INDIANAPOLIS – Led by a runner-up finish from Keegan Gehlhausen, Chadron State men's wrestling had three placers at the prestigious Midwest Classic in Indianapolis.

Alongside Gehlhausen, Quade Smith bounced back from a first-round loss to climb all the way back to fifth place, finishing 7-2 over the tournament's two days. Caleb Chaves placed seventh at 141 pounds and compiled a 4-2 tournament record. 

It is the second career placing at the Midwest Classic for both Gehlhausen (fifth in 2024) and Smith (fourth in 2023) and the first ever for Chaves, who fell one match shy of a top-eight finish during the 2023 tournament as a member of Gannon University.

Chadron State finished in 10^th place out of 47 teams in the team standings with 73 points. The Eagles were the top-placing RMAC team, beating out 11^th-place Adams State by half a point and also finishing ahead of 13^th-place Colorado Mesa and 18^th-place CSU Pueblo.

CSC's team success came with a well-rounded effort that saw all 10 Eagle wrestlers win at least two matches at the classic. Brandon Paredes (157 pounds), Logan Berger (174 pounds) and Mason Villwok (197 pounds) all went 3-2 over the weekend while Hunter Jacobsen (133), Aidan Callahan (149), Tayten Gillette (165) and Eli Reese (285) all won twice.

Gehlhausen, who entered the day ranked No. 1 in the nation by both the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and The Open Mat, stormed through the bracket to the final before falling short for a 5-1 day. Gehlhausen started the day with a 4-2 decision win over No. 9/19-ranked David Davis of Tiffin, earning all his points in the second period.

In the semifinals, Gehlhausen faced No. 6/6-ranked Darion Johnson of McKendree and handed Johnson his first loss of the year by an 8-5 decision. Gehlhausen led 7-1 after two periods before Johnson trimmed the margin in the third period. 

In the final, Gehlhausen faced Central Oklahoma's Branson Britten, who entered ranked No. 14 by the NWCA but No. 5 in the more recently updated Open Mat rankings. The UCO wrestler controlled the match throughout, landing two takedowns and winning 8-1 to hand Gehlhausen his first loss of his redshirt senior season. 

In the 125-pound bracket, Quade Smith recovered from his first-round loss to Emanuel's Braydon Mitchell on Friday by winning seven of his next eight bouts. On Saturday, Smith slipped by Colorado Mesa's Adonias Cantu 7-6, used sudden victory to beat No. 10/7-ranked Billy Smith of Findlay 4-1 and beat No. 5/5-ranked Colton Drousias of Glenville State to earn a spot in the consolation semifinal. 

No. 3-ranked Anthony Anciete of Tiffin awaited Smith there, and the Tiffin wrestler beat Smith 4-2 to send the Chadron wrestler to the fifth-place match, which Smith was awarded via medical forfeit over No. 7/10-ranked Logan Sallot of Gannon. 

Smith, who entered the tournament ranked No. 13 by the NWCA and No. 11 by the Open Mat, is likely to see that ranking go up. The redshirt senior went 4-2 against ranked wrestlers at the event (3-2 on the mat) and defeated three top 10 wrestlers. 

Chaves (No. 15 NWCA, unranked by The Open Mat) also tangled with several nationally ranked wrestlers as he fought for placing on Saturday. The Maryland native lost his quarterfinal to No. 5/7-ranked Colton Stoneking of Fairmont State in a 4-1 sudden victory contest but recovered to beat Adams State's Kieran Thompson (No. 19 Open Mat) by major decision. 

Chaves would be pinned by No. 8/3-ranked Jake Niffenegger of Gannon to head to the seventh-place match, which would be a rematch against Northern State's Krayle Stormer (No. 12/18), who Chaves pinned during Friday's action. Chaves proved the result wasn't a fluke by beating Stormer a second time, this time 6-3, to seal seventh place. 

Among CSC wrestlers who made it to day two, Aidan Callahan and Logan Berger each lost their first matches of the day while Brandon Paredes and Mason Villwok both won once before being eliminated. 

The CSC men's wrestling program will break for the holidays before resuming competition with the beginning of the RMAC dual season in January. The Eagles will host RMAC duals on January 9, 18, 23 and 31 in the Chicoine Center.

Leonard Leads Eagles at North Central Invite

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Nevaeh Leonard went 3-1 and earned a second-place finish in the 138-pound "B" bracket of the North Central College Women's Invite to lead Chadron State at the large-field event in Illinois as all of CSC's "A" bracket competitors failed to place. 

Brianna Vollendroff (2-2 at 103 pounds) and Piper Cadden (2-2 at 131 pounds) each won multiple matches while Adrianna Lopez (117 pounds), Angelina Cassioppi (124), and Esther Peters (207) all went 1-1 in "A" bracket competition. 

Rylee Balcazar (110 pounds), Shania Wear (117), Ana Rojas-Zamora (124), Meredith Nash (138), and Desza Munson (145) rounded out the crew of 11 competing CSC women's wrestlers, who were all entered in "A" brackets except for Leonard. 

Leonard, who hails from Yankton, South Dakota and transferred to CSC after two years at Southeast Community College, stormed through the first four rounds of the "B" bracket before a loss in the final. 

Leonard received a first-round bye then won by 10-0 tech fall in round two. Leonard won a high-scoring thriller over Quincy's Florida Niyokusenga in a 10-9 decision, then topped Southern Oregon's Sabrina Sifuentez 7-0 in the semifinal to wrestle for a championship. The title match ended quickly as unattached wrestler Taylor Engelen pinned Leonard in 23 seconds for Leonard's only loss of the day. 

Several Eagle wrestlers faced top competition throughout the day. Rylee Balcazar, who entered ranked No. 8 at 110 pounds by The Open Mat, faced No. 12 Trinity Pendergrass and No. 16 Kate Cooper in back-to-back matches, losing both. 

Esther Peters, ranked No. 6 by the Open Mat, faced No.5/7-ranked Caroline Ward from hosts North Central in a quarterfinal match that nearly went the distance before Ward found a pin. 

True freshman Angelina Cassioppi got to challenge herself against the No. 4-ranked wrestler in the country at 124 pounds, North Central's Sara Sterner. Cassioppi matched up with Sterner in the second round after pinning her first round opponent, and Sterner won via a 9-3 decision. 

North Central won the team scoring ahead of Iowa, Providence, Colorado Mesa and King University. With 10.5 team points, the Eagles were 25^th in the team standings out of 35. They finished just marginally behind the third and final RMAC team in attendance, Adams State, who was 24^th with 13 points.

After time off for Christmas break, women's wrestling will host the Chadron State duals and Chadron State Open on January 9-10 in the Chicoine Center.