The fact I love most about NAIA wrestling is there is no waiting around. There is no easing into the season. First tournaments of the year, we're going to see some of the top wrestlers in the nation going at it. Look at it as an advantage or a disadvantage wrestlers see one another multiple times throughout the season. NAIA All Americans & NAIA qualifiers in every weight class.
Picture guide: Name, School, What I would personally seed the wrestler for this tournament. ****IT IS NOT THEIR RANKING**** (I decided to do it this way since there are no current NAIA rankings at the moment & it helps to visualize my position on seeds)
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| 125 lbs |
Holy cow is there a ton of talent in this potential bracket. We're talking three All Americans, a total of five All American awards among them. Seven returning NAIA qualifiers. You place in the top eight here buddy boy, you've earned it. The obvious #1 seed here is two time NAIA finalist Brandon Orum of Life who after winning an NAIA title in 2021, finished at the NAIA runner-up last season. Our #2 seed? Two time NAIA All American Isaac Crowell of Southeastern who was 5th this past season after taking 7th in 2021. That is our probable final although I do see a good semi between Crowell & who I would give the #3 see Dennis McNeal of Brewton Parker. McNeal was 7th in the NAIA championships last season. Rounding out the rest of our seeds, I'd give #4 to home crowd favorite Austin Franco who finished one match shy of NAIA All American after spending the latter half of the season ranked 8th. I give Anthony Hughes of Marian the #5 seed over Nathan Orum of Indiana Tech as Hughes was ranked higher by season's end last year. Lastly an NAIA qualifier I give Shay Horton of Thomas More the #7 seed over Alex Slattman of Lourdes, one of the better wrestlers in the nation to not qualify for the NAIA's.
Either Gimson getting knocked off in route to the finals? I'd place 99.9% on no. What I do think though is that Gage Hudson 8th in the nation in 2021, who did not qualify for the NAIA's will plow through everyone in this bracket whose last name isn't Gimson. The one exception maybe Nate Becker of Lindsey Wilson, my pick to finish 4th.
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| 141 lbs |
Another loaded bracket, full of talent. I'm gonna give the #1 seed to Julian Hernandez of Life & the #2 to Bryce Nickel of Cumberlands, but what a magnificent final this will be. Last season two time All American Nickel edged Hernandez in the dual in sudden victory. Then at the NAIA championships, for 5th place, it was Hernandez who edged Nickel in a tiebreaker. Kyle Kantola of Indiana Tech, 8th in the nation last season, is our obvious #3 seed. Just slightly behind him, R12 finisher Kael Brisker of Southeastern at #4. I'd give Marian's Logan Wager the #5 seed as he was a qualifier within the rankings & the #6 to Patrick Gould, a qualifier for Keiser. Is there someone in this bracket who could potentially be the monkey wrench? I'll give a maybe to Montreat's Ben Hafsia, who may not beat any of the other six listed necessarily, but who I can see placing in the top 8.
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| 149 lbs |
My gawd, from top to bottom this might as well be the NAIA championships. Among the field we have an NAIA championship, an NAIA runner-up & altogether four All Americans, with six All American honors. In the words of Ben Stein, "Wow!"
As to the #1 seed, I'd go with two time NAIA runner-up Ryan Moore of Thomas More. The #2 seed Brevin Balmaceda of Life who was 3rd at last year's NAIA championships. #3, Andreus Bond of Southeastern an NAIA champion from 2021, who was 4th last season. #4 Sal Silva of Southeastern, 5th in the NAIA championships, who was also 5th at RENO. #6 Chasen Brown of Cumberlands, a two time NAIA qualifier. As to seeds #7, #8 & #9? Not 100% sure how I'd wrap those up exactly, but I do know they'd go to Corey Cavanaugh of Indiana Tech, Landon Chambers of Montreat & Seth Johnson of Marian regardless of what order I put them in.
Now imagine if you will....
Our potential semi-finals...
More vs Silva
Balmaceda Vs Bond
This is going to be good.
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| 157 lbs |
This weight class interest me for a variety of reasons. First and foremost the #1 seed here has to go to Jack Bass of Life. A two time All American, Bass was 5th in the NAIA in 2021, earning runner-up honors last season. I would give the #2 seed to Indiana Tech's Nate (why I wrote Nick above I have no idea) Wheeler. Wheeler spent a majority of last season ranked #1 in the country as he also entered the NAIA's the #1 seed. Unfortunately things fell apart for him & he finished one match shy of All American honors. Very anxious to see how he fares in this tournament. Before he would potentially meet Bass in the finals, he would have a good challenge out of another R12 wrestler from last season, Taquel Young of Montreat, who I have picked for the #3 seed. #4 I give to two time NAIA qualifier O'Brien Black of Cumberlands, with the #5 seed going to Steve Villalobos of Life & the #6 seed going to Trace Braun of Southeastern. Now as I say this, I'm anxious to see how Braun shapes up this tournament. With NAIA champ brother Gage also returning, I visualize Braun making vast improvement. Nothing more than a premonition. We'll see if the gut is right.
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| 165 lbs |
Here we really get to test the NAIA against NCAA DI. Bellarmine being the sole DI team competing in the Patriot Open.Their best wrestler, Devan Hendricks, who among his victories last season, SOCON champion R.J. Mosley of Gardner Webb. Now we see how he fares against some of the top NAIA competition. I give the #2 seed here to Elliott Rodgers of Marian, who was 6th in the NAIA last season. The #3 seed to Wyatt Kirkham a two time NAIA qualifier & the #4 seed to another two time NAIA qualifier Weston Milnes of Cumberlands. The difference here? Kirkham ended the season ranked higher than Milnes. Giving the #5 seed to Christian Richer of Central Baptist, as I see #6, #7 & #8 being divided up by who I consider to be some of the best in the NAIA yet to qualify for the national tournament. Easton Giffin of Montreat, Kailan Keith of Thomas More & Mitchell Thompson of Truett-McConnell.
*NOTE* - David Rubio wrestles for Southeastern now doesn't he! I even noted it when I did my preview for Southeastern this year. Yet when I was analyzing the weights, I forgot that he was no longer at Corban. His transfer slipped my mind. Please forgive me. In this case, I'd actually put Rubio, who was 5th in the NAIA at the #2 seed, sliding everyone else down one spot. A rematch of last year's fifth place match in the semis to look forward to!
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| 174 lbs |
The drama continues to unfold at 174 lbs. I'm going with Stephen Kelle of Southeastern as our #1 seed & if he's able to maintain it, I have absolutely no objection if he ends up being named wrestler of the tournament. Our #2 & #3 seeds go to two wrestlers I would imagine are bound and determined to redeem themselves after disappointing ends to their seasons last year. Life's Asher Eichert was an NAIA runner-up in 2021, but finished one match shy of All American last season. Noah Clary of Lourdes, 8th in 2021, was also one match shy of All American last season. For the record, he also finished one match shy in 2020. #4 I'd go with two time NAIA qualifier Jarod Swank & wrapping up #5 & #6 Hunter Gasper of Indiana Tech & Isaiah Casto of WVU Tech.
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| 184 lbs |
Ain't nobody touching two time NAIA champion Eric Vermillion of Indiana Tech. Sure shot guarantees are few & far between in a tournament like this one, but here you could feel very safe with your bet. #2 seed I'll give to Lucas DeSilva of Brewton Parker, 6th in the nation last season. #3 & #4 seeds going to NAIA qualifiers Harold Gilmore of Cumberlands & Will Speight of Lourdes.
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| 197 lbs |
Lindsey Wilson's Trevor Lawson is not only this season, but in the recent history of NAIA wrestling, one of the best wrestlers yet to win a national title. He's been 3rd-2nd-3rd the last three NAIA championships. If he is to win a national title this season, he'll have to defeat one of the NAIA's very best, Zane Lanham who won the NAIA title last season. (He was 3rd in 2021). With so many matches to look forward to this tournament, this is certainly one of them. A strong #3 here is Daulton Mayer of Thomas More, 7th in the NAIA last season. #4 I give to Cumberlands Gabe Jacobs, who has twice been R12 in the NAIA championships. What better place than his own home tournament to make some noise & project himself out of the top 12 and into the top 8? #5 & #6 seeds going to NAIA qualifiers Trillyon Fils Aime of Southeastern & Kyle Scott of Rochester. #7 one of the better wrestlers in the nation yet to qualify for the NAIA's, Seth Williamson of Montreat.
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| HWT |
Austin Harris a former NCAA DI qualifier for Oklahoma State is now at Life. I found this out only a few minutes ago, but had to include it as it completely changes the NAIA field at HWT. Gage Braun returning champ has got himself a very worthy opponent. In fact this whole bracket it loaded. Ethan Powell of Truett McConnell, Carlos Figueroa of Lindsey Wilson & Braydon Erb of Indiana Tech. These are who I believe will be our place-winners.
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