GUNNISON, Colo. – Keegan Gehlhausen finished atop the 184-pound bracket to give Chadron State men's wrestling a regional champion for the third straight year as three Eagle wrestlers qualified for nationals with top-three finishes at the Super Region VI tournament.
In addition to Gehlhausen's win,
Torry Early finished as the regional runner-up at 149 pounds while
Cody Pinkerton was the runner-up at 285 pounds as both punched their tickets to the national tournament.
Gehlhausen returns to nationals after previously qualifying as a redshirt freshman in 2022-23, while Early and Pinkerton are first-time NCAA national qualifiers. Early came through with a national qualification in his final collegiate season after missing nationals by one place a season ago.
While Gehlhausen qualified two years ago, this is the Pinedale, Wyoming native's first regional championship, keeping alive a Chadron State streak after Quen Campbell won back-to-back regional championships at 133 pounds in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
This season at 133,
James Davis had a near-miss for the Eagles, falling in the third-place match to place fourth and just outside the qualification places. While those were the only four Eagles to make the semifinals, several did well enough in the consolation brackets to place –
Mason Villwok placed fifth at 197 pounds while
Cyrus Wells at 141 and
Tayten Gillette at 165 both placed sixth.
Chadron State finished in fourth place in the team standings, with the Eagles racking up 92.5 points. Nebraska-Kearney won the regional title with 159.0 points, ahead of Colorado Mesa (115.5), Western Colorado (103.0), Chadron State and Adams State (87.0) in the top five. RMAC dual champions Colorado School of Mines finished sixth in the tournament format.
Nebraska-Kearney had six of the 10 individual regional champions while Colorado Mesa, Adams State, New Mexico Highlands and the Eagles had one apiece.
Gehlhausen was dominant for nearly the entire day. The redshirt junior won by fall in the first two rounds, pinning San Francisco State's Gavin Funk in 2:15 and Cal Poly Humboldt's Micaiah Montalbin in 3:27 before topping CSU Pueblo's Donn Greer via a 14-2 major decision in the semifinals.
In the championship bout, No. 4-ranked Gehlhausen faced Nebraska-Kearney's No. 12-ranked Jacari Deal in a rematch of the championship bout from November's UNK Open. The match went the distance, but Gehlhausen secured a 7-1 decision win to claim the title.
Early and Pinkerton also raced through the brackets into the championship bout but came up short in the final. Early had a pair of 15-0 tech falls in both round one and the semifinals alongside a 4-2 decision win over Adams State's Kieran Thompson in the quarters. Early faced Nebraska-Kearney's Nick James in the regional final, with the Loper wrestler pinning Early 5:32 into the match.
Pinkerton received a first-round bye and then collected two pins over RMAC opponents to motor into the final. Pinkerton replicated an electric moment from the Chicoine Center dual with another pin of Western Colorado's Riley Dean-Butt at 2:32, then avenged an RMAC dual loss by pinning Colorado Mesa's Tyler Doyle, a First Team All-RMAC honoree, in exactly a minute.
Pinkerton also fell victim to a UNK wrestler in the championship bout. Crew Howard, undefeated at 24-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation, defeated Pinkerton by fall in 3:34.
The three qualifying wrestlers matches Chadron State's total from two years ago and exceeds the two wrestlers CSC sent to nationals last year. Gehlhausen, Early and Pinkerton will all wrestle at nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 14-15.
