanchez, “The emotions were over the roof. Even before the matches, I got that nervous feeling in my stomach. It was there until coach was saying, ‘Whatever nerves you’re feeling, turn them into excitement.’ You’re about to wrestle your last home meet. Usually I don’t hear the crowd as much, but I could hear everyone cheering me on tonight. It brought me that energy to keep moving forward and win those matches.”
The lone nationally ranked grapplers in the lineup are Baughman (15th at 141) and Davidson (25th at 184), but Concordia has shown it’s a particularly tough out 125 through heavyweight. Baughman polished off a cruise-control type of night with a first period fall of York’s Andy Garza. The Panthers did manage to hang in there early on with the help of a win by decision apiece from Harley Williamson (133) and John Fox (157). It was all Bulldogs from there with Renney adding an exclamation point by nailing his heavyweight counterpart to the mat in just 1:04. In a unique matchup, Tommy Wentz up against his former school and was defeated, 6-1, by Fox.
On the evening, eight Concordia grapplers went 2-0: Baughman, Burks, Davidson, Duffy, Karlin, Renney, Sanchez and Scdoris. Said Clasen, “We want to get that mindset going into conference where we’re looking to score a lot of points. Our guys aren’t satisfied with third place in the GPAC dual standings. We want to go into the conference tournament and win it. We want to go in there with a dominant mindset and go out and score as many points as possible. Today was just a glimpse.”
The 2022-23 Bulldogs have pulled even with the 2019-20 (13-2) and 2015-16 (13-4) teams for the most dual wins in a season in program history. Two other squads hit double digits: 2016-17 (11-4) and 1970-71 (10-3). Said Burks, “I’ve been thinking about this moment for a really long time and was finally able to experience it. It was just going out and winning with my brothers and making history. This is the second time I’ve been on a time that reached double digits and be able to tie the record.”
The Bulldogs will send select wrestlers to the Dave Edmonds Open hosted by Morningside in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday. Action is slated to get underway at 9 a.m. CT. The tournament is the final event on the schedule prior to the GPAC Championships coming up on Feb. 17-18. Doane will host this year’s conference tournament.