Even a long-time NAIA fan might be confused on how the qualifaction process works for the national tournament. 

Let’s make it as simple as possible. The top 25 at each weight, according to the final coaches’ poll (https://www.naia.org/sports/mwrest/2022-23/Releases/7_National) will earn a bid for their respective conference. However, at least one wrestler from each conference will qualify. If a conference doesn’t have any ranked wrestlers, a spot will be deducted from the lowest-ranked wrestler in the coaches’ poll. 

For example, the Sooner/AMC conference doesn’t have a ranked athlete at 125 pounds, so #25 in the coaches’ poll, Hunter Bennett of Doane, no longer earned a bid for his conference. Now only one will automatically qualify from the GPAC, since Daniel Vargas of Doane is the only other ranked 125 in the conference at that weight. 

Also, if a ranked athlete doesn’t enter the conference bracket, the bracket will lose that bid. For example, #17 Anthony Hughes of Marian did not enter the Wolverine-Hoosier Conference tournament, so instead of three automatic bids, only ranked Trevor Marsman of Cornerstone and Nick Rodriguez of Lourdes earned spots. After all conference tournaments conclude, the rankings committee will decide three national wild cards at each weight. This will make an even 28 competitors in each bracket at the NAIA Championships. Those wild cards will be announced Feb. 21. 

The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference was the only league that staged its qualifying tournament this past weekend — and it was great action. 

Three brackets stuck out: 157, 184, and 197.  

Three qualifying spots were on the line at 157, where unranked Thade Radosa of Cornerstone snagged a spot by outplacing Flo’s #11 Elijah Chacon of Indiana Tech, who placed fifth. 

The 184-pound bracket had the top trio — #1 Eric Vermillion of Indiana Tech, #4 Sam Osho of Marian and #11 William Speight of Lourdes. Speight upset Osho in the semis, but Vermillion triumphed in overtime against Speight in the finals 4-2. 

All three will likely have high seeds at nationals. Lastly, 197 was the deepest weight, qualifying five athletes with Jack Servies of Marian winning the title. 

Indiana Tech had four champions compared to Marian’s five, but depth made the difference in the team title with Indiana Tech winning 165-161.5.

There are seven more conference tournaments taking place this weekend, but the Cascade and Appalachian will be the deepest, earning 50 and 40 spots, respectively. The Cascade Conference almost doubles four other conferences in the NAIA. At 174, a whopping eight wrestlers automatically qualify, which is the most in any weight, led by #2 Nakoda Siegel of MSU-Northern, a returning All-American. 197 will have a difficult seeding meeting, with seven spots on the line, although NR Andrew Herrera of Southern Oregon looks to steal a spot. 165 has #4 Keller Rock, #5 David Rubio, #6 Rysan Leong, and #8 Jordan Komac. 

You can watch this tournament live Saturday on Flowrestling.

In the past, the Appalachian Conference has been dominated by Reinhardt, which has won five conference titles in a row. Yet, a large part of the Mid-South conference has migrated into the AAC for wrestling, most notably #2 Life and #3 Southeastern. Most of the 40 who earn automatic bids will be from these three teams, with some sprinkled in from the other six schools.  The deepest weight here will be 141, which takes seven and is led by four of the top seven, according to Flo. 

The 125-pound bracket has three returning All-Americans: #2 Brandon Orum of Life, #5 Dennis McNeal of Brewton-Parker and #8 Isaac Crowell of Southeastern. The upperweights will feature star power with #1 Jack Bass of Life at 165, as well as returning national champions Zane Lanham of Life and Gage Braun of Southeastern, the top seeds at 197 and 285.

Abduallaev Arrives At Menlo

Gulomjon Abdullaev is listed on the Menlo wrestling roster as a 133-pound freshman from Uzbekistan, which only tells part of his story. 

Abdullaev represented Uzbekistan at the Tokyo Olympics, where he took Russia’s Zaur Uguev to the wire before eventually losing 6-6 on criteria. Abdullaev eventually placed seventh in the Olympics and finished seventh in September at the World Championships. His resume also includes four appearances at age-group World Championships, highlighted by a 2016 Junior World bronze at 55 kilograms. Daton Fix captured the other bronze at 55 kg. 

Abdullaev made a quick impression on the 133-pound weight class, winning the Missouri Valley Open, where he downed a pair of top-10 opponents. 

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