Five Earn Nationals Bids at Mid-South Wrestling Championship

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.—The Fire had five wrestlers earn automatic bids to the NAIA National Championship with their performance at the Mid-South Conference Championship.
Southeastern had four wrestlers in the final bout in their respective weight class, with all four placing second.
At 141, Ethan Owen scored a second period fall of Trey Walton of Cumberlands to advance to the title bout where he came up two points shy of Lindsey Wilson’s Trent Johnson. Owen returns to nationals for the third time.
Dylan Chatterton is heading back to nationals, placing second at 157, winning in sudden victory over Derrick Smallwood of Lindsey Wilson in the semis, then lost an 8-5 decision to defending champion Nosomy Pozo of Life.
Kyle Kirkham came away with a 3-1 decision in the 165-pound semis over former All-American Nate Pristavec to earn a trip to the final, where he lost by fall in the second period. This is Kirkham’s first nationals bid.
Graduate transfer Luis Peguero will head to nationals at 197, dropping the title match in the tiebreaker to Life’s Dialo Matsimela. Peguero won in the tiebreaker over Cumberlands Eric Deluse in the semis.
Junior Jaaziel Santana earned his first trip to nationals with a fifth-place finish at 125. Battling through the consolation bracket, Santana scored a 5-4 decision over Hayden Lee of Cumberlands, then landed in the fifth-place match with a 5-2 loss to Devaughn Sapien. A 9-4 decision over Cagen Wallace of Lindsey Wilson got Santana on the podium.
Jake Watters placed fifth at 149, but that weight class was only allocated three bids. He can still qualify for the second year in a row by receiving a wild card bid or an at-large bid. Jason Davis (184) will also be looking for a wild card after a sixth place finish.
The Fire finished fifth as a team, scoring 100.5 points.
The NAIA National Championship will take place March 1 and 2 in Des Moines, Iowa.