Chase Luensman never won a state title, but this weekend he became an NCAA champion.
Luensman, the starting 165-pounder for Upper Iowa, won a Division II national title on Saturday night at the Alliant Energy Power House in Cedar Rapids. He went 4-0 to win, capped by a 9-7 finals victory over Western Colorado’s Hunter Mullin.
In doing so, Luensman is the 17th national wrestling champion in Upper Iowa history, and just the sixth D-II champ since they made the switch from D-III to D-II in the early 2000s. He’s also the Peaco*cks’ first title winner since Josh Walker won at 133 in 2018.
Luensman, a Monticello native, finished fifth, fourth and third in Iowa’s Class 2A state meet. But that steady progression led him to Fayette and Upper Iowa, where he continued to build and improve.
It all came together in Cedar Rapids. Luensman outscored his four opponents 34-14, and racked up 12 takedowns while allowing just three. He scored three takedowns in the finals to build an 8-4 lead, allowing him to hang on against the hard-charging Mullin, who reached Saturday night’s finals as the 8-seed at 165.
Luensman, who finished the season 32-3 overall, was one of three All-Americans for Upper Iowa. He was joined by Tate Murty, who finished eighth at 141 pounds, and Colter Bye, a Cresco native who took eighth at 184.
Upper Iowa finished 16th overall with 26.5 team points. Central Oklahoma ran away with the Division II team title, scoring 121 points behind nine All-Americans, including two champs in Dalton Abney (197) and Shawn Streck (285). South Carolina’s Lander took second (78 points, 6 All-Americans) and St. Cloud State took third (64.5, 4).
Wartburg takes second, behind Augsburg, at D3 national championships
A 27-year tradition continued unabated at the Division III national championships at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Va., with Minnesota’s Augsburg winning the team title over Wartburg.
One of the ‘Burgs has won the D-III team title every year since 1995. Wartburg won last year, beating Wabash by a single point. The Knights also won the “unofficial” Division III national tournament in 2021, hosted by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
This weekend, Augsburg ran away with the team crown, scoring 101 points behind seven All-Americans. Wartburg took second with 66.5, narrowly beating out Baldwin Wallace (third, 66), North Central (fourth, 63.5), and Wisconsin-La Crosse (fifth, 61).
The Knights finished with five All-Americans, including a pair of national champs, in Zane Mulder (174) and Massoma Endene (197). Their finals triumphs on Saturday night lifted Wartburg from fifth place in the team race to second.
Wartburg’s runner-up team finish — the eighth since 1995, all behind Augsburg — led all Iowa schools at the Division III national tournament.
- The University of Dubuque took 8th, with 41.5 points. Three Spartan wrestlers earned All-American status: Brady Koontz, 7th at 125; Dylan Koontz, 5th at 133; and Darryl Aiello, 4th at 285. (Yes, the same Koontz brothers who recently wrestled for Ohio State.)
- With two All-Americans, Coe College finished 12th, with 32 points. Kaleb Reeves reached the finals at 285, where he lost 6-1 to Wabash’s Jack Heldt, and LJ Richardson reached the semifinals but slid to sixth at 174.
- Loras College took 15th overall with 28.5 points and two All-Americans. Zeke Smith took fourth at 157 and Shane Liegel reached the finals at 184, where he dropped a 9-2 decision to Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Jaritt Shinhoster. In the semifinals, Shinhoster beat Luther College’s Donovan Corn, 12-0. Corn rallied for third.
Grand View takes third at NAIA women’s nationals; Iowa Wesleyan’s Nwachukwu wins second title
At the inaugural NAIA women’s national championships, held in Jamestown, N.D., the Grand View women’s wrestling program finished in third place overall, behind Southern Oregon and Life University, while eight Viking wrestlers earned All-American honors.
Southern Oregon ran away with the team title, scoring 160 points thanks to three individual champs and seven total All-Americans. Life scored 139.5 for second while Grand View totaled 123.5. Iowa Wesleyan also tied for seventh, with 92.5 points.
Alexis Gomez led the Lady Vikings with a runner-up finish at 143 pounds. She knifed her way to the finals, outscoring her first three opponents 30-1, but could not solve Southern Oregon’s Emily Se in the championship match, dropping a 3-2 decision.
Behind Gomez, Maya Davis (123) and Abby McIntyre (170) both took third; Shenita Lawson (170) and Olivia Brown (191) both took fifth; Catharine Campbell (123) and Andrea Schlabach (130) both took sixth; and Madison Diaz (155) finished eighth.
Iowa Wesleyan’s Adaugo Nwachukwu won her second-straight national title at 136 pounds. She recorded three pins and a 15-2 technical fall in the finals to finish her sophom*ore season with a perfect 30-0 record, during which she outscored her opponents 273-17. In two years at Iowa Wesleyan, Nwachukwu is now 52-1 overall.
Nwachukwu was one of two finalists and five total All-Americans for Iowa Wesleyan. Mia Palumbo joined Nwachukwu in the finals, but finished as the national runner-up again after a finals loss to Life’s Peyton Prussin at 109 pounds. Behind them, Faith Cole (109), Isabelle Hawley (143), and America Lopez (170) all finished sixth.
Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at@codygoodwin.
