WHAC Qualifies 27 for NAIA Men's Wrestling Championship

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - (Complete Release) - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the qualifiers for the 2024 NAIA Wrestling National Championships hosted by Visit Wichita at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kan. The 67th edition of the annual event will see a format change where six sessions will be held across three days. The action begins on Thursday, February 29th and concludes on Saturday, March 2nd.

The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) saw 27 wrestlers qualify for the National Championships. Indiana Tech led the way with nine qualifiers, followed by Marian with seven, Lourdes with five, Cornerstone with three, Rochester with two and Siena Heights with one. Trevor Marsman of Cornerstone is the highest-finishing WHAC returner from a season ago. He captured a third place finish at 125 pounds in 2023. 

Each conference tournament was awarded automatic bids per weight class based on the final regular-season rating, which can be seen HERE. Each conference is awarded automatic berths based on the number of wrestlers ranked in each weight class. Every conference receives a minimum of one automatic bid per weight class, which will be awarded to the tournament champions, even if the conference did not have any wrestlers ranked in the final regular-season rating. If a conference does not have an individual ranked in the final top 25, an allocation will be deducted from the original 25 to ensure that each conference is represented at each weight class at the National Championships.

After the conference tournaments concluded, a 16-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members met to select the remaining national at-large qualifiers. In total, 36 student-athletes were selected by at-large classification. The seeding and preliminary brackets will be announced on NAIA.org by 5 p.m. (CST) on Friday, February 23.

WHAC Qualifiers

125 - Jeffrey Bailey, Cornerstone (Automatic Qualifier)
125 - Trevor Marsman, Cornerstone (Automatic Qualifier)
125 - Allen Calderon, Indiana Tech (Automatic Qualifier)
125 - Nick Rodriguez, Lourdes (Automatic Qualifier)

133 - Devan Johnson, Cornerstone (At-Large)
133 - Anthony Hughes, Marian (At-Large)
133 - Cole McKinley, Lourdes (Automatic Qualifier)
133 - Randy Frailey, Siena Heights (Automatic Qualifier)

141 - Logan Wagner, Marian (Automatic Qualifier)

149 - Mike Loney, Indiana Tech (At-Large)
149 - Aundre Beatty, Marian (Automatic Qualifier)
149 - Seth Johnson, Marian  (At-Large)

157 - Elijah Chacon, Indiana Tech (Automatic Qualifier)
157 - Nate Wheeler, Indiana Tech (Automatic Qualifier)

165 - Jonathan Kervin, Indiana Tech (Automatic Qualifier)
165 - Derick Coleman, Lourdes (Automatic Qualifier)
165 - Elliott Rodgers, Marian (Automatic Qualifier)

174 - Landon Buchanan, Indiana Tech  (At-Large)
174 - Sam York, Indiana Tech (Automatic Qualifier)
174 - Noah Hollendonner, Marian (Automatic Qualifier)

184 - William Speight, Lourdes (Automatic Qualifier)

197 - Nathan Critchfield, Indiana Tech (Automatic Qualifier)
197 - Carter Kroll, Lourdes (Automatic Qualifier)
197 - Kyle Scott, Rochester (Automatic Qualifier)

285 - Braydon Erb, Indiana Tech (Automatic Qualifier)
285 - Excell Brookes, Marian (At-Large)
285 - Jackson Schenk, Rochester (Automatic Qualifier)