66th annual NAIA Championships | Wichita, Kan.
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WICHITA, Kan. – The Southern Oregon men's wrestling team will have two returning All-Americans and three first-time qualifiers at this week's NAIA Championships at Hartman Arena.

Competition begins at 8 a.m. Pacific Time on both Friday and Saturday at the 66th annual tournament, with the finals set for 5 p.m. Saturday. Of the Raiders' five qualifiers – their highest number since 2019 – three of them own top-seven seeds. They had only two seeded wrestlers, both No. 10, when they brought four qualifiers to last year's tournament and landed at No. 19 in the team standings behind sixth-place finishers Aaron Gandara and Evan Potter.

Gandara (149 pounds) and Potter (133) are back as sophomores, joined by redshirt-freshmen Alex Hernandez (174) and Antonio Garcia (285) and junior Andrew Herrera (197). Two weeks ago, that group led the Raiders to second place in the Cascade Conference after being picked fifth in the preseason and placing eighth a year ago. The CCC produced 57 total qualifiers for the NAIA Championships, 14 more than any other conference in the country.

Grand View (Iowa) will enter as the favorite to win its second consecutive title and 11th in 12 years. The Vikings have 12 wrestlers in the tournament, including five No. 1 seeds.

SOU TOURNAMENT HISTORY: SOU has won the NAIA title four times: in 1978, '83, '94 and 2001. The Raiders posted 11 top-five team finishes between 2001-17, and their 19th-place finish last year was the team's best since taking 16th in 2018. The Raiders lead all active NAIA programs with 36 individual national titles – getting their most recent from Brock Gutches and Taylor Johnson – and in All-America performances with 232. (Montana State-Northern is second on the list with 188.) Gandara and Potter can become the team's first two-time All-Americans since Tanner Fischer (2018-19).

SOU ENTRIES:
133 – Evan Potter
Bracket Seed: No. 7
Record: 21-2
First Opponent: No. 10 CaRon Watson (12-4), Briar Cliff (Iowa); or Braden Carson (22-11), Eastern Oregon, Round of 16
Notable: Coming off a sixth-place finish at last year's NAIA Championships, where he won four straight consolation matches – including upsets of the Nos. 2, 8 and 11 seeds – after going down in the Round of 16 … Has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the NAIA this season … Has taken his only losses against Menlo's Jovan Garcia … Placed third at the CCC Championships with a pin, two technical falls and an 8-1 decision over EOU's Braden Carson in the third-place match.

149 – Aaron Gandara
Bracket Seed: No. 6
Record: 25-5
First Opponent: Christophe Gaxiola (9-4), Menlo (Calif.), Round of 32
Notable: Went 5-2 at last year's NAIA Championships to take sixth place as the No. 10 seed at 157 pounds … Won his first CCC title two weeks ago by outscoring three opponents 30-1 combined and winning by medical forfeit in the final … Went 13-0 in duals – with a 4-2 win over Gaxiola, his first-round opponent, on Jan. 6 – and has won 13 consecutive matches dating back to Jan. 7.

174 – Alex Hernandez
Bracket Seed: No. 7
Record: 24-7
First Opponent: Rylin Burns (15-8), Montana State-Northern, Round of 32
Notable: Placed third in his CCC Championships debut, bouncing back from a first-round loss to win four straight consolation matches – including three by fall and three against nationally-ranked opponents … Has recorded six wins against top-20 opponents on the season and moved up seven spots in the 174-pound  pecking order since January.

197 – Andrew Herrera
Bracket Seed: NS
Record: 19-10
First Opponent: No. 5 Garavous Kouekabakilaho (25-6), Grand View (Iowa), Round of 32
Notable: Stole an automatic national bid by claiming fourth place as the No. 8 seed at the CCC Championships, knocking off Eastern Oregon's No. 7-ranked Jay Smith by 8-5 decision along the way … Went 8-6 in duals, including a late-season upset of Providence's No. 15 Liam Swanson that clinched a Raider team win over the No. 9 Argos.

285 – Antonio Garcia
Bracket Seed: NS
Record: 21-11
First Opponent: No. 3 Austin Harris (23-1), Life (Ga.), Round of 32
Notable: Ranked No. 24 in the final NAIA poll … Captured the CCC's final automatic nationals bid at 285 with a 5-3 upset of Providence's No. 19 Ethan DeRoche in the fifth-place match … Shined in dual action with an 11-4 record.