Ceron Francisco has left a lasting impression upon Concordia and its wrestling program. The heavyweight from Fayetteville, N.C., finished as a national runner up. Teammate Ken Burkhardt Jr. also earned All-America honors.
Ken Burkhardt Jr. and Ceron Francisco are in pursuit of national titles at the 2017 NAIA Wrestling National Championships. The two senior stars have helped the Bulldogs land at No. 15 nationally heading into Saturday.
A group of nine Bulldogs will take to the mats at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kan., for the 2017 NAIA Wrestling National Championships. Three of Concordia's qualifiers are returning All-Americans.
Ceron Francisco has gone from a fascination – largely because of his stature and physical appearance separated him – to an obvious fan favorite and to one of the most respected student-athletes at Concordia.
The GPAC champion Bulldogs raked in honors from the conference on Wednesday. Ceron Francisco collected GPAC wrestler of the year accolades and Andrew Nicola was named the conference coach of the year.
Ceron Francisco and Kirk Kaliszewski captured NAIA North Qualifier tittles while leading Concordia to its third-straight North/GPAC tournament championship. The Bulldogs outgunned Morningside by 10 team points.
Concordia wrestling has already locked up a GPAC dual three-peat. Now it hopes to win the NAIA North Group Qualifier for the third year in a row. Twelve Bulldogs will compete in Crete at the regional event on Saturday.
Foster Bunce upset No. 4 Christian Mesa last week while helping Concordia to its third-straight outright GPAC dual championship. In response, the GPAC named Bunce its wrestler of the week.
For the third-straight year, the Concordia University wrestling program has won the outright GPAC dual title. The Bulldogs dominated Hastings, 28-6, on Thursday as they celebrated senior night.
The 11th-ranked Bulldogs hope to lock up an outright GPAC dual championship for the third-straight season when they honor 11 seniors as part of Thursday night's clash with Hastings. Concordia has won 20-straight GPAC duals.
The 2015-16 season was another step forward for the Concordia wrestling program, which finished eighth at the national championships and again dominated the GPAC.
Said Schulte of his national title, "It made sense to me why I sacrificed and trained so many hours of hard work for a moment of being No. 1. That was special to me." Read on for more of Schulte's thoughts.
Junior Andrew Schulte made history on Saturday, becoming the first Bulldog ever to win a national title. As a team Concordia placed eighth at the national championships.
Without even visiting campus, Jr Lule arrived at Concordia, a place where California junior college transfers like himself have thrived. Lule now enters the national championships on a roll.
“Don’t dwell on the results. Stay focused on the process.” That’s the company line continually regurgitated by members of the Concordia wrestling program. It’s that sort of attitude that has provided a foundation for the Bulldogs’ reversal of fortunes.
In yet another dominant outing in the conference, No. 7 Concordia clinched its second-straight GPAC dual title by way of a 32-7 win over Morningside on Feb. 11, 2016.
By just about any measure, the 2014-15 season marked the most successful in the history of Concordia University wrestling. In head coach Dana Vote’s third season, the Bulldogs went a perfect 7-0 in GPAC duals, outscoring their conference rivals by a combined total of 242-59.
Consider the time spent at Santa Ana College a crossroads. Muddled in southern California traffic jams, Andrew Schulte had plenty of time to ponder his next move.
The 2015 NAIA Wrestling National Championships came to a head in the afternoon on Saturday with four Bulldogs locking up spots on the medal stand as All-Americans.
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