Prado Makes Day Two, Four Wildcats Compete at 2026 NAIA Men’s Wrestling Championships

WICHITA, Kan. - The Baker men's wrestling team had its 2025-26 season come to a close on Friday as the Wildcats' four national qualifiers bowed out of the 2026 NAIA Men's Wrestling Championships in Wichita, Kan.

BU had four wrestlers in action at the national tournament, held inside Heartland Credit Union Arena, with Saoul Prado (125) and Nikolas Slatoff (149) both making their second straight appearance, while Hunter Hall and Kevin Lund were both first-time national qualifiers at 197 pounds.

After falling in his first bout of the tournament to the No. 12 seed, Prado bounced back with back-to-back wins on Thursday to move on to the second day of the championships. The senior from Las Vegas edged out a hard-fought 8-5 decision in his first consolation match before making a little easier work of Montreat's Kane Bryson in the next round, where he won on a 10-1 major decision.

Prado had his tournament run come to a close on Friday, though, after being pinned in the third period of his third-round consolation match.

As the No. 7 seed in the 149-pound bracket, Slatoff won his opening round match with a 10-7 decision over Reinhardt's Garrett Pace to advance in the championship bracket before dropping his next two matches on Thursday evening. Slatoff appeared to have a late takedown in his final match, but the official ruled the attempt incomplete as Slatoff went on to fall in the sudden-death overtime.

Hall and Lund gave the Wildcats a pair of national qualifiers in the 197-pound bracket, with both wrestlers joining Prado in earning an at-large bid to the NAIA Championships. Hall fell on a close 4-0 decision in his first match against the No. 14 seed, while Lund had the unfortunate draw of facing two-time national champion Garavous Kouekabakilaho of Grand View. Both wrestlers fell in their next matches, closing out their first trip to nationals.

All four national qualifiers finished in the top seven at the Heart Conference Championships two weeks ago, led by Slatoff's runner-up finish at 149 pounds, while Hall and Prado took sixth and Lund finished right behind Hall in seventh.

Baker finished sixth in the team standings at the Heart Championships and extended its 17-year streak of having at least three wrestlers qualify for the NAIA postseason. The four national qualifiers marked the program's most in three years.

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