All-Americans set the bar for future Baker wrestlers
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Baker University wrestling team is yet again soaring to new heights in just its second year of existence. For the first time in the programs history, two wrestlers were named NAIA All-Americans this past weekend at the NAIA Wrestling National Championships. All-America status is automatically earned if a wrestler advances to the championship round on day two.
149 pound Jarell Price (Las Vegas, Nev.) advanced to the quarterfinal round before being knocked out by Jefferey Pelton (Notre Dame College). Pelton was defeated in the semifinals by Matt Burns (Grandview).
Heavyweight Levi Calhoun (Moore, Okla.) closed out his senior season in style. Calhoun a former Baker University football player used two more years of eligibility to wrestle for the Wildcats his junior and senior year. Calhoun took home a fourth-place finish after falling in the semifinals to Orlando Scales (Notre Dame College).
“Our whole team had a great season,” said head coach Jimmy May. “The All-Americans will forever go down in the history of this program. Jarell (Price) will definitely have something to build on heading into his junior year.”
Baker also had two NAIA Scholar-Athletes to close out the season in Jason Schweer (Waverly, Iowa) and Adam Lackey (Lindsborg, Kan.). In order to be nominated by an institution's head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status to qualify for this honor. View the full list here
The Wildcats will close out the season ranked No. 16 in the country in the final Top 20 NAIA Wrestling Coaches’ Poll.
“This was just the beginning of what we hope to continue to build upon in the coming years,” May added. “These guys are hungry and we’ll already be preparing for next season.”
