Life University Athletics

WICHITA, Kan. ---- 10 of 12 Life U wrestlers made it to the podium as All-Americans, and Brandon Orum clinched the 125-pound title as the Life University Men's Wrestling team turned the NAIA wrestling world on its head last night, making history with the program's first ever national championship.

Life U accumulated 158 team points to reject the favorite's, Grand View, shot at making collegiate wrestling history with its 10th-straight championship, winning by a five-point margin over the second-place Vikings' 153 points in what was a two-team race after the first day. The rest of the top five teams at the end of the tournament were Lindsey Wilson at third with 89 points, Indiana Tech at fourth with 75.5 points, and Cumberland (Tenn.) at fifth with 74 points. The Mid-South Conference represented itself well in the tournament, six teams placing in the top 10.

Three Running Eagles—Orum, Denver Stonecheck, and Asher Eichert—took to the stage on championship night, vying for the highest honor in their respective weight classes with Orum being the team's lone victor. In his title match, Orum battled all the way against the two-seed Lucas Nelson (Brewton-Parker), holding on for a tight victory via a 3-2 decision.
 
Orum's championship run started with a 17-2 tech fall, breezing through the first day as he outscored his three opponents 38-8 to clinch his All-American status and earn himself a spot in the semi-finals. Day two opened with Orum's hardest test yet, facing the top-seeded 125-pounder Justin Portillo (Grand View) in a match that went to extra time before winning 6-4 in sudden victory one.
 
Stonecheck made it all the way to the final match of the 149 lbs bracket, standing on the podium as the runner up. His first day started with a bye before he defeated the 12 and four-seeds via decision to advance to the final day. In his semi-final match, Stonecheck earned a 9-6 victory over Jack Latimer (Arizona Christian) before dropping the championship in a decision.
 
The last Running Eagle to make it to the title match, Asher Eichert, had to fight his way through multiple high seeded opponents. After getting a bye through the first round, Eichert pinned the seven-seed and recorded an 8-2 major upset decision over the two-seed Casey Randles (Grand View) to finish his first day. The 174-pound semi-finals saw Eichert take out yet another top three seeded foe Armon Fayyazi (Vanguard) with a 4-3 decision. He nearly finished the sweep of the top seeds in the championship but lost a 10-7 decision to back-to-back champion Brennan Swafford (Graceland).
 
Four other Life U wrestlers made it to the semi-finals: Randy McCray Jr. at 125 lbs, Tyree Johnson at 141 lbs, Sid Ohl at 165 lbs, and Zane Lanham at 197 lbs. McCray Jr. swept through the first day before coming up short in the semis. As the team did the rest of the tournament, he fought his way back, defeating the eight and one-seeds to secure a third-place finish. Johnson kicked his tournament off with a pin and ended it the same way with a pin of the four-seed Blake Mulkey (Marian) to secure third place, collecting tons of bonus points for the team with two falls, a tech fall, and a major decision. For Ohl, he fell in tough matches in both the semis and consolation semis, before earning important bonus points for Life U with a 10-0 major decision over the three-seed Elias Vaoifi (Missouri Valley) for fifth place. Lanham narrowly lost to the eventual 197 lbs champion in the semis, but he followed that up by taking care of business in his final two matches to take third place on the podium.
 
Jack Bass, Baker Hadwan, and Diallo Matsimela all made it through the blood round at the end of day one to make their way into the final day of competition and lock themselves in as All-Americans. Bass took a loss in the quarterfinals to the three-seed, but quickly bounced back with a pin and made it through the blood round with an epic, tie breaker-one 2-1 victory to make it into the final day. As part of Life U's flawless 7-0 performance in the ranking round, Bass earned bonus points with a pin of the four-seed Tanner Abbas (Grand View) for fifth place. After falling in the blood round last year, Hadwan made it through this time with extra time victories to make it to the day two and then recorded a 10-5 decision over four-seed Tyler Hall (Lindsey Wilson) for a fifth-place finish in the 184 lbs bracket. Matsimela was the final Life U All-American, starting and ending his tournament run with pins to finish ranked fifth at 197 lbs. His losses both came in close decisions, one of which was to his teammate while the other was to the three-seed.
 
Myles Starke finished the tournament 2-2, beating three-seed Ben Lee (Grand View) to start the day before coming just short in the blood round. Julian Hernandez also started his day with a victory before dropping the following matches.
 
Following the conclusion of the event, the NAIA announced head coach Omi Acosta for a pair of honors for the spectacular season that he led his team to. He was called up first for the Sportsmanship Award before being announced as the NAIA Coach of the Year as voted by his peers.