TOPEKA, Kan. – Familiar faces locked up positions on the medal stand as day one of the 2016 NAIA Wrestling National Championships unfolded Friday inside the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kan. Six Bulldogs made return trips while four individuals in the navy and white singlets made their first-ever appearances at the national tournament. At the conclusion of day one, Ken Burkhardt Jr. (197), Kodie Cole (133) and Andrew Schulte (141) are the three Bulldogs left standing.
The three repeat All-Americans helped fourth-year head coach Dana Vote’s squad wrap up Friday with a ninth-place team standing. With 34 team points, Concordia still has a shot of achieving its goal of a top-five national finish, which would surpass last year’s program record national placement of 12th.
“I think it’s still possible,” Vote said. “If you look at the points, we’re not that far out. I told the guys we still have work to do. We have three guys in it. I think Schulte has a shot at winning the whole thing. I know Ken and Kodie have been on the stand before. We want to move as high up on the podium as we can.”
All Burkhardt Jr. does is find ways to win matches. The junior from Milford, Neb., has won 85 in his college career to date, including four on Friday. The 14th-ranked Burkhardt Jr. (31-12) suffered a rough 7-6 second-round loss in which he gave up a late lead in the final seconds to No. 7 Hudson Buck of Dickinson State University (N.D.). The 197-pounder recovered by winning his next three bouts, including the blood-round 5-2 decision over Morningside’s Jared McCoy.
Burkhardt Jr. seems to do his best work with his back against the wall.
“I can’t even talk. It’s just so awesome,” Burkhardt Jr. said. “That’s all I have to say. I have no words. I just thank Jesus and I think Coach for the opportunity. I believe in the system and it was all about the process.”
Schulte, ranked second in the 141-pound weight class, surrendered a total of just four points in his three victories on Friday. He’s headed back to the semifinals for the second-straight year. Along the way, Schulte beat the seventh and 10th-rated wrestlers in his weight class in the process of extending his winning streak to 24. Schulte (38-6) will take on No. 3 Tyler Fraley of Williams Baptist on Saturday with a berth in the 141-pound title match on the line.
Said Vote, “Schulte was dominant as usual. He probably had the toughest draw coming in, three tough guys right in a row. The guy he had first round was an All-American and the last guy he beat (Lindsey Wilson’s Daniel Leonard) got him at the national tournament last year.”
Cole drew the biggest rise of the day out of the Concordia faithful when he pinned Lindenwood-Belleville’s 13th-ranked Jesse Martinelli to sew up All-America accolades for the second year in a row. It’s been an up and down year for Cole, who shook off some early-season struggles. Like Burkhardt Jr., Cole is making his third appearance at the national championships.
Those were the highs. Then there were the lows and the heartache of having three wrestlers fall one win short of reaching All-America rounds. Matt Atwood (184), Ceron Francisco (285) and Jr Lule (157) each fell short in matches that would have advanced them to Saturday. A year after making a surprise appearance in the national semifinals of the heavyweight bracket, fifth-ranked Francisco fell victim to an upset in his opening match of the tournament.
Francisco, a junior from Fayetteville, N.C., will get another shot next year, but the collegiate careers of Atwood and Lule are now over. Lule saw his 13-match win streak come to a halt with an 8-4 loss to Baker University’s Colby Crank.
“I’m proud of all 10 guys who have wrestled at the national tournament,” Vote said. “We wrestled hard in every match and had some tough matchups. We learned a lot from it.”
Three Bulldogs were eliminated during Friday’s opening session. Though his season ended early in the afternoon, junior Dmitri Smith (125) recorded his first career national tournament victory with a 5-4 decision over Dickinson State University’s (N.D.) Deshaun Haynes. In their first career national championships appearances, junior Foster Bunce (149) and freshman Travian Cooke (174) went 0-2. In his first experience on the national stage, junior Tommy Bailey (165) won a pair of matches before being eliminated. He went 30-22 for the year.
Three different Bulldogs collected their 50th career win on Friday: Bailey, Cole and Lule. A NAIA North Qualifier champion, Lule finished his Concordia career at 50-17.
Day two of the 2016 NAIA Wrestling National Championships will begin at 10 a.m. CT in Topeka. TrackWrestling.com will provide live video and results. The finals matches will be aired by ESPN3.com.