Cobbers Place Six On Podium At NCAA Region Meet
Concordia had six wrestlers finish in the Top 8 of their weight class at the NCAA Region VII Meet. First-year athlete Chris Acuna led CC with a 5th-place finish.
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (2/28/26)---Concordia ended the NCAA Region VII meet by placing six wrestlers on the podium. Chris Acuna, Jack Major, Hunter Mars, Kie Anderson, Will Freking and Mason Swanson posted Top 8 finishes in individual weight classes.
The six podium finishers helped the Cobber place seventh out of 16 teams at the regional meet. CC finished with 64.0 team points which was only 2.5 points shy of sixth place.
Unfortunately for the Cobbers, Day 2 was a tough one at the regional meet as CC started the session with six wrestlers still having a chance to finish in the Top 3 and advance to the NCAA National Meet but had all six fall in the consolation wrestlebacks,
Acuna and Major advanced the farthest in the championship bracket of the Concordia contingent at the meet. Both Acuna and Major then made it to the consolation semifinals before losing a pair of heartbreaking 1-point decisions.
Acuna opened the day by losing 4-3 in overtime in the 157-lb semifinal match against Karsen Otis. The loss moved Acuna to the consolation semifinals where he dropped a unique 7-6 decision to Luke Kamish from Wis.-Platteville. Kamish took a 7-1 lead in the second period but then tried to stay away from Acuna for the remainder of the match and was called for four stalling points that allowed Acuna to have a chance at the end.
Acuna closed out his first regional appearance by winning the fifth-place match due to a medical forfeit.
Acuna went 3-2 at the region meet and finished the year with a 24-9 mark. His 24 victories were the most by any Cobber this season.
Major also started the day in the semifinals. His first match at 141 was against nationally-ranked Cole Becker and Major fell by tech fall.
He then lost one of the most gut-wrenching matches by any Cobber at the meet when he gave up a takedown in the final seconds in the consolation semifinal bout and lost 3-2. Major was up 2-0 against Calen Nobiling from Wis.-Stevens Point late in the third period but then got caught and gave up the takedown.
Major lost 8-3 in the fifth-place match to finish the meet with a 2-3 record.
Mars was eighth at 125. Anderson claimed sixth place at 133, while Freking was eighth at 197 and Swanson was eighth at 285.
Anderson tied Acuna for the most wins by a Cobber at the meet. He went 3-3 over the two days.
NCAA Region Place Winners for Concordia
125 - Hunter Mars (2-3) - 8th Place
133 – Kie Anderson (3-3) – 6th Place
141 – Jack Major (1-3) – 6th Place
157 – Chris Acuna (3-2) – 5th Place
197 – Will Freking (2-2) – 8th Place
285 – Mason Swanson (2-3) – 8th Place
NCAA Region VII Final Team Scores:
1. Augsburg - 213.0
2. UW-La Crosse - 165.0
3. UW-Eau Claire - 140.5
4. UW-Stevens Point - 120.0
5. Aurora Universtiy - 91.0
6. UW-Platteville - 66.5
7. Concordia College - 64.5
8. MSOE - 61.0
9. Lakeland University - 51.0
10. St. John`s - 50.5
11. Carthage College - 47.5
12. UW-Oshkosh - 19.5
13. Augustana (Ill.) - 29.5
14. Linfield University - 29.0
15. Concordia Wisconsin - 11.0
16. Pacific (Oregon) - 5.5