Doane sweeps conference wrestlers of the year, sets school record for national qualifiers

UPDATE: After the publishing of this story, it was announced another Doane women's wrestler qualified for the NAIA National Championships via an at-large berth. Lamia Benn (170) will join the other three women at the national tournaments. This brings the total number of qualifiers between men and women to 14. 

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CRETE, NE — The Doane Tigers are sending a record number of wrestlers to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championships this month.

Between its men's and women's teams, Doane qualified 13 wrestlers for the national championships. The men set a program record with 10 wrestlers making the final tournament of the year, which will be March 3-4 in Wichita, Kansas.

In its inaugural season, the Doane women's wrestling team is sending three to the national championships March 10-11 in Jamestown, North Dakota.

Six from the men's team earned automatic qualifying bids from their performances from the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Championships in late February. Daniel Vargas (125), Baterdene "Baagii" Boldmaa (141) and Bradley Antesberger (197) each won conference titles at their weight classes. 

Nate Lendt (149), Michael Scarponi (174) and Brandon Antesberger (HWT) earned automatic bids with their top-three finishes in their classes. As a team, Doane finished second at the GPAC Championships with 175 points. Morningside won the title with 184 points. 

Four others earned at-large berths to the NAIA National Championships. They are: Devin Avedissian (133), Tristan Zamilpa (157), Benji Dobler (165) and Chinges Tsermaa (174).

The women's team placed sixth at the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Championships. Cristelle Rodriguez won an individual title at 130 to qualify for nationals. 

Karina Vang (101) and Aevri Ciha (143) each finished as runners-up in their classes to also qualify for nationals. 

The Tigers also claimed the men's and women's wrestlers of the year for their respective conferences. 

Boldmaa earned the men's honor for the Great Plains Athletic Conference. It's the third consecutive year he's earned the award. He is the only GPAC wrestler to receive the honor that many times. Boldmaa takes a 30-0 record into the NAIA Championships. 

Rodriguez brought KCAC Women's Wrestler of the Year honors home to Doane. Rodriguez is the school's first-ever KCAC championship and was named conference Women's Wrestler of the Week four times throughout the season.