PARK CITY, Kan. – At the NAIA Men's Wrestling National Championships in Park City, Kan., the Corban University men's wrestling squad was represented by 2020 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) champion Cooper McCullough, 2020 CCC runner-up Levi Perry, and newcomer David Rubio. In a day full of exciting results, the Warriors were encouraged by how well they matched up with the nation's best.
At the end of the day, Perry was the one of the three wrestlers who was able to stay in the fight for a trophy for the Navy and Gold. He finished the day as one of the top eight grapplers in the nation at the 197-pound weight class, cementing himself in the Corban record books as the first ever NAIA All-American for the men's wrestling program.
Perry received a bye in the first round but was defeated by the No. 4-ranked Zane Lanham of Life University (Ga.) in his first match of the day, Lanham defeated Perry in a 6-0 decision. Following the defeat, Perry won a high-scoring bout, as he defeated Payson Dirk 16-10 in a decision, followed by a victory by decision 4-2 over No. 12-ranked Marco Retano of Eastern Oregon. To round out his day on the mat, Perry outlasted No. 10-ranked Jack Servies from Marian (Ind.) in a 7-2 triumph by way of decision. His victory over Servies allowed him to earn NAIA All-American honors as the first honoree in Corban men's wrestling history. He can now finish as high as third-place in tomorrow's action on the mat.
McCullough earned a victory by major decision over Carlos Cuevas of Lyon College at 157 pounds, before dropping his next match to Brice Coleman, as he suffered a fall at 2:40. He then lost a nail-biter to Blake Montrie of Lourdes (Dec., 6-4) to end his season.
The Navy and Gold's biggest win of the day came at the expense of Dalton Jensen, who would face Rubio at 165 pounds. Jensen had just come off a pin of Dracius McKee from Texas Wesleyan, before running into the buzzsaw that was Corban's unranked Rubio. The final score of the battle was a decision 7-2 in favor of the Navy and Gold titan. Rubio would continue the day by dropping his next match at the hands of Kyle Kirkham of Southeastern (Fla.) (Dec., 7-3), and then falling in his final match of the campaign to Gavin Smith of Campbellsville (Ky.) in a 7-2 decision.
Perry will return to the mat tomorrow for the conclusion of the NAIA men's wrestling season, hoping to return to Salem with a third-place trophy in hand.