BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Adrian Ayala was named the Deno White Mid-South Conference Wrestler of the Tournament while the Lindsey Wilson men's wrestling team finished fourth at the MSC Championship on Friday at Ephram White Gym.

Ayala (No. 3 at 141) earned the honor after taking home the conference title at 141 pounds. Ayala went 3-0 on Friday, earning two decisions and a tech fall. He opened his tournament with a 15-0 tech fall of Midway's (Ky.) Lucas Hall. In the semifinals, Ayala earned a 6-0 decision over Campbellsville's (Ky.) Nick Moore (No. 6 at 141). He captured the title with a 7-4 decision against Sammy Shires (No. 2 at 141) of Cumberland (Tenn.).

Lindsey Wilson finished with 130 points to place fourth. Cumberlands (Ky.) edged out Cumberland by 2.5 points, 168-165.5, to capture the conference championship. Campbellsville finished in third place with 156.0 points. Georgetown (Ky.) finished in fifth with 115.0 points. Rio Grande (Ohio) and Midway (Ky.) round out the standings with 49.0 and 42.5 points, respectively.

Along with Ayala, four additional  Blue Raiders earned All-Conference honors, finishing in the top three of their respective weight classes. Alex Tabor finished runner-up at 133, and Emmanuel Celestine finished in third place at 157. Cory Cannan and Ashton Habeil finished second and third at 184. All five wrestlers earned automatic bids to the 2026 NAIA Men's Wrestling National Championship. 

Tabor received a bye in the quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals, where he defeated Cumberlands' Riley  Bettich (No. 4 at 133) by a 5-2 decision. Tabor lost to eventual champion Izaeh Beavers (No. 14 at 133)  in the first-place match 20-4. 

Cannan (No. 7 at 184)  won his quarterfinal match against Cumberland's Lane Kiser (No. 19 at 184) by an 8-3 decision to move to the semifinals. Following Habiel's injury forfeit, Cannan was defeated by Georgetown's Navarro Nanpuya (No. 8 at 184) in the first-place match, 7-5.

Habiel (No. 23 at 184) defeated the No. 10-ranked Brice Parks from Campbellsville in a 5-3 decision. In the consolation semifinals,  he pinned Cumberland's Logan Heckert to move to the third-place match. Habiel defeated Cumberland's Rocco Horvath (No. 9 at 184) by a 6-0 decision. 

Arlo Laxton finished in fourth place at 133. Laxton defeated Leland Reeves (No. 17 at 133) of Georgetown by injury forfeit. Laxton then fell to Beavers 14-3. Laxton then defeated Alex Velasquez, from Midway, 9-4, before falling in the third-place match to Bettich.

Kiowa Vines finished in fourth place at 149. Vines pinned Georgetown's Cofy Walls in the opening round, advancing to the quarterfinals, where he pinned Campbellsville's Cal Beadling. In the semifinal match, Vines was defeated by Campbellsville's Nik Yancey (No. 4 at 149). He defeated Walls again, moving to the third-place match, where he was defeated by Ty Lehman (No. 15 at 149) of Cumberlands. 


Celestine (No. 24 at 157) was defeated by Mackandle Freeman from Rio Grande in his first match. Celestine then proceeded to win three consecutive matches in the consolation bracket to earn a spot in the third-place match. In his first consolation match, he defeated Cumberlands' Marc Le Gaspe (No. 22 at 157), advancing to the next round where he defeated Campbellsville's Anthony Joseph. In the consolation semifinal, Celestine faced Freeman again, this time defeating him in a 5-4 decision, to move to the third-place match. In the third-place match, Chelestin defeated Cumberland's Antonio Parker by a 9-4 decision.  

Kriecg Roe finished in fifth place at 174. Roe defeated Georgetown's Keenan Shively 11-8 in the quarterfinal match before being pinned by Campbellsville's Shadrick Slone (No. 6 at 174) in the semifinal. Roe would fall to Georgetown's Jackson Burger in the consolation semifinal before defeating Shively for a second time, 16-9, to secure fifth place.


The Blue Raiders now begin preparations for the NAIA National Championship, which gets underway on March 5 in Park City, Kansas.