Team & Individual NWCA Scholar All-American Honors
Concordia had five individuals earn NWCA Scholar All-Americans. Ty Bisek, Ayden Friese, Elijah Hunt, Kellen Schauer and Gabe Zierden all received the honor and helped the Cobbers finish in the Top 15 in the Team Scholar awards.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/21/24)---Concordia had five individuals earn National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-American honors and finished in the Top 15 in the All-Scholar team awards.
Ty Bisek (Jr. New London, Minn./New London-Spicer HS), Ayden Friese (Sr., Granite Falls, Minn.), Elijah Hunt (Sr., St. Peter, Minn.), Kellen Schauer (Sr., Bovey, Minn./Grand Rapids HS) and Gabe Zierden (Sr., Albany, Minn.) all received the honor handed out by the national coaches association.
The five wrestlers, who were all place winners for the Cobbers at the Upper Midwest Regional Meet, helped Concordia finish in the Top 15 of Division III in the Team Scholar honors. Concordia finished the year with a 3.62 team grade point average marking an unprecedented fifth straight year that the Cobbers have finished with a team GPA above 3.00.
| Complete List of NWCA Scholar All-Americans | Complete List of Team Scholar Awards |
The Top 15 team finish and five Scholar All-American award winners continue the recent success that Concordia has shown in the classroom. Since 2016-17, the Cobbers have produced the program's first Elite 90 award winner, a pair of CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, four CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees and 31 NWCA Scholar All-Americans.
Concordia's academic success carried over to the athletic side, where the Cobbers were ranked in the Top 25 of Division III during the season and had seven wrestlers record a podium finish at the regional meet. Concordia posted a second consecutive sixth-place team finish which marks the highest finish at a regional meet since 2017.
On the mat, Zierden and Bisek led the Cobbers in 2023-24. Zierden became only the fifth athlete in program history to reach the championship match at an NCAA National Meet and first since 2011. He finished the year with All-American honors and a 38-4 record. The 38 wins tied the school's all-time record for wins in a single season.
Zierden also carried his athletic success over to the academic side where he had a 3.48 GPA while majoring in Exercise Science and minoring in Nutrition.
Bisek, who earned NCAA All-American honors in 2023, was ranked in the Top 6 of Division III throughout the season and ended the year with a 27-4 record. Bisek is a Finance major and has a 3.21 GPA.
Hunt and Schauer led the five Cobber Scholar All-Americans in the classroom. Both student-athletes carry a 4.00 GPA. Hunt is a Mathematics Education major with a minor in Spanish while Schauer majored in Healthcare Leadership and minored in Sociology.