GPAC Duals Scores:
MITCHELL, S.D. – Ever since the season reached the second semester, the Concordia University, Nebraska Wrestling team has competed at another level. Fourteen different Bulldogs contributed on the mat on Saturday (Feb. 8) as Concordia tore through Northwestern, 29-16, Briar Cliff, 41-6, and Waldorf, 38-6, as part of GPAC Day of Duals No. 2 in Mitchell, S.D. The 19th-ranked Bulldogs won 22 individual matches, including 19 via bonus points.
Head Coach Josh Watts’ squad improved its GPAC dual record to 6-2 as it concluded its conference dual schedule. Concordia will finish 2024-25 with a GPAC regular season placement of tied for second, marking a high for the program over the past five seasons.
“Guys were wrestling pretty well,” Watts said. “We were able to rotate some guys into the lineup. I’m happy with the end of the regular season and looking forward to seeing what we can do in the postseason. We overcame some hiccups the past week and a half of training and performed well today. I think that’s important to be able to refocus at times. It’s important to keep a competitive rhythm. We have a pretty good rhythm going right now, and we really wanted to keep those guys moving forward against conference competition.”
The stiffest test on Saturday came in the morning dual as the Bulldogs went up against a Red Raider squad with solid competitors in the upper weights. Concordia first got on the board with a Bryce Karlin pin (1:20) at 133 before stringing together five-straight wins in the 149 through 184-pound weight classes. Those victories were produced by Creighton Baughman (pin at 149), Cole Price (major decision at 157), Tommy Wentz (major decision at 165), Barret Brandt (pin at 174) and Garret Moser (decision at 184). Northwestern proceeded to win at 197 and 285 with the team outcome already decided.
The most statistically dominant dual came next as the Bulldogs won eight times with bonus points. Briar Cliff owned a 6-0 lead early (after a pin at 133 – neither team entered a 125-pounder) before Concordia began the pummeling with a Cal Price pin (1:24) at 141. The torch was passed to Domminick Flynn (pin at 149), Cole Price (major decision at 157), Brent Ward (major decision at 165), Brandt (pin at 174), Hunter Weimer (pin at 184), Torrance Keehn (technical fall at 197) and Mason Garcia (major decision at 285).
To close the day in Mitchell, the Bulldogs won six of the seven contested matches in a dual that included Waldorf forfeits at 197 and 285 and an open weight at 125 for both sides. Karlin registered the lone Concordia pin of the dual as he needed just a minute to wipe out his opponent at 133. The dominoes kept falling as Flynn won by major at 149, Francisco Mendez took a tight 6-5 decision at 157, Wentz won by decision at 165 and Brandt triumphed at 174 (led 7-0 at the time of an injury default).
Said Watts, “We were doing some different things today and trying to see some different guys in different spots to see what options we might have for the GPAC tournament. We’re trying to focus on getting some guys healthy, so we played around with our lineup. We just wanted Creighton to get one match to keep him in rhythm.”
For the day, Concordia dropped only five contested matches and mixed up the lineup. Watts held back two nationally ranked grapplers at 149 (Hagen Heistand and Stevie Barnes) and also threw Baughman into the mix at 149. It was an especially dominant day for the sophomore Brandt (Syracuse, Neb.), who went 3-0 and ran his season pin total to 10. Meanwhile, Flynn, Cole Price and Wentz each went 2-0 at the duals event.
The Bulldogs will now be idle until the 2025 GPAC Wrestling Championships, which are scheduled for Feb. 21-22 at Hastings. Lynn Farrell Arena will be the site of the conference tournament for the first time since 2018. Concordia placed fifth at last season’s GPAC Championships held in Seward.