SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Mason Villwok placed third at 197 pounds, Keegan Gehlhausen placed fourth at 184 and Quade Smith finished in eighth place at 125 pounds as Chadron State wrapped up competition at the DII Wrestling Championships on Saturday. 

All three wrestlers secured All-America status yesterday, the second consecutive honor for Gehlhausen and the first career All-American nods for Villwok and Smith. 

With 32 total team points from the All-American trio plus qualifier Eli Reese, who went 1-2 on Friday, Chadron State placed 15^th out of 49 competing schools. The top 15 finish is an improvement over a 25^th-place finish from 2024 and zero team points scored in 2023. 

"I'm just incredibly grateful for this group," head coach Brett Hunter said. "The three All-Americans are special, but they represent the work of an entire room. Our guys showed up every day, believed in each other, and trusted the process. As a coach, you can't ask for more than that."

Villwok, who hails from Elkhorn, Nebraska, cemented himself as a breakout star over the past two weeks with a third-place national finish, outperforming his No. 6 seed, and a regional championship. The sophomore began his day with a semifinal setback, as No. 2 seed Nicholas Johnson of Glenville State pinned Villwok at 5:15 while leading in the match 4-1, but the Chadron State wrestler did not lose again on Saturday.

In his next match, Villwok faced off against a motivated No. 4 seed Jackson Kinsella of Nebraska-Kearney, who was the top seed in Super Region 6 but lost to Villwok in the regional championship bout. The rematch was even more of a classic, eventually going to triple overtime before Villwok prevailed 2-1 on tiebreakers. 

That advanced Villwok to a third-place match against No. 5 seed Logan Kvien of McKendree. Villwok won with authority, taking Kvien down 15 seconds into the match and leading 4-2 before expanding the margin of victory with another three-point takedown with two seconds to go for a 7-2 final decision. 

Keegan Gehlhausen clinched a second straight top-four finish to close his impressive collegiate career, but the reigning national runner-up fell short of his goal to join coach Brett Hunter and Josh Majerus as CSC wrestlers to reach two national championship finals and/or win a national championship.  

Gehlhausen, the No. 2 seed, lost in the semifinal to No. 3 seed Darion Johnson of McKendree. Although the final score was a 12-2 major decision, the final margin was slightly deceiving. Gehlhausen trailed 5-2 late and, in his desperation to find a match-tying takedown, left himself prone to a quick Johnson re-attack as the McKendree wrestler earned a takedown plus a four-point near-fall in the final seconds. 

Johnson would go on to win the national championship in dominating fashion, beating Central Missouri's Damon Ashworth by a 17-2 tech fall. 

Gehlhausen also topped a Nebraska-Kearney wrestler in the next round, topping UNK's Kaden Hart for the third time this season and winning 6-4 to advance to the third-place bout. Waiting there was Colorado School of Mines 184-pounder Wyatt Reisz, who won Second Team All-RMAC honors this season behind Gehlhausen on the first team. The Mines wrestler knocked off Gehlhausen by a 10-5 decision.

Quade Smith began the day in the consolation bracket and went 0-2 on Saturday to finish eighth, still snagging the final placing/All-America spot. Seeded No. 7, Smith fell to No. 5 Eli Kirk of Central Oklahoma in his first match, as Kirk led 7-3 before locking in a pin with two seconds left in the second period. 

That result sent Smith down to the 7^th/8^th place match, which just so happened to feature the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in Smith and Gannon's Logan Sallot. The Gannon sophomore took control early, leading 9-1 after one period and eventually winning 15-2. 

Chadron State's three All-Americans were the second-most in the RMAC, behind Adams State's four and ahead of Colorado School of Mines's two and Colorado Mesa and New Mexico Highlands's one. 

The Eagles' 15^th-place finish was the third highest among RMAC schools. Adams State placed 10^th (they had one third, one fifth, one sixth and one eighth among their six qualifers) while Mines placed just ahead of CSC in 14^th on the back of 149-pound national champion Cody Thompson and Reisz's third-place finish at 184. 

Nationally, Nebraska-Kearney defended its team national title, but the margin was much slimmer than a year ago. The Lopers tallied 83 points, just ahead of surprise second-place Wisconsin-Parkside (78) and perennial contenders McKendree (76.5) and Central Oklahoma (76). 

Nine different schools won a national championship. McKendree was the only school to win two, while UNK, Wisconsin-Parkside, Central Oklahoma, Lander, UMary, Gannon, Colorado School of Mines and Augustana all won one.