Mattern and Rodriguez Each Earn Wins over Conference Foes at Nationals
(Park City, KS) – Hastings had two wrestlers, sophomore Justin Rodriguez (133) and freshman Koen Mattern (285), compete at the 2025 NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championships in a three-day event that started on Thursday, finishing 36th out of 54 teams.
(Park City, KS) – Hastings had two wrestlers, sophomore Justin Rodriguez (133) and freshman Koen Mattern (285), compete at the 2025 NAIA Men's Wrestling National Championships in a three-day event that started on Thursday, finishing 36th out of 54 teams.
Mattern had a first round bye as the #8 seed at 285, then faced a familiar opponent in #9-seed Jakob Jerabek from Morningside, who he beat 7-6 in the GPAC final. No scoring occurred until about a minute left in the opening period, when Mattern got a take down. He proceeded to record a three-point nearfall and two four-point nearfalls to go up 14-0 after the first period. He earned the 16-0 tech fall with a two-point nearfall with 1:11 left in the second period.
Competing against top-seeded Gage Braun from Southeastern in the quarterfinals, Mattern put up a fight and managed three escapes and took him three periods in the 18-3 tech fall loss.
On the consolation side, he got matched up against #13-seed Seth Suvak from Dickinson State. Mattern got an early takedown, but Dickinson State was able to even it up at four after one. Mattern opened the second period scoring with an escape but a takedown and pin by Dickinson State ended the match and his run at Nationals.
Rodriguez, competing at 133, was unseeded and drew #7-seed Luke Rioux of Indiana Tech. Rioux took the lead in the first period and the bout by a 9-0 major decision.
After a bye in the first consolation round, Rodriguez pulled out a 4-1 decision over Doane's Matthew Terrence, seeded #9. He was pinned a week ago versus Terrence in the GPAC Final, but came back with revenge on his mind, getting a takedown a minute into the first period. He added an escape in the third to earn the 4-1 decision.
Matched up against Simon Graeber from Southern Oregon, who was also unseeded but ranked #18, Graeber got the advantage early with a takedown and a nearfall just over two minutes in. Rodriguez responded with a reversal to get on the board at 8-2, but Graeber eventually worked the lead up to 11-2 in the second before pinning him at the 3:31 mark to conclude his run at the Championships.
The Broncos will look to build off of this years' success of placing three spots higher in the GPAC than initially predicted in preseason polls, as they begin preparations for next season.
