NCAA Preview: Will The Questions Be Answered?

MOORHEAD, Minn. (3/12/15)—The question continues to be asked, "will this be the year that Concordia gets more than three All-Americans and finishes in the top 6 at the NCAA National Meet?"

The Cobbers have knocked on the door of those two school record marks at nationals and have never been able to surpass the three All-Americans honors earned at the 2010 national meet. Concordia's best-ever finish at the NCAA Meet came in 2011 when assistant coach Phil Moenkedick won the second of his back-to-back national championships.

Since 2011 Concordia has steadily qualified more and more wrestlers for the NCAA Meet culminating with this year's record-setting nine national meet entrants. Last year the Cobbers had seven athletes compete at the NCAA Meet with two earning All-American honors. The team wound up finishing in 12th place which marked the fifth straight season that the Cobbers had placed in the top 15 at nationals.

NCAA National Meet Links
- 2015 NCAA Meet Brackets 
- 2015 NCAA Meet Live Video - Friday 
- 2015 NCAA Meet Live Video - Saturday 
- 2015 NCAA Meet Live Stats
- NCAA Digital Program

This year's "very fine nine" headed to Hershey, Pa. features three wrestlers who competed at last year's NCAA National Meet and six who will be making their very first national meet appearance. Matt Nagel's crew will be led by All-American Jacoby Bergeron who finished sixth in the 133-lb weight class last year at nationals and is seeded third at 141 this year.

ason. Bergeron enters the NCAA Meet with a record of 35-6 and needs to win four more matches to break the school record of 38 held by Justin Berns and Mike Northcutt.

Bergeron, who has won 24 straight matches and hasn't lost since Nov. 15, will start his national meet with a "pigtail" match on Friday, Mar. 13 against Adrian Berry of SUNY-Cortland. Berry is 24-13 on the year.

The other NCAA West Region champion from two weeks ago was fellow senior Jake Krogstad. Krogstad will be making his second trip to nationals and has a 21-8 overall record this year. He has won 12 straight matches. Krogstad went 2-2 at last year's NCAA Meet and narrowly missed out on All-American status.

Krogstad is seeded fifth in the 165-lb weight class and starts his national meet on Friday in the Round of 16 when he faces Francisco Colom of Roger Williams. Colom is 33-4 on the year and unseeded for the national meet.

Sebastian Gardner is the other Concordia wrestler with NCAA Meet experience. He went 2-2 at last year's nationals and has been on a mission all year long to get back to the national meet and earn All-American honors.

Gardner finished second at the NCAA West region Meet at 174. He went 2-1 and was upset in the championship bout. Gardner is 23-7 on the year. He will open the national meet against fourth-seeded Brandon Welter of defending national champion Wartburg in the Round of 16. Welter is 20-7 in 2015.

The two biggest surprises of the nine qualifiers for Concordia came at 157 and 197 where Ben Cousins and Danny Pike have both overcome obstacles to earn their very first national meet berth.

Cousins, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of two, advanced to the championship match at 157 in the NCAA West Regional. He went 2-1 at regionals and is now 19-20 for the season. The 19 wins is a career high for Cousins who had 14 wins and didn't make the region lineup last year.

Cousins will continue his "feel good" story when he squares off against Richie Jasinski of Ursinus in the Round of 16 on Friday. Jasinski is the No.6 seed in the weight class and enters the national meet with a 27-2 overall record.

Pike didn't even wrestle last season due to an injury and started this year as the team's third string wrestler at 197. Through perseverance, and an injury to a teammate, Pike wound up being inserted into the region lineup. He then made the most of the opportunity by recording five pin falls and finishing in third place at 197.   
Pike was all but eliminated in his last two matches but somehow came up with pins in the final period to earn a spot at nationals. He was behind 7-0 in his final bout at the region meet and then came up with a pin with just 18-seconds remaining to punch his ticket to the NCAA Meet.

Pike is 11-10 for the year and will have an uphill battle at nationals as he faces No.1-seeded Eric Twohey from Wis.-La Crosse in his very first match. Twohey is a returning All-American and is 31-1 for the year.

The remaining four Cobber national meet entrants run the gamut of classes. Senior Jake Kostik has ground out a stellar season while Gabe Foltz has come on at the end. Sophomore Justice Davis and freshman Jakob Stageberg have both been two of Concordia's top wrestlers throughout the year.

Kostik is 14-13 on the year and was in, and out, of the lineup at 149 for most of the season. He eventually earned his way to the starting 10 and has been getting better and better as the calendar clicked towards March. Kostik finished in third place at the NCAA Regional Meet but had to take the long way to get home. He lost his very first match of the meet and then rattled off four straight wins to earn his first-ever trip to nationals.

Kostik will get his first taste of the big stage when he goes up against seventh-seeded Brad Mayville of RIT. Mayville is currently 28-4.

Foltz had not earned his way into the CC lineup until the final dual meet of the season just before regionals. Foltz narrowly missed making the national meet last year when he went 19-14 and finished fourth at 125. Foltz moved up to 133 this season and made it all the way to the championship match at the regional meet. He is 14-11 on the season and has won nine of his last 12 matches. His best win came at the region meet where he got the better of No.7-ranked Sean Ambrocio of Concordia University (Wis.).

Foltz awaits the winner of the Connor Campo (24-4)/Justin Colon (27-9) match to start of his national meet experience. Campo is from Wartburg and the No.4 seed at 133.

Davis has stepped into the spotlight at 285 in his sophomore season. He watched All-American Cody Kasprick earn and spot at the NCAA Meet last year and learned from the experience. Davis has been at the top of his game all season long and posted a career-best 24-10 record during the year. He won only 11 matches last year and his 13-win improvement is tops for any CC wrestler this season.  

Davis qualified for nationals by placing second at the West Region Meet.  He won his first match by a major decision and then won in overtime in the semifinals to secure his trip to Pennsylvania.

Like Pike, Davis drew the No.1-seeded wrestler in his weight class in the Round of 16. Davis will go up against Cody Lovejoy of Ohio Northern in the opening match at 285. Lovejoy is 42-0 on the year.

Stageberg has impressed since he first stepped on the mat in his first collegiate season. A Minnesota State Champion while at New London-Spicer High School, Stageberg is no stranger to the big stage. He enters the final meet of the year with a 26-11 record. He is one of five CC wrestlers to have at least 20 wins on the season - and all five earned their way to the NCAA Meet.

Stageberg finished third at 125 at the region meet. He showed his resilience by coming back in the wrestlebacks after losing in the semifinals and winning two straight to get to nationals.

Stageberg's first national meet opponent will be Guesseppe Rea of Wilkes. Rea is the No.4 seed in the weight class and has a record of 33-2 entering the meet.

Concordia will leave for Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Mar. 11 and begin wrestling at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. on Friday, Mar. 13. In addition to trying to surpass thee three All-American and seventh-place finish marks, the Cobbers will also be looking to break last year's record of 14 overall individual wins at the national meet.

Danny Pike NCAA Meet Preview Interview