(Oklahoma City, OK) Two Northwestern College wrestlers, Levi Price and Nic Leither, earned NAIA All-American honors at the 2010 NAIA Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City. With one session to go, the Red Raiders are in 18th place with a total of 34 points. Notre Dame (Ohio) is the overall leader with 167.5 points and has four wrestlers competing for the national championship in tonight's session. Great Falls (Mont.) with 118.5 points is second, followed by Southern Oregon (112) and Missouri Valley (106). Dana is the top GPAC school with 61.5 points and in ninth place.

Price, a senior from Cannon Falls, Minn. and 2008 All-American, went 4-3 at the championships and finished eighth at 149-pounds. He split Thursday's matches, recording an 11-1 major decision win in the opener over Andy Schoultz (Cumberland) but losing to Trace Billet (Embry-Riddle) 4-3. In Friday's wrestlebacks, Price needed just 46 seconds to defeat Dan Hutcheson of Dakota Wesleyan and followed with wins over Willie Shelton-Delk of Oklahoma City (11-3) and Jimmy Eggenmeyer of Southern Oregon (6-5). Price then lost to Ashtin Primus (Notre Dame), who finished third, by fall and then faced Billet again for seventh place, falling 10-4. Price closes his Red Raider career as the all-time leader in wins.

Leither, a sophomore from Atwater, Minn., was the top Raider finisher, placing fourth at 197. He earned All-American honors for the second consecutive year. Leither opened with back-to-back wins to get to the semifinals Friday night. He defeated Ike Owena (Missouri Baptist) 9-2 and then recorded a big 12-3 win over Charlie Gibbs of Missouri Valley. In the semifinal match, Leither faced Derek Foore (Notre Dame) and suffered a tough, hard-fought 11-6 loss. In the wrestlebacks, Leither recorded a narrow 3-2 win over Evan Mattingly (Montana State-Northern) to reach the third place match on Saturday where he lost by fall (6:27) to Alex Calvi of the University of Great Falls.

A total of nine Red Raiders competed at the 2010 event. Other top finishers include Brian Heiberger, a junior from Hartford, S.D., who won his first two matches to reach the championship quarterfinals on Friday. He defeated Josh Emmet (Morningside) by fall (4:22) and Jake Johnson (Lindenwood) by fall (2:26). In the quarterfinals, Heiberger suffered an 11-6 defeat to Nik Turner (Oklahoma City) and was eliminated from competition in his first match in the wrestleback round, falling to Tyler Chang (Embry Riddle) by fall (2:41). Luke Evjen and David Carter each went 1-2 in their respective weight classes. Evjen, a sophomore from Hayfield, Minn. lost to Adrian Gonzalez (Morningside) 5-3 in his first match but came back to defeat Chris Diaz (William Penn), 9-4. Evjen was eliminated in his next match by David Weise (Cumberland), 5-4. Carter, a junior from Springfield, Ore., lost his first match at 174 by fall to Drae Cox (Lindenwood). He then won by default over Daniel Bedoy (Calumet College-St. Joseph) before losing to Gavilan Bland (Missouri Baptist) by fall.

NWC Results:

125-Diego Quintana-0-2 (L: 8-3, L: 15-8)

141-Matt Dowell-0-2 (L: 11-2, L: 15-2 MD)

149-Levi Price-4-3 (8th) NAIA HM All-American

157-Jerod Flores-0-2 (L: 5-2, L:7-6)

157-Brian Heiberger-2-2 (W: Fall, W: Fall, L: 11-6, L: Fall

165-Luke Evjen-1-2 (L: 5-3, W: 9-4, L: 5-4)

174-David Carter-1-2 (L: Fall; W: WBD, L: Fall

197: Nic Leither-3-2 (4th Place) NAIA All-American

HVT: Brad Hughes-0-2 (L: Fall, L: 8-5