NAIA Prelim Brackets Are Released
“Preliminary brackets for the 2021 NAIA Wrestling National Championships have been released by the national office. The championships, hosted by Visit Wichita, are set to begin on Friday, March 5 with session I at 9 a.m. central time.”
The 64th annual event will consist of ten weight classes and result in one national champion per weight and one team champion based on individual wrestler finishes. Grapplers finishing in the top eight of each double elimination bracket earn NAIA All-American honors.
The brackets are subject to change and are not considered official until ratified by the NAIA-Wrestling Coaches’ Association Bracketing Committee. Official brackets are planned for release on Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m. CT on www.naia.org.
This isn’t a Fan’s Guide or a Preview … but it is designed to help you identify former SE High School hammers that are now competing in college and to see where our SE NAIA programs have their wrestlers in the brackets.
Teams (# of qualifier):
Brewton-Parker (GA) - 2
Cumberland (TN) - 8
Cumberlands (KY) - 8
Life (GA) - 12
Montreat (NC) - 1
Reinhardt (GA) - 12
Southeastern (FL) - 6
Truett McConnell (GA) - 4
Life has the #3 and #4 seeds at 125 with Brandon Orum and Randy McCray. Orum shares the 2nd quarter of the bracket with his brother Nathan who is now up at Indiana Tech as well as Ivan Arguello of Reinhardt. The Orum’s are from Camden (GA), McCray wrestled at Miami Southridge (FL), and Arguello wrestled at Pepperell (GA).
Nathan Orum gets former Gulf Shores (AL) hammer Gage Hudson in the opening round … Hudson now wrestles for University of the Cumberlands. Southeastern’s Isaac Crowell is the #6 seed and could get McCray in the quarters. The #2 seed is Lucas Nelson - another hammer from Camden County (GA). Nelson is now a Senior at Brewton-Parker. Looks like we could have several SE hammers on the podium at 125.
The top quarter at 133 has former Fleming Island hammer Xavier Sampsel who is now wrestling at Graceland (in Iowa). He gets top seed Gimson in the opening round - the winner gets former Moody (AL) hammer Michael Land (yep - Cory Land’s older brother) who is now at Reinhardt.
Former North Carolina high school hammers Esco Walker is the #5 seed for Cumberland and Braden Wharton of Montreat is the #9 seed. Reinhardt has two entries at 133 with former Central Carroll hammer CJ Shadinger as the #11 seed.
Trent Leon of Reinhardt comes in as the #5 seed and could get University of Cumberlands Bryce Nickel in the 2nd round. Southeastern freshman (and former Palmetto Ridge - FL hammer) AJ Ayala makes the field and will get #4 seed Blake Mulkey of Marian in the opening round. Life’s Tyree Johnson is the #3 seed and (assuming he wins) will get Chase Brown out of University of Cumberlands (and Knoxville Halls - TN) or Geowel Silvestre of Truett McConnell (and Somerset - FL).
Trevor Burdick of Reinhardt (and Sonoraville - GA) comes in as the #11 seed and will take on Freeman or Henneman. Another former Georgia high school hammer - Keyshawn Laws of Cumberland (and Central Gwinnett High School gets the #2 seed Kendon Lee of Grand View.
Former Flagler Palm Coast hammer (and current Cumberland Phoenix) Anthony Maia comes in as the #2 seed. He gets fellow former Florida High School Hammer Andreus Bond of Southeastern (and Brandon) in the opening round. Reinhardt has a pair of former SE high school hammers in the bracket as well. Curtis Doctor (from Miami Sunset) is on the top side and draws former Weaver (AL) hammer Nick Souder in the opening round … Souder is now at Williams Baptist.
Jody McAlsister, the other Reinhardt Eagle in the bracket, come in as the #7 seed. McAlister wrestled at Morgan County High School in Georgia before he went to Newberry (and has landed at Reinhardt). Another former Georgia hammer - Denver Stonecheck is the #5 seed for Life. He will get the winner of Mitchell and Eads.
Reinhardt’s Nolan Saxton is the #1 seed at 157 and he shares the top quarter of the bracket with University of Cumberlands Jacob McNutt. Life’s Julian Hernandez will have Thomas Stevenson of Hastings in the opening round.
#3 Gio Bonilla is at Grand View, but he is a former Florida hammer (Osceola High School). Bonilla will wrestle Ben Peters of Briar Cliff in the opening round. Life’s Jack Bass draws former Georgia high school hammer Kevin Almond in the opening round. Bass is seeded #6 and Almond is now wrestling at Midway. Another former Georgia hammer - Cole Luallen (Trion High School) is in the bracket for Reinhardt … he will meet the winner of Ida and #2 seed Smallwood.
Just a few SE connections at 165. Sid Ohl is the #4 seed for Life. Reinhardt’s Cole Tenety comes in as the #11 seed. Tenety wrestled at North Forsyth (GA) in high school … he will wrestle Elliott Rodgers of Marian in the opening round. And Kyle Kirkham of Southeastern draws the #10 seed Chris Paulsen of Briar Cliff. Kirkham wrestled for Jensen Beach (FL) in high school.
174 has a few connections to the SE. Former Blackman (TN) hammer (and now wrestling for Cumberland) Matthew Sells is in the 2nd quarter of the bracket with Luke Young and Jarrod Swink. Truett McConnell has Ian James in the 3rd quarter of the bracket. James, a former West Oak (SC) hammer, will get #3 seed Armon Fayyazi of Vanguard in the round of 16. Williams Baptist’s Isaiah Sellers draws the #6 seed Sallah of Campbellsville. Sellers wrestled at Kendrick High School in Georgia. Life’ Asher Eichert is the #10 seed and will wait on the winner of #7 Muhill and Doyle.
Life’s Baker Hadwan is in the top quarter of the bracket with the top seed Riley Jaramillo of St Mary. Former Florida hammer Niko Perovic (Gulf Coast High School) now wrestles at Williams Baptist and will take on Lindsey Wilson’s Tyler Hall, the #4 seed, in the opening round. Hans Evatt of Truett McConnell (formerly of Woodland) will await the winner of Perovic and Hall.
Another former Camden County hammer - Myles Starke of Life gets #3 seed Ben Lee of Gran View in the opening round. Kohl Drake of Southeastern (and formerly of Newsome High School in Florida) draws the #6 seed Drew Sams of Graceland. University of Cumberlands freshman Gabe Jacobs (another former Florida hammer from Gulf Breeze) draws Cameron Young-Leggett of Ottawa in the opening round.
It is nice to see former Homewood High School (Alabama) hammer Carlos Figueroa in the 197 lb. bracket as a sophomore for Lindsey Wilson. Figueroa will wrestle Dayton Brown of Missouri Valley first. Life’s Zane Lanham is the #4 seed at 197 and will draw Corban’s Levi Perry in the round of 16. Antonio Stewart - another former Camden hammer - is seeded #3 at 197 for Reinhardt. He gets Payson Dirk of Dickinson State in the opening round.
Former Georgia High School hammer and current Brewton-Parker heavyweight Joel Faglier draws #9 seed Vernon Willis of Indiana Tech in the opening round. Reinhardt adds another to the mix in Nic Jarvis. Jarvis, a former Colquitt County hammer, draws Bethany’s Trey Mason in the opening round at 285. We are ready to watch Aaron Johnson of University of the Cumberlands climb to the top step at nationals. Johnson, formerly of Kennesaw Mountain High School, is the #3 seed and has made the podium before … this is the year to claim the top step.
Ethan Powell of Truett McConnell shares the round of 16 with Johnson, but for the former West Oak hammer to get Johnson he will need to beat Brendan Shelton of Central Methodist in the round of 32. Southeastern’s Jesse Pryor, of Florida 3A power Riverdale, is the #11 seed and will await the winner of Pierce and Orozco.