SEWARD, Neb. – Following GPAC Day of Duals No. 2 (Feb. 8), Concordia University, Nebraska Wrestling took last week off from competition. The focus has been on preparing to be successful at the 2025 GPAC Wrestling Championships, which will be staged Friday and Saturday (Feb. 21-22) inside Lynn Farrell Arena on the Hastings College campus. Head Coach Josh Watts’ squad placed in a tie for second in the GPAC for the regular season and hopes to push league favorite Doane at the conference tournament. The Bulldogs will enter the tournament as the No. 18-ranked team in the NAIA.
2025 GPAC Wrestling Championships
Session I – Friday, Feb. 21, 2 p.m.
Session II – Saturday, Feb. 22, 10 a.m.
Lynn Farrell Arena | Hastings, Neb.
--Live Streaming: GPAC Network
--Live Results: Track Wrestling
--Admission: $10 for adults/senior citizens, $3 for K-12; only those with NAIA passes and GPAC student ID’s will be admitted free of charge.
Overview
The GPAC Wrestling Championships will return to Hastings for the first time since 2018. Concordia had the privilege of hosting the conference tournament in 2024. The Bulldogs placed fifth with 73 points in front of the home fans. Individual place finishers included Creighton Baughman (second at 141), Barret Brandt (fourth at 165), Tommy Wentz (second at 165) and Mason Garcia (third at 197). All four of those competitors are back in the GPAC tournament field in 2025. As a program, Concordia has won the GPAC postseason title four times (2015, 2016, 2017, 2020) and has captured a total of 19 individual GPAC championships.
Among the 12 Bulldogs that Watts will lead into the 2025 conference tournament, Baughman, Garcia and Wentz are each returning NAIA national qualifiers. Also a two-time All-American at Iowa Western Community College, Baughman will likely be seeded No. 1 at 141 pounds and looks to rise to the top of the podium after placing second in 2024. Four of his teammates are ranked second in the GPAC in their respective weight classes: Hagen Heistand (149), Cole Price (157), Tommy Wentz (165) and Brandt (174). A sophomore from Syracuse, Neb., Brandt has been a pinning machine with 34 falls over two years wearing the Concordia singlet. Between his Iowa Western and Concordia careers, Baughman has won 116 matches.
Heading into the GPAC Championships, 14 Concordia competitors have notched at least 10 wins this season: Baughman (18-2), Hunter Weimer (18-4), Brandt (17-6), Cole Price (17-8), Heistand (14-2), Steven Barnes (14-6), Cal Price (12-3), Torrance Keehn (12-4), Wentz (12-6), Grant Wells (11-7), Garcia (11-11), Simon Arredondo (10-9), Bryce Karlin (10-9) and Teegan Tschampel (10-14). Bulldogs have combined for seven tournament titles in 2024-25: Barnes (Luther Hill Invite), Baughman (Oppenheim Open), Heistand (Denker Open), Karlin (Luther Hill Invite), Keehn (Hastings Open), Weimer (Hastings Open) and Wentz (Luther Hill Invite).
Watts’ squad has found its way into the NAIA top 20 in back-to-back national ratings. The Bulldogs broke in at No. 19 on Jan. 30 before moving up a spot to No. 18 with the top 25 release on Feb. 12. Prior to this season, Concordia had not appeared in the NAIA top 25 since the 2019-20 season when it placed 15th at the NAIA National Championships. The highest team national placement in program history was eighth in 2016. There have been 18 All-America awards claimed by Bulldog wrestlers all-time.
The NAIA announced automatic bid national tournament allocations for each of the NAIA wrestling conferences on Feb. 13. Those allocations are based on the number of individuals ranked nationally in each weight class. For example, the GPAC boasts five nationally ranked 197-pounders and will get five auto bids to nationals in that weight class. The GPAC has been allotted 28 total auto bids for the 2025 national tournament. No matter the rankings, every conference is guaranteed to get at least one bid at each weight class, with auto bids going to each conference champion in all 10 classes. The NAIA auto bid allocations can be found HERE.
GPAC Rankings – Concordia Wrestlers
133 – Grant Wells: 5th
133 – Bryce Karlin: 6th
141 – Creighton Baughman: 1st
141 – Cal Price: 5th
149 – Hagen Heistand: 2nd
149 – Steven Barnes: 3rd
157 – Cole Price: 2nd
165 – Tommy Wentz: 2nd
174 – Barret Brandt: 2nd
184 – Hunter Weimer: 4th
197 – Torrance Keehn: 4th
285 – Mason Garcia: 5th
The latest GPAC ratings display a team top five of Doane, Concordia, Morningside, Hastings and Northwestern. The four returning GPAC wrestlers who earned All-America honors in 2024 are Doane’s Nathan Lendt, Kasten Grape and Bradley Antesberger and Morningside’s Zander Ernst. Last year’s individual GPAC champions are listed below. Of the 10 winners, five will be back to defend their titles: Lendt, Ben Miller, Kaleb Bigelow, Tyson Beauperthuy and Antesberger. The most recent Bulldog to win a GPAC championship was Issiah Burks at 165 in 2023.
2024 GPAC Champions
125 – Nathan Rizek, Doane
133 – Isaiah Miller, Jamestown
141 – Taylor Vasquez, Morningside
149 – Nathan Lendt, Doane
157 – Ben Miller, Doane
165 – Kaleb Bigelow, Dakota Wesleyan
174 – Michael Scarponi, Doane
184 – Tyson Beauperthuy, Doane
197 – Bradley Antesberger, Doane
285 – Hunter DeJong, Morningside
All-time Concordia GPAC Champions
Matt Atwood – 184 (2016)
Enrique Barajas – 149 (2015)
Issiah Burks – 165 (2023)
Giovanni Castillo – 133 (2018)
Kodie Cole – 133 (2015)
Deandre Chery – 174 (2018); 174 (2019)
Gabe Crawford – 157 (2020)
Tanner Farmer – 285 (2020)
Ceron Francisco – 285 (2016); 285 (2017)
Adam Joseph – 133 (2012)
Kirk Kalisezweski – 165 (2017)
Junior Lule – 157 (2016)
Robert Rivera – 133 (2014)
Andrew Schulte – 141 (2015); 141 (2016)
Jacob Telles – 285 (2021)
Mario Ybarra – 125 (2020)
The 68th annual NAIA Wrestling National Championship is slated to play out March 6-8 at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan., where the event was first held in 2020. Automatic qualifiers for the national championships will be known at the conclusion of the conference tournaments. Concordia traveled three wrestlers to Park City in 2024.
GPAC Wrestling Programs
Briar Cliff
Head Coach: Donaco Watts, 1st season
2024-25 Dual Record: 3-8 overall, 3-5 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Dante Rigal (22nd at 125).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 8th
GPAC Postseason Championships: 0
Concordia
Head Coach: Josh Watts, 1st season
2024-25 Dual Record: 6-2 overall, 6-2 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Creighton Baughman (6th at 141); Hagen Heistand (13th at 149); Steven Barnes (18th at 149); Cole Price (19th at 157); Hunter Weimer (21st at 184); Torrance Keehn (13th at 197).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 2nd
GPAC Postseason Championships: 4 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2020)
Dakota Wesleyan
Head Coach: Martin Mueller, 2nd season
2024-25 Dual Record: 6-4 overall, 5-3 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Zach Zitek (19th at 141); Temuujin Mendbileg (15th at 184).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 5th
GPAC Postseason Championships: 0
Doane
Head Coach: Dana Vote, 6th season
2024-25 Dual Record: 11-2 overall, 8-0 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Hunter Bennett (12th at 125); Brian Peck (25th at 125); Matthew Terrence (9th at 133); Devin Avedissian (15th at 141); Nathan Lendt (2nd at 149); Ben Miller (10th at 157); Benjamin Dobler (19th at 174); Tyson Beauperthuy (4th at 184); Kolton Kammeyer (17th at 184); Bradley Antesberger (2nd at 197); Kasten Grape (6th at 197); Eli Criblez (20th at 285).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 1st
GPAC Postseason Championships: 2 (2022, 2024)
Hastings
Head Coach: Trey Heckadon, 2nd season
2024-25 Dual Record: 2-7 overall, 2-6 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Koen Mattern (12th at 285).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 4th
GPAC Postseason Championships: 0
Midland
Head Coach: Doyle Trout, 2nd season
2024-25 Dual Record: 0-8 overall, 0-8 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Burton Brandt (9th at 197); Zeph Sivels (17th at 285).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 7th
GPAC Postseason Championships: 1 (2018)
Morningside
Head Coach: Rulin Pederson, 2nd season
2024-25 Dual Record: 7-5 overall, 6-2 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Abraham Dirkx (25th at 157); Blaine Christo (24th at 165); Jakob Jerabek (7th at 285).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 3rd
GPAC Postseason Championships: 5 (2011, 2014, 2019, 2021, 2023)
Northwestern
Head Coach: Rik Dahl, 17th season
2024-25 Dual Record: 7-3 overall, 5-3 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Noah Parmelee (25th at 141); Kaleb Lind (24th at 197).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 5th
GPAC Postseason Championships: 0
Waldorf
Head Coach: Ryan Dickinson, 6th season
2024-25 Dual Record: 1-8 overall, 1-7 GPAC
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: Tyler Okada (22nd at 149).
Current GPAC Team Ranking: 9th
GPAC Postseason Championships: 1st season as GPAC member