SEWARD, Neb. – A new experience will greet four Concordia University Wrestling national qualifiers at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan., location of the NAIA Wrestling National Championships for the fourth-straight season. The 66th annual NAIA wrestling tournament will take place Friday and Saturday (March 3-4). The first session on Friday is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CT with session II slated for a 6 p.m. start. Action will then resume at 10 a.m. on Saturday. A total of 280 wrestlers makes up this year’s field.
2023 NAIA Wrestling National Championships
Friday-Saturday, March 3-4 | Hartman Arena (Park City, Kan.)
--Live Webcast: FloWrestling (first three sessions) | Championship matches broadcast on ESPN3
--Live Results: TrackWrestling
--Preliminary Brackets
--Buy Tickets
Each of Head Coach Chase Clasen’s national qualifiers will be underdogs in their first matches on Friday. The Bulldogs will send Creighton Baughman (141), Issiah Burks (165), Logan Davidson (184) and Tavoris Smith (157) onto the mats against seeded opponents. It will be the first taste of the NAIA national tournament for all four. However, Baughman garnered two All-America awards at the junior college level with Iowa Western Community College. Concordia’s entrants into the national tournament each qualified automatically thanks to their efforts at the GPAC Championships.
Burks emerged as one of the major stories of the conference tournament while winning the 165-pound title despite being seeded fifth. The native of Hemet, Calif., is currently tied with former teammate Mario Ybarra for No. 4 on the program’s all-time wins list with 76 victories. Meanwhile, Baughman owns a team high 23 wins on the season. The Papillion, Neb., native has been the team’s most consistent high achiever throughout the 2022-23 campaign. As for Davidson and Smith, both got a late start to their seasons and then seized their opportunities. Davidson made his collegiate wrestling debut at the Bulldog Duals on Dec. 17 after spending the fall as a member of Concordia’s football team. Smith took true second place at 157 pounds at the GPAC tournament and has notched 34 wins in his Bulldog career.
The NAIA attaches seed rankings to the top 16 qualifiers in each weight class. Each of the Concordia qualifiers are unseeded in their 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 18-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members met to select the remaining at-large qualifiers. Next, the 18-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.
2023 Concordia National Qualifiers
NOTE: Class listing reflects remaining athletic eligibility
Creighton Baughman, So. | 141 | Papillion, Neb.
*First nationals appearance (two-time JUCO All-American)
2022-23 Record: 23-8
NAIA National Seed: Unseeded
First match: vs. (2) Julian Hernandez, Life (Ga.)
Issiah Burks, Sr. | 165 | Hemet, Calif.
*First nationals appearance
2022-23 Record: 17-11
NAIA National Seed: Unseeded
First match: vs. (2) Marty Margolis, Grand View (Iowa)
Logan Davidson, Fr. | 184 | Goddard, Kan.
*First nationals appearance
2022-23 Record: 12-5
NAIA National Seed: Unseeded
First match: vs. (5) Asher Eichert, Life (Ga.)
Tavoris Smith, Sr. | 157 | St. Petersburg, Fla.
*First nationals appearance
2022-23 Record: 6-3
NAIA National Seed: Unseeded
First match: vs. (15) Aden Graves, 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
Concordia top five all-time wins list
1. Ken Burkhardt Jr. – 122 (2013-17)
2. Ceron Francisco – 100 (2013-17)
3. Deandre Chery – 90 (2016-20)
4. Issiah Burks – 76 (2017-23)
4. Mario Ybarra – 76 (2018-22)