Jason Walker, University of Providence Sports Information
WICHITA, Kans. - Three University of Providence wrestlers are All-Americans after their performances at the NAIA National Wrestling Championships that wrapped up Saturday night in Wichita, Kansas.
KC Buday, Sawyer Hobbs, and Bridger Hall earned All-America status after the three stayed alive late Friday and wrestled deep into Saturday. Buday is now a 2x-All-American after placing fourth this weekend. Buday fell in the semifinals to Austin Harris of Life University (Georgia) by decision 8-3 to slip into the consolation bracket where he defeated Noel Orozco of Eastern Oregon in sudden victory. Buday, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA at 285-lbs., then lost to No. 5-ranked Gabe Jacobs from Southeastern Florida. Buday finishes the year with a 25-3 overall record.
Hobbs won his first two matches before losing to Grandview's (Iowa) Ben Lee who is ranked second in the country. Hobbs entered the weekend as the No. 10-ranked wrestler at 184-lbs. He came back in the consolation bracket to beat Isaiha Casto from West Virginia Tech by an 8-5 decision. Hobbs next defeated rival Austin Vanek from MSU-Northern by a fall in 2:07. He would then fall to top-ranked Eric Vermillion from Indiana Tech in a 5-4 decision before placing fifth in the country with a 15-7 major decision over J.D. Perez, ranked 3rd, from Ottawa (Kansas).
Hall, ranked 25th at 165-lbs., opened with an opening round win before falling to No. 4-ranked Cole Smith from Cumberland (Tenn.) Hall then battled back in the consolation bracket with wins over Cole Maschman (Hastings, Neb.), Adam El Damir (Keiser University, Florida), teammate Jordan Komac (8th ranked), and suffering losses to Reinhardt (Georgia) wrestler Matt Jenkins (ranked No. 11) and Shadric Slone of Campbellsville (Kentucky) to place eighth in the country.
Other Argos did well at the national tournament in addition to the three All-Americans. Joel Avila, ranked 8th at 133-lbs., went 2-2 in Kansas, Aden Graves who entered the weekend ranked 25th at 157-lbs., and was 2-2. Jordan Komac was ranked No-8 going into nationals and went 2-2 as well at 165-lbs. Liam Swanson, No-14 ranked at 197-lbs., finished nationals 3-2 after losing in the first round before reeling off three consecutive wins.
The Argos finished with 45 points, placing 10th out of 58 teams in the country.
