For the 11th time in 12 years, Grand View wrestling wins the NAIA national championships

Shea Ruffridge stared down an NAIA goliath on Saturday and smiled at the challenge — then proceeded to knock him off.

Let’s set the stage here:

Ruffridge, Grand View’s senior 141-pounder, faced Baterden Boldmaa in the semifinals at the NAIA national championships. Boldmaa, a Mongolia native, was a three-time national champ who had won 100 consecutive matches entering the matchup.

All Ruffridge did was score a reversal in the final six seconds to beat Boldmaa, 6-5, in perhaps the most stunning and memorable upset in recent NAIA wrestling history.

Of course, that was just the semifinal match. Ruffridge, a Pocahontas native, later stamped his tremendous weekend by winning a national title on Saturday night, scoring a takedown and four back points in the third period to beat Life’s Julian Hernandez, 8-1.

Ruffridge’s title run was the highlight for another national team title for the Grand View men’s wrestling program. The Vikings piled up 206 team points this weekend to win the NAIA national team championship, their 11th in the last 12 seasons.

Grand View blew away the field, beating second-place Life University by a staggering 48.5 points. Even crazier still, Life’s 157.5 team points were 67.5 points better than third-place Southeastern Florida, which scored 90.

What started as a two-team race ended in a Viking rout. Grand View finished with 11 All-Americans, led by three individual champions, in Ruffridge, Owen Braungardt (197), and Greg Hagan (285). Three others made the finals. All 11 finished sixth or better.

Much of Grand View’s damage was done on Friday, when 11 of 12 qualifiers reached the semifinals and all 12 wrestlers combined for a 32-2 overall record. The Vikings finished 52-13 overall, with a tournament-best 11 pins.

Braungardt recorded three falls in his first three matches during his 5-0 march to a national title at 197. In the semifinals, he won by 12-2 major decision, then capped his run with a 6-1 finals win over Life’s Zane Lanham.

Hagan also recorded three falls, including a 103-second pin in the finals over Life’s Austin Harris. It was Hagan’s third consecutive trip to the NAIA finals, but his first time winning a national title, using an inside-trip to pin Harris while trailing 3-2.

None of those moments will compare to Ruffridge’s semifinal triumph.

Boldmaa’s college career will go down as an all-timer by any standard. He is one of 23 three-time NAIA champs all-time. He is only the sixth college wrestler, in any division, to record 100 consecutive wins, joining Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson (159 in a row), Augsburg’s Marcus LeVesseur (155), Oklahoma City’s Emily Webster (118), and others.

But up until Saturday, he hadn’t faced Shea Ruffridge.

After a scoreless first period, Ruffridge scored a takedown in the second period and led 4-2 lead entering the third. There, Boldmaa escaped to come within 4-3, then scored a takedown on the edge to take a 5-4 lead with six seconds left.

The old story goes, David used a stone to defeat Goliath. On Saturday, Ruffridge used a standing granby. Off the restart, he came to his feet, rolled to create action, then landed on top of Boldmaa for the match-winning points with three seconds left.

Before the weekend, Ruffridge was an NAIA All-American. On Saturday, he became a legend — and a national champion.

Iowa Western takes third at NJCAA national championships

At the junior-college men’s wrestling national championships in Council Bluffs, Iowa Western scored 106.5 team points to finish third behind Western Wyoming (134) and Pratt (112.5). Iowa Central took seventh (84.5) and Indian Hills took ninth (79).

Iowa Western finished with six All-Americans, including two individual champs, in Fabian Padilla (157) and Brett Mower (197). Iowa Central’s Matt Sarbo also won a title at 149 pounds, recording four pins and a technical fall en route to gold.

Indian Hills wins NJCAA women’s national championships

The Indian Hills women’s wrestling team finished the 2022-23 season as the wire-to-wire No. 1-ranked junior-college women’s program, capped by a national team title on Saturday in Council Bluffs.

Indian Hills scored 287 points behind 15 total All-Americans to beat second-place Umpqua (230). Four Indian Hills wrestlers won titles: Dutchess King (101), Shammilka Miranda Diaz (116), Alondra Martinez (136), and Eliana Bommarito (235).

Iowa Western finished third, with 150.5 points and eight All-Americans, led by national champion Ferny Hernandez (155). Iowa Central took fourth, with 136 points and also finished with eight All-Americans.

North Central wins NCAA women's national tournament in Cedar Rapids

Alliant Energy PowerHouse Arena in Cedar Rapids hosted the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships — basically the NCAA women’s wrestling national tournament — this weekend. North Central won the team title with 198 points.

North Central, a Division III school in Illinois, finished ahead of King University (163) and McKendree (147.5) thanks to three individual national champs, in Madison Avila (101), Jaslynn Gallegos (116), and Yelena Makoyed (170), and 15 total All-Americans.

King, a Division II school in Tennessee, finished with 12 All-Americans. McKendree, a Division II school in Illinois and three-time defending team champs, had two wrestlers become four-time national champs, in Emily Shilson (109) and Sydnee Kimber (191).

Prior to the tournament, the NCWWC Executive Committee announced that 43 NCAA schools now field women’s wrestling programs, an important milestone in the fight to make women’s wrestling an official NCAA sport.

The NCWWC signed a contract to hold its national championship event in Cedar Rapids through 2025. As early as next year, it could become an official NCAA-sponsored championship event.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Grand View men win 11th NAIA national wrestling title in 12 years