OSKALOOSA, Iowa- The Missouri Baptist University men's wrestling squad competed in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships this weekend. The team finished eighth in their first Heart Championship, with six wrestlers finishing in the top eight of their weight classes. With his fourth-place finish at 141, Daryl Mills qualified for the NAIA National Championships in Wichita, Kansas, from March 3-5, 2026.
Mills dropped his first bout to the No. 19 wrestler from Central Methodist University, Aroje Hart, in a tight 2-0 victory for the Eagle. After he dropped to the consolation side of the bracket, Mills went to work quickly, as he found two takedowns and a fall to move into the consolation quarterfinals. In his next match, Mills found two takedowns early, and his opponent escaped twice and found a takedown to make it 7-5 at the end of the first. The two would exchange escapes in the latter two periods, and Mills would move on to win 8-6.
Mills faced a familiar opponent, No. 13 Guiseppe Guerra of St. Ambrose University (Iowa), whom Mills had lost to early in the season, in the consolation semifinals. Mills found a takedown early in the first and took a 3-1 decision into the second. Guerra chose bottom and escaped quickly, Mills found a takedown shortly after. Guerra escaped and was tagged with a stalling call to close the period. In the third, Mills quickly escaped from bottom, but Guerra found a quick takedown. The pair of ranked wrestlers exchanged a pair of takedowns and escapes, and Mills took the match 12-10, guaranteeing a top-4 finish. Mills was pitted against Hart of CMU in his third-place match and fell to finish fourth at the weight.
Noah Richardson finished fifth at 157 pounds. Richardson also dropped his opening match in the tournament, sending him to the consolation bracket. Richardson won three straight matches, including two tight decision victories and a fall in the third period, to push him into the consolation semifinals. In Richardson's consolation quarterfinal match against Peyton Asbury of CMU, Richardson trailed 5-2 headed into the final period. Richardson escaped quickly and trailed by two with under 90 seconds to go. Richardson scored a takedown with 48 seconds left and held on to win 6-5. Richardson dropped his consolation quarterfinals, and his opponent forfeited in the fifth-place bout.
At 133 from MBU, John Davis started his tournament strong with a first-period pin. Davis lost his quarterfinal match and went to the consolations. Davis picked up two more first-period falls before he battled a familiar foe in No. 13 Braden WerdenHausen of William Woods (Mo.) in the consolation semifinals. Werdenhausen grabbed a takedown to close the first period and eventually took a 4-0 lead into the final period. Davis chose bottom and escaped quickly. With 35 seconds left, Davis found a takedown to tie the match up. Werdenhaussen escaped with less than 15 seconds left, and despite Davis's best effort, would drop the match 5-4. Davis fell in his match to go to nationals to No. 9 Tuvshinjargal Zuunbayan of Missouri Valley College, and finished sixth at 133.
Brayden Eikermann competed for MBU at 149. The redshirt freshman collected two falls in the first period to move into the semifinals against No. 3 Elijah Larsen of Grand View (Iowa). After Eikermann dropped his match to Larsen, Eikermann dropped his next bout to No. 20 Kristofer Arrey of Missouri Valley. In his fifth-place bout, he wrestled No. 13 Brody Brisker of host school William Penn (Iowa), and lost a tight 3-0 decision to finish sixth in the bracket. 149 had six auto-qualifying allocations to the national tournament, and if the loser of the. In the sixth-place bout, the winner had not wrestled the winner of the seventh-place bout; an additional match would be held to determine "true-sixth".
Eikermann wrestled Joshua Zeman of SAU in the true sixth-place bout for the 149-pound bracket. Zeman started hot and scored two takedowns in the first period to lead 6-1. After a scoreless second period, Eikermann chose to start the third period. Eikermann found a four-point nearfall, but that was not enough, and Zeman would go on to win the match 6-5.
The Spartans had two other wrestlers finish in the top eight: Amad Soufi, who placed seventh at 285 with a fall, and Christopher Bauer, who placed eighth at 174 with a fall.
Per the NAIA:
"After the conference tournaments have concluded, a 16-member committee consisting of conference raters and oversight members will meet to select the remaining at-large qualifiers, which will be released Tuesday, February 24, 2025, by 5 p.m. (CST), while the preliminary brackets and seeding will be announced on NAIA.org by 5 p.m. (CST) on Friday, February 27, 2025. All weight classes will consist of 32 wrestlers."
Mills and possibly other Spartans look ahead to compete at the NAIA National Championships in Wichita, Kan., from March 3-5, 2026, with a shot at an individual national championship.
