Coach Mike Clark of Life University is very familiar with the NCWA having been an All-American for Springfield Tech, starting a program at the University of Louisville, and then assisting Bellarmine University in their last year of transition. With all this, one experience had alluded him, that of being named a National Champion. As his first year as the coach of the NCWA squad for Life University, his team successfully took on the best the NCWA had to offer with wins over the #2, #3, and then #1 seeds in the tournament. Life's NAIA squad recently placed 2nd in the NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals.

Life went 3-0 in Pool B on Day 1 defeating #8 East Carolina, #6 Washington State, and perennial National Dual contender #2 Liberty. The Apprentice School went 3-0 in Pool A on Day 1 defeating #7 Colorado State, #5 Central Florida, and #3 Thomas More. The NCWA has a unique National Duals format in which teams can still win the title losing on day 1. The brackets paired Apprentice with East Carolina, Liberty with Central Florida, Thomas More with Washington State, and Life with Colorado State. Apprentice would face Liberty in the semifinals and secured a 33-15 victory. Life faced off against Thomas More (NCAA-D2 transitioning team) and squarely beat the Saints 44-12. This set up a #1 vs. #4 matchup in the finals that would go back-and-forth with some big upsets and ultimately coming down to the heavyweight match. Three matches proved key for the title with pivotal wins by Life at 133, 184, and 285. Going into 285, Apprentice needed to secure a pin as they were down 26-21. During a late scramble in the 1st period of the match, Spencer Dacus of the Luchas caught Dustin Uribes and secured the pinfall, sending the Life corner into celebration as they sealed the 32-21 win to finish out the 2025 NCWA National Duals.

#4 Life University (NCWA) - 32 #1 The Apprentice School - 21

125 #3 Lucas VanNostrand (APPR) win by forfeit --- APPR 6 LIFE 0
133 #14 Ethan Sellers (LIFE) fall #1 Bruno Alves (APPR) 4:05 --- APPR 6 LIFE 6
141 #6 Jakob Brown (APPR) dec Brent Parivechio (LIFE) 10-9 --- APPR 9 LIFE 6
149 #6 Camron Crump (LIFE) dec #5 David Norris (APPR) 7-2 --- APPR 9 LIFE 9
157 Avant Stepherson (LIFE) tech fall #14 Logan Eastman (APPR) 19-4 --- LIFE 14 APPR 9
165 #5 Landon Kissell (APPR) mdec #6 Enrique Santana (LIFE, 157) 12-4 --- LIFE 14 APPR 13
174 #11 Connor Edwards (LIFE) fall #8 Ethan Baker (APPR) 6:15 --- LIFE 20 APPR 13
184 #4 Connor Cooper (LIFE) fall #3 Josh Seaton (APPR) 7:13 --- LIFE 26 APPR 13
197 #4 David McElravy (APPR) dec Ryan Krimpelbein (LIFE) 4-2 --- LIFE 26 APPR 16
235 #4 Caleb Hartung (APPR) tech fall Charlie Brown (LIFE) 17-2 --- LIFE 26 APPR 21
285 Spencer Dacus (LIFE) fall #12 Dustin Uribes (APPR) 2:26 --- LIFE 32 APPR 21

Other Placement Duals:
3rd Place: #2 Liberty - 42 #3 Thomas More - 15
5th Place: #5 Central Florida - 35 #6 Washington State - 21
7th Place: #7 Colorado State - 36 #8 East Carolina - 30z

Semifinals:
#1 Apprentice - 33 #2 Liberty - 15
#4 Life - 44 #3 Thomas More - 12

Quarterfinals:
#1 Apprentice - 61 #8 East Carolina - 0
#2 Liberty - 36 #5 Central Florida - 24
#3 Thomas More - 32 #6 Washington State - 25
#4 Life - 55 #7 Colorado State - 0

Consolation Semifinals:
#5 Central Florida - 59 #8 East Carolina - 6
#6 Washington State - 59 #7 Colorado State - 6