CORVALIS, Ore. – Six wrestlers from the University of Providence men's wrestlers have qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, the Cascade Collegiate Conference
announced on Sunday.
Joel Avila (125 lbs.),
Eli Walston (133 lbs.),
Chris Mesa (141 lbs.),
Brock Rodrigues (149 lbs.),
Jordan Komac (165 lbs.), and
KC Buday have all qualified for the tournament, which will begin on March 5.
"Having six kids make Nationals in a year like this is a success," head coach
Steve Komac said. "I'm really proud of the hard work these kids put in this season given all the circumstances. It's a great accomplishment."
With their six selections, the Argos are sending the most student-athletes to the National Tournament out of all the members of the CCC. Arizona Christian, Eastern Oregon, Montana State-Northern and Vanguard are all sending five. Corban is sending three wrestlers, Southern Oregon is sending two, and Warner Pacific is sending one.
"The CCC is a very tough conference," Komac said. "To have the most individual wrestlers out of all the programs in the conference, that is an incredible accomplishment."
The University of Providence led the way with six selections while, Eastern Oregon University, Arizona Christian University, MSU-Northern and Vanguard University each have five. Corban University, Southern Oregon University and Warner Pacific University rounded out the talented group with three, two and one respectively.
As a whole, the CCC has 32 allocations for the National Tournament, and made the decision not to hold a conference tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the league decided to choose their qualifiers through a combination of national rankings and selection by head coaches. Wrestlers that were ranked in the Top 15 of their weight class in the latest national poll were automatic qualifiers, with the rest being determined by the head coaches.
Komac plans to ramp up the energy for the next two weeks to prepare the team for the competition they'll face.
"We're going to work pretty hard this week," Komac said. "We're going to try polish some things out throughout the week. We'll dial it back a couple of days before to recover."
