Athletics’ banner weekend capped off by Men’s Basketball trip to ‘The Dance’

Athletics’ banner weekend capped off by Men’s Basketball trip to ‘The Dance’

What a weekend to be a Student Prince! Heidelberg Athletics delivered a powerhouse performance across the board, turning heads and making history. Men’s Basketball stunned the conference to claim the OAC Tournament title and punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. On campus, the Berg crowned two champions at the OAC Indoor Track & Field Championships—hosted for the first time ever at Frann’s Fieldhouse—while four wrestlers battled their way to Regional podium finishes.

Championship grit. Home-turf history. Unmatched pride. Go ’Berg!

Let’s dance!

INDIANAPOLIS – The wait is over. The Student Princes are going dancing.

For the first time since 2022, Men’s Basketball is headed back to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament — and it’s a familiar road trip. Just like two years ago, the Berg is bound for Illinois Wesleyan University.
Bloomington, Illinois, will once again set the stage as Heidelberg joins John Carroll University and Grinnell College at IWU’s Shirk Center for an electric Friday-Saturday showdown on March 6-7.

Game times will be announced soon — but one thing is already certain: the Student Princes are ready for the spotlight.

The 64-team field included 43 automatic qualifiers and 21 at-large selections. Heidelberg, with the automatic qualifier in hand, was one of three Ohio Athletic Conference teams in the field. Otterbein is headed to Chicago and Mount Union will travel to Christopher Newport. 

How they got here

WESTERVILLE – When the movie about the 2025-26 Heidelberg University Men's Basketball team gets made, the first 20 minutes will be a Major League-esque montage of how this cast of student-athletes came together.  

A new coach. The transfers. The guys who stuck around.

There will, inevitably, be a portion of the movie where the team was left for dead.  

The late-season four-game skid. The bounce-back against their old foes.

And then, there was the Cinderella run on the road through the OAC Tournament. At Muskingum. At No. 8 Mount Union – site of so many heartbreaks. And the championship at No. 20 Otterbein – hoisting the OAC Tournament Trophy for only the second time in program history and punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.  

The ending has yet to be written!  

The No. 5 seed Student Princes upset No. 2 seed Otterbein, 82-75, on Saturday evening in Westerville.  

Heidelberg took an early lead, going on a 15-2 run with five 3-pointers in a three-minute span. From there, the Tricolor nursed that lead into a 10-point advantage at halftime.

In the second half, The Berg withstood every Otterbein charge – never allowing the Cardinals to have possession in a one-score game. Down the stretch, HU sank enough foul shots from the line to be in control until the final horn.

Jarveil Gainey had a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team. Marcos Vazquez had 18 points, also earning a spot on the All-Tourney team.

Trey Killens had 11, as did Abba Lawal. Brady Bosma, Markell Johnson-Nichols, and Riley Gossom all had seven.  

Braatz and Henderson strike gold

Frann’s Fieldhouse was electric Friday and Saturday as the Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships came to a thrilling close. Competing on their home track, Heidelberg’s women’s and men’s teams each powered their way to sixth-place finishes in a stacked field. The highlight? Two Student Princes rose to the top of the podium as OAC Champions — Brianna Braatz blazing to gold in the 60M dash and James Henderson dominating the 1000M run.

Mount Union took the men’s and women’s team title. Heidelberg finished sixth in both.

Brianna clocked a 7.80 in the 60, cementing her place as the fastest woman in the OAC. Brianna was only .41 away from first in the 200, clocking a 25.73 and finishing as the runner-up.

James, a freshman, turned heads in the 1000, running a 2:31.67 in the 1000M. Hudson Black also earned a spot on the podium, placing third with a 2:33.58.  

Other highlights

Amelia Lewin capped her strong weekend with a fourth-place finish in the shot. Her mark of 12.81M was .02 out of third. On Friday, she finished second in the weight throw with a final of 16.33m.

Cornell Test took home a runner-up finish in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 4.50m.

Joe Brewster ran the 3000 in 8:50.30, placing fifth overall.  

Ella Jacobs tied for sixth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.56M.

Dean Morrison grabbed a point with an eighth-place time of 4:22.01 in the mile.

Travis Bolden earned an eighth-place finish in the 200, clocking in at 22.61.  

The women's 4x200 relay team placed fourth, while the men's 4x400 was sixth and the women's 4x400 was eighth.

Emily Valencia placed eighth in the 400, crossing the line in 1:02.66.

Finally, the women’s distance medley team was seventh, with Addison Horner, Kylie Cope, Briana Westrick and Lauren Hall clocking at 13.54.05. The men's group took fourth with a time of 10:25.42.

Wrestlers at Regionals

ADA, Ohio – After qualifying four wrestlers for a trip to the NCAA Championships on the first day of the Region IV Men’s Wrestling Tournament at Ohio Northern, the Student Princes wrapped up the 2025-26 season with four placers.

Travis Richardson went 2-0 on Friday, but ran into trouble on Saturday. At 165, he pinned Jacob Potts (Thiel) and majored Aiden Stecker (Mount Union), 12-0, on Day One. In the semifinals, he lost, then fell in his first match in the consolation bracket. A medical forfeit in the match for fifth resulted in a sixth-place finish.

At 149, Drew Miller also took sixth. He won his opener on Friday, pinning Griffin Stewart (Shenandoah), before falling in his second. He stayed alive with a 10-4 win over Asher LeBeau (Wilmington) and a pin against Jack DeBoe (Mount Union). He lost in the consolation semis, then dropped the fifth-place match.

Lee Woods lost his opener at 125, but responded by pinning Anthony Unger (Muskingum) and beating Jaton Wellington (Southern Virginia), 4-2. After a loss, he battled for seventh place and won, pinning Brandon Dami (W&J).  

Owen Frizzell took to the mats at 184 and took home a seventh-place finish. He won his first two matches – an 8-0 major over Devin Sweeney (Washington & Lee) and a pin of Colton Webster (Randolph). A loss sent him into the consolations, but he responded with a 13-5 major of Jonathan Braun (Bethany). One more defeat put him in the match for seventh, which he won with a pin over Harrison Hoopes (Southern Virginia).

As a team, Heidelberg was seventh.  

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