SEWARD, Neb. – A trio of Bulldogs will make their way to Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan., for the 2024 NAIA Wrestling National Championships to be held this Thursday through Saturday (Feb. 29 – March 2). Hartman Arena will serve as the host venue of the national tournament for the fifth-straight year. The 67th annual NAIA wrestling tournament will come with a bit of a revised format as compared to the former two-day format. There will now be six separate sessions over a three-day period.
2024 NAIA Wrestling National Championships
Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 29 – March 2 | Hartman Arena (Park City, Kan.)
--Live Webcast: FloWrestling (first five sessions) | Championship matches broadcast on ESPN3
--Live Results: TrackWrestling
--Preliminary Brackets
The national qualifiers for Head Coach Chase Clasen’s program are Creighton Baughman (141), Tommy Wentz (165) and Mason Garcia (197). Baughman is set to make back-to-back appearances at the NAIA national tournament while Wentz and Garcia will appear on the national stage for the first time. At the 2023 NAIA championships, Baughman went 2-2 with one victory coming over 16th-ranked Jaxon Morlan of Eastern Oregon University. All three Concordia national qualifiers earned their way to nationals thanks to automatic bids. Baughman (141) and Wentz (165) placed as runners up within the GPAC while Garcia placed third at 197 pounds. Both Garcia and Wentz outperformed the conference seedings while both picked up wins over nationally ranked foes as part of the GPAC tournament held inside Friedrich Arena.
Baughman enters the national tournament having gone a combined 56-16 in his two seasons at Concordia. The Papillion, Neb., native has experienced success on the national stage having claimed two JUCO All-America awards during his time at Iowa Western Community College. Counting his time with both the Bulldogs and Reivers, Baughman has racked up 96 career collegiate wins. Also a transfer, Wentz began his career at York College. The Fremont, Neb., native has posted a record of 32-18 at Concordia. Wentz received consideration for a wild card selection to nationals in 2023. As for Garcia, he returned to the mat this season and seized the moment. Garcia will carry a record of 15-9 into the national tournament.
The NAIA attaches seed rankings to the top 16 qualifiers in each weight class. Baughman is seeded 10th at 141 pounds while Garcia and Wentz are unseeded within their respective brackets. In the history of the program, 12 different individuals have combined for a total of 18 All-America awards. Ken Burkhardt Jr. is the only Bulldog to achieve All-America status three times while Andrew Schulte (2016) is the program’s first and only national champion. Both Ceron Francisco (2017) and Tanner Farmer (2020) were national runners up as heavyweights.
Concordia’s school record for national qualifiers in a season is 10, achieved by the 2014-15 and 2015-16 squads. From 2014 through 2018, the Bulldogs placed in the top 25 at the NAIA National Championships each year: 22nd in 2014, 12th in 2015, eighth in 2016, 15th in 2017 and 22nd in 2018. After finishing 26th in 2019, Concordia jumped back up to 15th in 2020. The eighth-place claim in 2016 remains the program’s highest ever finish at nationals. That particular team put three individuals on the podium.
Brackets were verified and approved by the NAIA-Wrestling Coaches Association Bracketing Committee. Previously, the 16-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members met to select 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. The championship matches of each class will be viewable via ESPN3.com.
2024 Concordia National Qualifiers
Creighton Baughman, Sr. | 141 | Papillion, Neb.
*Second nationals appearance (two-time JUCO All-American)
2023-24 Record: 31-6
Past record at NAIA nationals: 2-2
NAIA National Seed: 10th
First match: vs. Elijah Griffin, Cumberland (Tenn.)
Tommy Wentz, Jr. | 165 | Fremont, Neb.
*First nationals appearance
2023-24 Record: 12-6
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. (8) Matt Jenkins, Reinhardt (Ga.)
Mason Garcia, Jr. | 197 | Arroyo Grande, Calif.
*First nationals appearance
2023-24 Record: 15-9
NAIA National Seed: unseeded
First match: vs. (5) Sawyer Hobbs, Providence (Mont.)
Concordia All-Time All-Americans
Ken Burkhardt Jr. (2015, 2016, 2017)
Giovanni Castillo (2018)
Kodie Cole (2015, 2016)
Tanner Farmer (2020)
Ceron Francisco (2015, 2017)
Alberto Garcia (2019, 2020)
Adam Joseph (2012)
Austin Mogg (2014)
Andrew Schulte (2015, *2016)
Julian Silva (2012)
Jacob Williams (2012)
Mario Ybarra (2021)
*NAIA National Champion