Upper Iowa senior
Chase Luensman completed his journey to a National Championship at 165 pounds on Saturday night at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships. Upper Iowa served as the host for the tournament at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.
Upper Iowa's last National Champion was 133-pound title-winner Josh Walker in 2018 in Cedar Rapids. Walker along with nine other previous Peacock All-Americans led the Parade of All-Americans prior to the Finals Session. Five years later, Luensman marked the 12th different Peacock to win an individual title.
Prior to his championship match, the three-time All-American defeated three other opponents. He began with a 7-2 win over Kaden Hart of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, which advanced him to the next round where he faced No. 6 Aaden Valdez of Adams State College and fought to a 10-5 decision. Luensman then matched up with No. 7 Ty Lucas of Central Oklahoma in the semifinals, defeating him in a 8-2 result and sending him to the championship match.
In the championship bout, Luensman battled No. 8 Hunter Mullin of Western Colorado and defeated him in a 9-7 decision. The Peacock senior opened with a 2-0 disadvantage after a takedown from his opponent. He responded quickly, however, with an escape and a takedown of his own. He gained one stalling point and executed two more takedowns and two escapes to propel him to his NCAA Championship.
Luensman was ranked No. 3 heading into the postseason, but ended up grabbing the gold in Cedar Rapids. He finished the year with an overall record of 32-3, executing over 100 takedowns that led to four falls, three tech falls and seven major decisions.
Upper Iowa finished in 16th place after tallying 26.5 points and earning three All-American honors behind the efforts of Luensman,
Tate Murty and
Colter Bye.
Central Oklahoma won the overall team race with 121.0 points, with the inclusion of two individual champions. Second place went to Lander who totaled 78.0 points, while fellow NSIC member St. Cloud State came in third with 64.5 points and Western Colorado brought home fourth with 61 points.
