Twelve members of the Nebraska-Kearney wrestling team have earned Division II Scholar All-American honors from National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA).
In order for a student-athlete to qualify, he must have a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale, with that benchmark at 3.25 for those who qualified for the 2024 NCAA Championships and a 3.00 for those who were All-Americans at the NCAA’s. Additionally, a student-athlete must have competed on four dates of competition. This year, a total of 363 individuals from 61 institutions were honored.
National runner up and senior Nick James (Kearney) is honored for the fourth time with All-Americans Billy Higgins (Omaha Skutt) and Crew Howard (Creston, Ia.) qualifying for the third and second times, respectively. Also repeat selections are redshirt sophomores Jake Boley (Colorado Springs), Daniel DeRosier (Bellevue East), Kaden Hart (St. Peters, Mo.), Hector Serratos (Wichita) and Dylan Vodicka (David City).
Finally, the first-team qualifiers are redshirt sophomore Trenton Munoz (Santa Clarita, Calif.), redshirt freshmen Tate Kuchera (Bassett) and Zach Ourada (Omaha Skitt) and true freshman Andrew Garfield (Central City).
Indianapolis (Mo.) led in the Scholar All-American team race. The Greyhounds came in with a 3.480 GPA with UNK ranking 14th (3.276).
This past winter, UNK finished 3rd at the NCAA Championships, its 22nd consecutive top eight finish at that meet. Additionally, the Lopers won Super Region VI and were second in the MIAA behind national champ Central Oklahoma.
