CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State men's wrestling will try to earn coveted national qualifying spots this Saturday at the NCAA Division II Super Regional VI Tournament in Golden, Colorado this Saturday.

The Eagles will be among the 11 teams from the western half of the United States competing at Colorado School of Mines in Golden and seeking to qualify for the National Tournament that will be at Sioux Falls on March 13 and 14. The only way to qualify is by finishing among the top three in one of the 10 weight classes.

A pay-per-view live stream will be available on FloSports while live results will be available on TrackWrestling. Fans can click on the "Tournament Hub" link above for more information on the event, including tickets, directions, event schedule and more.

Coach Brett Hunter is confident that his Eagles will be extremely competitive, but he cautions that the opposition also will be outstanding.

"We've had a good season and hope to keep it going," Hunter said.  "But everything (at Regionals) takes place in one day, so we'll have to keep battling, be at our best and see what happens."

The Eagles finished fourth at last year's regionals and had three national qualifiers. One of them, now a senior, Keegan Gehlhausen, won the regional championship at 184 pounds and also earned the silver medal at nationals. He will enter this year's postseason ranked second nationally at that weight class this season.
 
The remaining two national qualifiers last year were 2025 seniors, the since-graduated Torry Early and Cody Pinkerton. Both were runners-up at regionals but did not place at nationals.  

Besides Gehlhausen, other Eagles ranked among the top 15 in the nation by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) are senior Quade Smith, 7^th at 125 and sophomore Mason Villwok, 14^th at 197.  

Last week, Gehlhausen, Villwok and sophomore Hunter Jacobsen were voted to the All-RMAC First Team for the 2025-26 season. 

As a team, the Eagles are No. 17 in the latest NCAA II Coaches Rankings.  That's second among the RMAC teams and only two spots behind No. 15 Adams State, which is the league's highest-ranked team. Also among the top 25 on the list are regional foe San Francisco State at No. 18 and conference members Colorado Mesa and Western Colorado at 21^st and 24^th, respectively.

Nebraska-Kearney, which is at the top of the latest rankings, is also a Region VI participant and has frequently won the regional title in recent years.  All 10 of its team members qualified for nationals last year and the Lopers won the national championship, scoring 115 points while Augustana of South Dakota was second with 63 and St. Cloud of Minnesota was third with 57.5. The next four teams in the current national rankings are Central Oklahoma, Grand Valley State of Michigan and two Pennsylvania teams, Pitt-Johnstown and Gannon. 

Besides the teams previously mentioned, the other teams competing at the regional tourney will be RMAC members Colorado School of Mines, CSU-Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands, along with Fort Hays State, Cal Poly-Humboldt and another California team, Vanguard University, which moved up from Division III to D Il this year. 

Chadron State's regional entries, their hometowns, year of eligibility and their season records follow:
                125—Quade Smith, Layton, Utah, Sr., 19-4.
                133—Hunter Jacobsen, Waverly, Neb., So., 12-6.
                141—Caleb Chaves, Odenton, Md., Sr., 14-6.
                149—Aidan Callahan, Rapid City, Fr., 14-8.
                157—Brandon Paredes, Tucson, Ariz, Sr., 10-9.
                165—Tayten Gillette, Gooding, Idaho, Sr., 13-7.
                174—Logan Berger, Hartsville, S.C., Jr., 10-9.
                184—Keegan Gehlhausen, Pinedale, Wyo., Sr., 12-1.
                197—Mason Villwok, Elkhorn, Neb., So., 14-4.
                285.—Eli Reese, Sarver, Pa., Sr., 10-7.