JT1Wrestle Takes A Look At Williams Baptist 2026-2027

 

The Eagles return their NAIA qualifier from last season, plus they have another tough wrestler on their team who I think is going to do very well this season. 

184
Matt Russell

Matt Russell was a wildcard NAIA qualifier for the Eagles last season. 

149
Caiden Saavedra

Very excited to see what Caiden Saavedra will do for the Eagles this season.  5th at both the Pepsi Patriot Open & the Lucha Open, he won the Viking Open & finished 2nd at the Mustang Invitational a year ago. 

JT1Wrestle Takes A Look At William Penn 2026-2027

 

One of my pee-wee wrestling coaches Paul Graham coached at William Penn for a while.  Years later, one of his wrestlers, Aron Scott coached at William Penn. After him, another from his youth club, Drew Sams, who is now going to head Graceland. Another coach of mine was the Statesmen's last NCAA Division III All-American/finalist & another of Graham's pupils from his youth club, Ryan Groom was a blood-rounder years ago. Matter of fact I've known a lot of wrestlers over the years that have competed for William Penn. Many from the youth club that Paul Graham ran, including his son Brandon who was a three-time NAIA qualifier. It certainly makes we want to see the Statesmen succeed.  As of the time this was written, a new coach has not been named. Really hoping whoever it is, they can bring WPU wrestling back to its glory days.  There was a time when the Statesmen were one of those programs sending their entire team to nationals.  May the future reflect the past. 


The Statesmen lose Lane Scorpil, who I was really happy to see make the Heart of America (HOA) finals last season.  Kid had some bad luck in his career.  Started off competing for Iowa Wesleyan & had to go through all of the crap of finding a new school/new program when the entire school closed its doors for good.  On top of that, had to deal with injuries. Seeing him make the HOA finals & have that highlight was rewarding. 

149
Brody Brisker

5th in the HOA last season, I believe that whoever our new WPU head coach is, his standout star next season is going to be Brody Brisker. 

JT1Wrestle Takes A Look At Wilberforce 2026-2027

 

Excited about the addition of Bulldog wrestling.  An HBCU that will be led by Kyle R Jones.  Don't know of any recruits or transfers yet, but I have a feeling Wilberforce will be a force within the NAIA soon enough.  Fact of the matter is, while we do have Defiance, & Rio Grande, there are very few NAIA schools with wrestling the further east you head.  Swayze & I have talked about it a lot.  This could be a major advantage for Wilberforce, which announced earlier they had 25 available scholarships.  Could pick up some tough recruits out of Ohio & Pennsylvania that we normally don't see compete in the NAIA. 

JT1Wrestle Takes A Look at Westcliff 2026-2027

 

I think I've made it pretty obvious how I feel about the discontinuation of California Baptist wrestling. As someone that constantly tries make positives out of negatives, I would love to see some of the Lancer's talent compete for Westcliff this year. That would really make my day.  It's what, a 45 minute drive?  Love to see a southern California school have some great success this year.  

The Warrior had an NAIA qualifier last year & he returns! 

125
Chris Calderon

Chris Calderon was 6th in the Cascade Collegiate Conference last season.