Men’s wrestlers in fourth place, women eighth after first day at NCWA Grand Nationals

Ron Black Liberty wrestler MAC Championships

Sophomore 184-pound wrestler Ronnie Black, one of five Liberty men's champions at the Mid-Atlantic Conference meet, won his two matches on Thursday to advance to Friday's NCWA Grand National quarterfinals in Bossier City, La. (Photo by Travis Clayton)

Men’s wrestlers in fourth place, women eighth after first day at NCWA Grand Nationals

3/27/2026 10:02:00 AM | Men's Wrestling

The Flames have six wrestlers still in the championship bracket and another seven in the consolation rounds of the tournament near Shreveport, La.

Liberty University's men's wrestling team got off to a solid start Thursday in the NCWA Grand National Championships at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City, La.

The Flames are in fourth place with 62 points, trailing only Life (Ga.) University (74), Tarleton (Texas) State University (71), and Menlo (Calif.) College (65.5). Liberty has six of its 18 wrestlers competing in the championship bracket and another seven still alive in the consolation brackets.

Freshman Brodie Altman pinned Grand Canyon (Ariz.) University's Jack Liiste 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the first period of their first-round 133-pound match and dominated Life's Tristan Luna by an 18-2 technical fall to set up a quarterfinal match against Florida A&M's Gaetano Tedesco on Friday.

Junior Drake Bowers went 3-0 on Thursday, scoring a 17-0 technical fall over Utah Tech University's Dylan Galant before earning a 17-10 decision over Wisconsin's Chase Eggleston and scoring an 11-2 major decision over Life's Diego Barron. Bowers will face Apprentice School's Owen Cherry in Friday's quarterfinal round.

Sophomore Matox Allen, Liberty's lone defending NCWA Grand National champion at 157 pounds, also won his three matches to reach the quarterfinals. He started the day by needing only 57 seconds to deck McNeese (La.) State's Hunter Dawdy before scoring back-to-back technical falls against Charleston Southern (S.C.) University's Andres Hernandez (15-0) and RPI's Arcangelo Losee (17-2). That sets up Friday's quarterfinal match against Jaden New from Life.

At 184 pounds, sophomore Ron Black won both of his matches to reach the quarterfinals, scoring a 17-2 technical fall over Treasure Valley (Ore.) Community College's Owen Scott before earning a 16-6 major decision over Kansas State University's Cameron Zimmerman. He will meet Ohio State University's Kyle Sandborn in Friday's quarterfinals.

Flames senior 235-pounder Zach Kaminski advanced to the quarterfinal round with consecutive first-period pins of Colorado State's Spencer Ainsworth in 1:54 and Akron (Ohio) University's Devon Whitt in 1:08. He will meet Virginia Tech's Jack Eckerson next.

Senior heavyweight Wade Wheeler scored two three-point decisions, defeating the University of Connecticut's Anthony Berruecos 3-0 before decisioning UNLV's Ronald Williams, 4-1, to set up a quarterfinal showdown with Tarleton State's Jackson Phillips.

Fellow senior heavyweight Josh Hermann split two decisions, a 4-1 win over Alabama's Samuel Grimes and 4-2 loss to Utah Tech's Micah Vuki to set up a consolation showdown with UConn's Berruecos.

At 197 pounds, freshman Braden Ewing opened his first day in impressive fashion, pinning the University of South Florida's Trey Dreyer in 4:36 and scoring a 21-6 technical fall over Kennesaw State (Ga.) University's Alex Pavlu before dropping a 4-2 decision to Slippery Rock (N.Y.) University's Michael Kreinbucher. He will wrestle Louisiana Tech University's Raymond Favaza in his first consolation match.

Similarly, 141-pound sophomore Gordon Watson won his first two matches by 20-3 technical fall over William Kernan from Williamson (Pa.) College of the Trades and 10-7 decision over Missouri State University's Avi Shah. He then lost by 15-0 technical fall at the hands of Menlo's Michael Torres, setting up a consolation match against Landon Yoder of Apprentice.

After suffering a 13-5 major decision setback to San Jose (N.M.) State University's Rex Orais in his first 174-pound match, sophomore Paul Moore won his next three matches by first-period fall — over the University of Houston's Tyson Breda in 0:54, Adrian (Mich.) College's Ben Colbart in 1:47, and UCF's Antonio Bundy in 1:17. Moore will meet Utah Tech's Cael Houston in the consolation quarterfinals.

Sophomore 133-pound wrestler Wayshaun Hicks sandwiched two first-period falls around a 7-6 loss to Florida Gulf Coast University's Joshua Martinez-Mercado, pinning Ottawa University-Arizona's Fabriccio Hernandez in 59 seconds and Western Washington University's Saul Bautista to set up a consolation quarterfinal match against Life's Luna.

Senior Josiah Foss won three of his four 174-pound matches, defeating Rowan (N.J.) University's Cole Smith 12-11 before suffering a 14-3 major decision loss to UNLV's Leonardo Salzano. He bounced back with a 16-0 technical fall over Ohio State's Ryan Mulvaney and a 13-7 decision of Luke LaMagna to set up a consolation match against Apprentice's Logan Eastman.

Flames 125-pound senior Jalen Fyffe recorded two first-period falls over Sacramento State (Calif.) University's Fabian Aguirre in 2:10 and Wisconsin's Colter Sinn, dropping a 16-3 major decision to Tarleton State's Kevin Contreras in between. He will meet Menlo State's Erik Ramirez in the consolation rounds.

Meanwhile, Liberty's women's team is in eighth place with two wrestlers still in the championship bracket and six others competing in the consolation rounds.

Sophomore Faith Kiefer, a two-time Mid-Atlantic Conference champion, pinned Florida A&M's Francelle Williams in 2:10 and Grand Valley (Mich.) State University's Zamaria Hemingway in 4:04 to set up a quarterfinal match against Utah Tech's Tayleigh Robertson.

June Welch scored a 6-0 decision over Washington State University's Elizabeth Castaneda to earn a quarterfinal matchup against Menlo's Lastevia Muir.

Complete results are available on the FloWrestling website, which is livestreaming all matches.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer