SHREVEPORT, La. -- Ferrum College placed seventh in the 2026 National Collegiate Wrestling Association  Wrestling Championships, help Thursday through Saturday, March 26-28 at Brokshire Grocery Arena. 

Freshman Ezekiel Keel won the 125-pound national championship for the Panthers, going 6-0 with a pair of pins, a tech fall and three decisions. In the finals, he and beat Lucas VanNostrand of the Apprentice School by a score of 14-13. 

Ferrum had four other placewinners in Cameron Curva (5th, 149 lbs), Hayden Thompson (7th, 149), Andres Cortes (6th, 157) and Braeden Fluke (7th, 285).

Curva went 6-2 with a pin, a tech fall and a major decision, while Thompson went 5-2 with three pins. Cortes went 5-3 with a pin and a tech fall, and Fluke went 5-2 with five pins.

Also competing for the Panthers at the NCWA Nationals were Josiah Canales Maldonado (133 lbs), Braden Crawford (141), Blake McCarty (157), Robert Owens Jr. (165), Hunter Thompson (174), Joseph Toner (184), Grayson Ringwald (184), Noah Harris (197) and Franklin Melton (235),

Ferrum qualified 14 wrestlers for the NCWA Nationals, which closed out the season for Coach Blake Roulo's team. The Panthers finished with an 8-8 overall dual meet record under Roulo, including a 3-7 mark in Conference Carolinas.