The Evergreen State College sophomore Horacio Godinez took eighth place in the 141-pound weight class to earn All-American honors as the 2026 NAIA Men’s Wrestling Championships concluded on Saturday, March 7 in Wichita, Kansas.
Godinez, seeded No. 15, was defeated in the seventh-place match by No. 3-seeded Sammy Shires of Cumberland University on Saturday. Godinez is the first Geoduck to be named an All-American in men’s wrestling since Evergreen added the sport prior to the 2023-24 season. He is also the first Evergreen men’s wrestler to compete at the NAIA Championships.
In the seventh-place match, Shires gained a 3-0 lead on a takedown with 44 seconds left in the first period. Shires increased his lead with a reversal at the 1:25 mark in the second period before Godinez cut the margin to 5-1 by earning an escape with 17 seconds remaining. Neither wrestler scored during the third period, although Shires added a point at the end for riding time.
Shires defeated Godinez twice during the NAIA Championships. He edged out Godinez 8-7 in the second round in their first meeting.
During the NAIA Championships, Godinez defeated No. 6-seeded Jared Dinh from Cumberland with a 16-1 technical fall in the third consolation round and downed No. 1 seed Adrian Ayala 9-5 in the fourth consolation round. Godinez achieved a 4-3 record during the tournament and finished the season with a 37-7 overall record to set the Evergreen record for wins in a season. He also holds Evergreen’s career record for victories with a 61-14 record in two seasons with the Geoducks.
Godinez scored a total of 10.5 points in the team standings. Even with one competitor, Evergreen placed 33rd out of 63 teams in the tournament.
