CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) announced today its 2022-23 All-Conference Wrestling Team and major award winners. Headlining the announcement as American Rivers Conference Most Valuable Performers (MVPs) are Wartburg's Zane Mulder (Jr., 174lbs., Grimes, Iowa/Dallas Center-Grimes) and Massoma Endene (So., 197lbs., Dallas, Texas/James Bowie). Wartburg College Head Coach, Eric Keller was voted A-R-C Coach of the Year and Luther College's Clayton McDonough (Fr., 149lbs., Nora Springs, Iowa/Central Springs) was selected Freshman of the Year.
 
The 30-member team is composed of the top three A-R-C place-winners at the NCAA Division III Lower Midwest Regional Championships. The wrestler or wrestlers who finished highest at the NCAA Championships are deemed American Rivers Conference Most Valuable Performer(s), while the Freshman and Coach of the Year awards are voted on by the league's head coaches.
 
Co-Most Valuable Performer – Zane Mulder, Jr., 174lbs., Wartburg College
As the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Championships, Mulder posted a fall and three decisions on his way to his individual national title. In the first round, the Knights junior posted a fall in 4:25 over Wesleyan University's (Conn.) Marco Gaita. Mulder advanced to face the seventh-seeded Seth Goetzinger of Augsburg University where he made his way to the semifinals with an 8-2 decision. Facing yet another seeded opponent in the semifinals, Mulder came out on top with a 4-0 decision over sixth-seeded Charlie Grygas of Oswego State. In the Championship bout, Mulder defeated UW-Eau Claire's Jared Stricker by 7-5 decision to claim the spot at the top of the podium.
 
Co-Most Valuable Performer – Massoma Endene, So., 197lbs., Wartburg College
Endene finished his first season at Wartburg as the 197-pound National Champion. The No. 2 seed at the national tournament started the weekend strong, posting a 13-2 major decision over Dylan Harr of Johnson & Wales. Endene advanced to the semifinals after defeating Camden Farrow of York College by a 9-7 decision. The sophomore picked up a hard-fought 2-1 decision in the semifinal round over Tyler Hannah of UW-Platteville to advance to the championship bout. Facing the No. 1-seeded wrestler in the championship, Endene pulled off an upset as he defeated Coy Spooner of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy 10-6 to claim his first national championship.
 
Coach of the Year – Eric Keller, Wartburg College
In his 13th season at the helm of the Wartburg College men's wrestling program, Eric Keller was voted the league's Coach of the Year for the seventh time in his career (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2022, 2023). Keller led Wartburg to the program's 40th conference title. The Knights finished the conference dual season with a perfect 8-0 record. The national stage saw the Wartburg Knights take home a second-place trophy and saw two wrestlers earn individual national championships. Five of Wartburg's wrestlers found their way to the podium at the national tournament to earn All-America honors.
 
American Rivers Conference wrestlers secured 21 of the 30 qualifying spots to the NCAA Championships in the 2023 Lower Midwest Regionals. Of the 21 A-R-C wrestlers that qualified for the NCAA Championships, seven were crowned Lower Midwest Region Champions. Seven earned second-place and ten A-R-C wrestlers competed for third place with seven earning the win and qualifying for the national tournament. Two weight classes took all three qualifying spots (184lbs. and 197lbs.).
 
At the conclusion of the 2023 NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia, 13 of the 21 wrestlers from the A-R-C earned All-American honors. Two wrestlers took home national titles, two finished runner-up and one finished third. Two earned fourth, one earned fifth, three stood sixth on the podium and two finished seventh.
 
The American Rivers All-Conference team is made up of eight wrestlers from Wartburg, followed by Loras with seven, Coe with six, and Luther with four. Dubuque had three and Central had two wrestlers earn All-Conference honors.
 
Fifteen of the 30 All-Conference selections are earning at least their second honor, ten are picking up their third honor, while Coe's Kaleb Reeves and Loras' Shane Liegel became four-time honorees. Wartburg's Kris Rumph is now a five-time All-Conference honoree.
 
The complete 2022-2023 American Rivers All-Conference Wrestling team is as follows:

 

2022-23 All-American Rivers Conference Wrestling Team
Co-MVP - Zane Mulder, Wartburg College, Jr., 174lbs.
Co-MVP - Massoma Endene, Wartburg College, So., 197lbs.
Freshman of the Year - Clayton McDonough, Luther College, Fr., 149lbs.
Coach of the Year - Eric Keller, Wartburg College
Name	Weight	Regional Finish	School	Year	Hometown/High School
Brady Koontz	125	3rd Place	Dubuque	Sr.	Plover, Wis./Stevens Point Area Senior
Cade Hornback	125	4th Place	Coe	Jr.	Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo
James Levy	125	5th Place	Wartburg	So.	Hilton Head, SC/Hilton Head
Dylan Koontz	133	2nd Place	Dubuque	Sr.	Plover, Wis./Stevens Point Area Senior
Joe Pins $ #	133	3rd Place	Wartburg	Jr.	Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead
Alex Friddle # &	133	4th Place	Coe	Sr.	Morris, Ill./Coal City
Zayren Terukina $ @	141	2nd Place	Wartburg	Sr.	Ewa Beach, Hawaii/James Campbell
Eric Kinkaid	141	3rd Place	Loras	Fr.	Camanche, Iowa/Camanche
Pierre Baldwin	141	5th Place	Central	Fr.	Carol Stream, Ill./West Chicago
Kris Rumph $ # & !	149	1st Place	Wartburg	Sr.	Portage, Ind./Portage
Clayton McDonough	149	3rd Place	Luther	Fr.	Nora Springs, Iowa/Central Springs
Jalen Schropp $ # ^	149	6th Place	Loras	Jr.	Williamsburg, Iowa/Williamsburg
David Hollingworth $ #	157	1st Place	Wartburg	Sr.	Owings Mills, MD/Owings Mills
Zeke Smith $ #	157	2nd Place	Loras	Sr.	Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie
Bryce McDonough	157	5th Place	Luther	Fr.	Nora Springs, Iowa/Central Springs
Gabe Fiser $ #	165	1st Place	Loras	Sr.	Grundy, Va./Grundy
Nathan Fuller	165	3rd Place	Wartburg	Fr.	River Falls, Wis./River Falls
Marcus Mandler	165	6th Place	Luther	Sr.	San Leandro, Calif./San Leandro
Zane Mulder $ #	174	1st Place	Wartburg	Jr.	Grimes, Iowa/Dallas Center-Grimes
LJ Richardson	174	2nd Place	Coe	So.	Prosper, Texas/Prosper
Zeb Gnida	174	5th Place	Loras	Jr.	Solon, Iowa/Solon
Shane Liegel $ # % &	184	1st Place	Loras	Sr.	Spring Green, Wis./River Valley
Donovan Corn $ #	184	2nd Place	Luther	Sr.	Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton
Tristin Westphal $ #	184	3rd Place	Coe	Sr.	Washington, Iowa/Washington
Massoma Endene	197	1st Place	Wartburg	So.	Dallas, Texas/James Bowie
Gage Linahon $	197	2nd Place	Central	Jr.	Newton, Iowa/Newton
Jared Voss	197	3rd Place	Coe	So.	Ryan, Iowa/West Delaware
Kaleb Reeves $ # !	285	1st Place	Coe	Sr.	Sigourney, Iowa/Sigourney
Darryl Aiello	285	2nd Place	Dubuque	Sr.	Dubuque, Iowa/De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)
Wyatt Wriedt # &	285	4th Place	Loras	Sr.	Eldridge, Iowa/North Scott
Previous Honors
@ - 2021-22 MVP
$ - 2021-22 All-Conference
% - 2020-21 Co-MVP
# - 2020-21 All-Conference
^ - 2020-21 Freshman of the Year
& - 2019-20 All-Conference
! - 2018-19 All-Conference