Hosted this year by defiance not all 8 teams will be wrestling one another this weekend, but nonetheless, there will be 17 duals taking place here at the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference duals. Team wise, Indiana Tech comes in at #9 & Marian comes in at #20. 30 wrestlers ranked within the top 25 within the NAIA.
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| #6 Tyler Hisey #17 Trevor Hisey #25 Jordan Rodriguez #11 Jeff Bailey 125 |
The challenging thing about the NAIA is that when teams have more than one talent at a weight class you never know who they're going to through in for the dual. With the Hisey brothers, the Warriors of Indiana Tech have two guys they can trust throughout these duals on Saturday. Tyler Hisey, a hopeful for All-American was an NAIA qualifier last season. Should he get the nod, I'm anxious to see him against both Jordan Rodriguez & Jeff Bailey. Rodriguez is a transfer of Lake Erie, where in the NCAA D2 ranks, he placed 5th at the Super Region II way back in 2022. He's been among some of the Storm's best the past few years, now finding a new home at Cleary. Jeff Bailey, a back-to-back 4th place finisher in the WHAC I'm sure would love for the opportunity to see if he couldn't knock off Tyler Hisey. On the same hand, should he draw Trevor, he better watch his own back. Clearly & Cornerstone are not wrestling one another in these duals.
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| #5 Anthony Hughes #17 Landon Bertsch #21 Nick Rodriguez U.R. Randy Frailey 133 |
2nd & 3rd thus far in the WHAC, returning off of a redshirt, Nick Rodriguez is going to have to prove himself against the Knights of Marian one way or the other Saturday if he wants to challenge for this year's conference title. 4th place NAIA All-American Anthony Hughes of course would be the tougher of the two, but it'd still be one Hell of a good win if Rodriguez were to upset NAIA qualifier Landon Bertsch.
I'm no Jiminy Cricket, but I've been known to wish upon a star a handful of times in my life. Injuries seem to follow him too much, too often. If we're talking potential & talent, what the guy as inside of him, I'll simply point at the fact that he was a WHAC champ in 2024. He won't get the chance to prove himself against Marian, because Siena Heights doesn't wrestle Marian in these duals. Against Rodriguez though? I'll say this. I KNOW he's better than U.R. & I hope he shows us that this weekend.
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| #7 Logan Wagner #6 Cole McKinley #10 Connor Kimbrough 141 |
I've been saying that Logan Wagner is the best wrestler in all of the NAIA yet to All-American for a long time now. A two-time WHAC champ, he's been R12 twice in his career & just take a look at this resume. Who hasn't he beaten? Call me Lonestar, because that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
With that said, this is wrestling. What you did don't matter. Yesterday is gone. We found that out this weekend at the NCAA Division I national duals when Antrell Taylor, a national champion got majored 9-1 by an unknown sophomore. Every time you step out on the mat, you have to prove yourself & Logan Wagner is going to get two opportunities to do just that against two extremely tough opponents.
Fellow NAIA R12'er Cole McKinley, who was a WHAC runner-up last season wants that top 8 status end of '26 every bit as much as Wagner does. Then of course we have Connor Kimbrough, who won the WHAC title last season with a wild 14-10 victory over McKinley as Wager was redshirting.
While McKinley & Kimbrough will probably go to war multiple times this season, Indiana Tech & Lourdes do not meet this Saturday.
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| #10 Mike Loney #18 Marlin Williams #24 Ian Boden 149 |
This happens to me everyone once in a while. I try my best to keep up with as much collegiate wrestling as I possibly can, but every once in a while I come across wrestlers that I'm not familiar with. I'm familiar with Mikey Loney. He was 3rd in the WHAC two seasons ago. Marlin Williams & Ian Boden? These guys are new to me & I suppose seeing how Loney will most likely face both of them, I'll become familiar with them this weekend. They do not wrestle each other however.
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| #5 Vinnie Abbey #12 Jeff Dunasky #13 Loudin Stradling 157 |
If you're looking for the best matches of the WHAC duals, I'd most certainly check out the 157 lbs matches when Indiana Tech duals Marian, Indian tech duals Cleary & Marian duals Clearly. We're going to see three really good matches.
Both Vinnie Abbey & Loudin Stradling finished off 2024-2025 one match shy of being NAIA All-Americans. Abbey here at 157, while Stradling down at 149. Stradling was a WHAC champ last year at 149, and to see if he has the potential to win another title up at 157, he'll be tested against both Abbey, as well as Jeff Dunasky. Looking forward to these matches.
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| #2 Jonathan Kervin #21 Braden Getz #23 Ayden Wilson 165 |
A two-time WHAC champion, who won an NAIA national title in 2024, finishing as the NAIA runner-up this past season, Jonathan Kervin isn't going to do anything short of absolutely dominate this weekend. The sun will come up tomorrow, and that too is a fact.
The storyline here at 165 is between two young wrestlers looking to climb the rankings ladder here in the NAIA. Ayden Wilson had some good wins last season in route to coming within one match shy of his first medal at the prestigious Missouri Valley Invitational. Anxious to see how the match between he and Braden Getz turns out.
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| #9 Joe Lashuay # 10 Jevian Ross #18 Noah Hollendonner #23 Landon Buchanan 174 |
Some interesting things bound to take place here at 174 lbs. Sorta chaos at the moment & things look to be at least somewhat sorted out come the end of Saturday night. At the moment Jevian Ross is quite a few places ahead of teammate Noah Hollendonner in the rankings. The former NJCAA standout for Triton spent some time at St Thomas before transferring to Marian. Hollendonner was a WHAC champ himself in 2023. Either or will get a shot at knocking off Joe Lashuay who was one match shy of Missouri Valley Invitational placewinner status last season. Ross was 7th there himself a few years ago. Either or will also get Landon Buchanan of Indiana Tech as well.
Cornerstone & Indiana Tech do not meet this weekend.
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| #7 Nathan Critchfield #12 Clay Guenin 197 |
I started doing articles for collegiate wrestling during the 2001-2002 season. I don't think there's a year gone by where I haven't written about talent from Mount Carmel, Illinois. Man has that place produced some talented wrestlers over the years. Nathan Critchfield is one of them. A WHAC champ in 2024, who was also one match shy of being an All-American.
Truth to be known, this matchup Vs Clay Guenin has a very high probability of being our WHAC 197 lbs finals in a few months as well. In fact, I'd bet on it. Guenin was a WHAC runner-up last season.
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