TOURNAMENT CENTRAL | WATCH (consolation rounds) | WATCH (finals)

TEAM SCORES (top-10 of 54) – 1. Grand View (Iowa) 176.5, 2. Life (Ga.) 125, 3. Southeastern (Fla.) 107, 4. Doane (Neb.) 63.5, 5. Indiana Tech 60.5, 6. Southern Oregon 56.5, 7. Providence (Mont.) 56, 8. Corban 54, 9. Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 52, 10. Central Methodist (Mo.) 49.5

PARK CITY, Kan. – Evan Potter is back in the 141-pound final at the NAIA Championships. To get there, he had to exorcise an old demon Friday at Hartman Arena.

On Day 2 of the tournament, the No. 3-seeded Potter defeated No. 2 seed Hartwell Taylor of Saint Mary (Kan.) by 6-4 semifinal decision in a rematch of last year's title tilt. He'll be one of three wrestlers carrying the torch for Southern Oregon on Day 3 – joined by 125-pound sophomore Vonn Fenn and 197-pound junior Asher Ruchti, who both clinched top-six places.

The Raiders will enter Saturday's action in sixth place with 56 ½ points. They had two more individuals, 157-pounder Aaron Gandara and 133-pounder Simon Graeber, come up a win short of All-America honors. They were eliminated a round after Adrian Chavez-Morales (184 pounds) and Elias Corona (197).

Potter, a senior from Junction City, became the eighth four-time All-American in program history with his 5-1 quarterfinal win over No. 6 Creighton Baughman of Concordia (Neb.) in his first match of the day. That set up the rematch against Taylor, who last year took a 4-1 decision from Potter to conquer the bracket as a No. 15 seed.

Potter got to him early this time around, going in front with a takedown a minute into the match. Taylor tied the score, 4-4, with a takedown early in the third period, but Potter reclaimed the lead seconds later with an escape. After keeping hold of Taylor's leg through the final buzzer, a riding time point for Potter accounted for the final score.

He'll get another rematch in Saturday's finals, which are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. On the other side of the bracket is No. 1 seed Carson Taylor of Grand View (Iowa), who defeated Potter 6-1 in a dual matchup Jan. 10. Potter will attempt to become SOU's first individual champion in 10 years. He's already the third of those four-time All-Americans with multiple appearances in the championship.

Fenn was the other Raider to reach the semifinals. Seeded No. 13, he ended Thursday's action with a sudden-victory upset of the No. 4 seed and started Friday with an 8-6 upset of the No. 5 seed, Reinhardt (Ga.)'s Angel Bada. Grand View's top-seeded Aden Reeves got him in the semis, 20-4.

Fenn is SOU's first 125-pound All-American since 2016. He'll open Saturday against the No. 11 seed, Saint Mary's Brody Gee, in the consolation semis.

The No. 8-seeded Ruchti stayed alive in another thriller. After dropping his quarterfinal, 10-4, to the top seed, he notched a 5-2 sudden victory over Grand View's No. 6 Trayvonne Jackson in the blood round. His next consolation match was no contest: an 18-1 technical-fall thumping of Missouri Valley's No. 7 Elijah Hynes, who became Ruchti's third top-10 victim of the tournament.

Gandara, seeded No. 2 at 157, fell in his blood-round match by 13-6 decision to Indiana Tech's No. 6 Elijah Chacon after getting there with back-to-back consolation wins. The senior wrapped his outstanding career with four NAIA Championship appearances, three Cascade Conference titles, and All-America honors in 2022.

Graeber, a junior and second-time qualifier, won by fall in his first outing of the day before losing a 9-6 decision to No. 11 Izaeah Beavers of Campbellsville (Ky.) in his blood-round match.

Saturday's action begins at 9 a.m. PST.

COMPLETE SOU RESULTS
125 – No. 13 Vonn Fenn
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Fenn major dec. Clemente Delgado, Graceland, 8-0
Round of 16 – Fenn dec. No. 4 Landon Smith, Embry-Riddle, 4-1 (SV-1)
Friday's Results
Quarterfinals – Fenn dec. No. 5 Angel Banda, Reinhardt, 8-6
Semifinals – No. 1 Aden Reeves, Grand View, tech. fall Fenn, 20-4

133 – No. 16 Dylan Clark
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Bye
Round of 16 – No. 1 Dominic Chavez, Texas Wesleyan, major dec. Clark, 14-2
Consolation R2 – Simon Graeber, Southern Oregon, major dec. Clark, 12-1

133 – Simon Graeber
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – No. 2 Thaddeus Long, Life, major dec. Graeber, 17-3
Consolation R1 – Graeber p. Dillon Witt, Missouri Baptist, 6:40
Consolation R2 – Graeber major dec. No. 16 Dylan Clark, Southern Oregon, 12-1
Friday's Results
Consolation R3 – Graeber p. Justin Rodriguez, Hastings, 3:31
Consolation R4 – No. 11 Izaeah Beavers, Campbellsville, dec. Graeber, 9-6

141 – No. 3 Evan Potter
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Bye
Round of 16 – Potter dec. Tyler Deen, Missouri Baptist, 4-1
Friday's Results
Quarterfinals – Potter dec. No. 6 Creighton Baughman, Concordia, 5-1
Semifinals – Potter dec. No. 2 Hartwell Taylor, Saint Mary, 6-4

157 – No. 2 Aaron Gandara
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Brayden Shelton, Missouri Valley, p. Gandara, 2:01
Consolation R1 – Bye
Consolation R2 – Gandara p. Josey Jernegan, Saint Mary, 3:58
Friday's Results
Consolation R3 – Gandara major dec No. 8 Ben Miller, Doane, 12-0
Consolation R4 – No. 6 Elijah Chacon, Indiana Tech, dec. Gandara, 13-6

157 – No. 11 Dylan Straley
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Straley dec. Malachia Harris, Cumberlands, 5-1
Round of 16 – No. 6 Elijah Chacon, Indiana Tech, p. Straley, 4:09
Consolation R2 – No. 5 Elliott Rodgers, Marian, major dec. Straley, 13-2

174 – No. 16 Braylin Ruchti
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Bye
Round of 16 – No. 1 Alex Reynolds, Grand View, tech. fall Ruchti, 18-2
Consolation R2 – Nolan Saale, Saint Mary, dec. Ruchti, 5-1

184 – No. 13 Adrian Chavez-Morales
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Chavez-Morales p. Kolten Kaymmeyer, Daone, 3:49
Round of 16 – No. 4 Kendall Norfleet, Life, major dec. Chavez-Morales, 8-0
Consolation R2 – Chavez-Morales p. Justin Bartee, Rio Grande, 2:27
Friday's Results
Consolation R3 – No. 12 Brice Parks, Campbellsville, major dec. Chavez-Morales, 13-3

197 – No. 14 Elias Corona
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Corona p. Kaleb Grove, Northwestern, 5:42
Round of 16 – No. 3 Khalil Abdushshakur, Life, tech. fall Corona, 19-2
Consolation R2 – Corona dec. Hunter James, Corban, 12-6
Friday's Results
Consolation R3 – No. 6 Trayvonne Jackson, Grand View, p. Corona, 6:44

197 – No. 8 Asher Ruchti
Thursday's Results
Round of 32 – Bye
Round of 16 – Ruchti dec. No. 9 Burton Brandt, Midland, 8-1
Friday's Results
Quarterfinals – No. 1 Garavous Kouekabakilaho, Grand View, dec. Ruchti, 10-4
Consolation R4 – Ruchti dec. No. 6 Trayvonne Jackson, Grand View, 5-2 (SV-1)
Consolation R5 – Ruchti tech. fall No. 7 Elijah Hynes, Missouri Valley, 18-1