WICHITA, Kan. – The Northwestern College wrestlers of Luke Jenness and Jakob Francksen-Small competed at the 2022 National Association of Athletics (NAIA) Wrestling Championships in Wichita, Kan. to cap off the 2021-22 season.
 
The two Raiders went a combined 1-4 at this year's wrestling championships, leaving it all on the mats. "This is a tough tournament with little room for error," noted head coach Rik Dahl. "It's hard to make a mistake down here because the quality of opponents are so high."
 
Jenness (So., Primghar, Iowa/Sheldon) defeated Baron Gaunt (Vanguard) by fall (4:07), to advance to the second round to face Niko Perovic (Williams Baptist). He would drop the second-round match in a sudden victory defeat (3-1) to move into the consolation bracket.
 
In his first consolation bracket bout, the sophomore would battle Carl Hansen, a sophomore out of Montana State-Northern, falling in an 11-6 decision. On the event, Jenness went 1-2. He finishes the season with a record of 29-6 on the season, collecting a team-high 12 fall victories.
 
Francksen-Small (Fr., Merrill, Iowa/Le Mars Community) fell in a hard fought 7-6 decision to Chris Morales of Lincoln College in the opening round. He moved into the consolation bracket later in the day, falling to Jordan Bernal of Menlo College (Calif.) in an 8-3 decision.
 
On the season, the freshman ends with a record 20-11, notching a team-high in major decisions with 5, while notching a team's third-best six fall victories.
 
"Luke and Jake gave it all they had and that makes me proud," said Dahl. "They are still young and still have lots of wrestling left. They will learn, adjust and come back hungry as ever."