Mustangs look on as NAIA wrestles for titles in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Tighter belts and slimmer wallets don't have a stranglehold everywhere in college athletics.

Mount Mercy University announced the addition of men's and women's bowling to program offerings last fall and more could be on the way as it begins the second installment of a self-assessment next year.

As the U.S. Cellular Center is set to host the NAIA Wrestling Championships today through Saturday, officials on the Mount Mercy campus a couple of miles away have considered adding the state's renowned sport and it seems inevitable to be a topic again in the near future.

“The biggest hurdle we have here is facilities,” Mount Mercy Athletics Director Scot Reisinger said this week. “We don't have room for wrestlers to practice and we just didn't feel it was right to add a sport where we could not adequately provide the necessary environment for the student-athletes or the coaches.”

School officials considered several factors when looking to expand programs late last year, Reisinger said, including travel, missed class time, gender equity and impact on facilities.

Gender equity has long been the hot-button issue with wrestling programs vanishing around the country. That's beginning to change significantly. Women's wrestling is growing at the collegiate level and that will help the sport of wrestling overall, Reisinger said.

Two or three wrestling programs have been added to the NAIA ranks each year in the last decade, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Adding facilities or expanding facilities will be critical for wrestling to get a serious look at Mount Mercy.

“If we were to add facilities, we want to make sure we plan for what we potentially have 10 or 15 years from now, not what we have right now,” Reisinger said. “It would be on the table again.”

This weekend's tournament will feature 39 teams and 324 individuals at the U.S. Cellular Center.

Top-ranked Notre Dame (Ohio) will try to become the ninth school to win consecutive national championships.

Grand View is ranked second and has 13 qualifiers. Another state school, Morningside, also qualified 13 wrestlers.

The hype of the national tournament adds to the allure for Mount Mercy, which recognizes the recruiting resources and support a wrestling program would receive.

“We're proud of everything we have accomplished, but we're also coaches and we always want a little bit more,” Reisinger said. “We'll keep pushing forward and keep improving.”

By Jason Brummond