The mindset is nearly identical.

In many ways, the pupil has learned from his mentor.

Omi Acosta won a national championship for Nick Mitchell in 2012 at Grand View. Then he spent three years on Mitchell’s staff helping the Vikings win three more national championships.

Acosta left for Life University in 2016 with a book full of knowledge on how to build a championship team. A year ago, he accomplished that feat as the Running Eagles halted Grand View’s march to 10 consecutive championships by winning by five points in Wichita.

Roughly 36 hours before Friday’s first whistle at the Hartman Center in Wichita for the 2022 championships, both coaches reflected on what that means for this championship event.

“I’ve talked to the guys about it,” Acosta said. “I told them nobody can come steal that trophy from us. It was earned. But I’ve also told them we are not defending anything — we’re chasing something new.

“That is what our guys have done this year. They have showed up, put in the work, and now it is time to cash their checks from all that hard work they put in.”

Missing out on making history has not weighed heavily on the Vikings throughout the 2021-22 season.

“Yes, we have reminded them, but it has not been a focus,” Mitchell said. “When we were winning all those titles every year was trying to win something new, and to that what happened last year does not have an impact on this tournament.

“The work is done. Now our guys just need to go compete and see what happens.”

Life, Grand View, and Reinhardt all have qualified a complete complement of 12 wrestlers to the field. Indiana Tech and Southeastern qualified 11, and Cumberlands (Kentucky) advanced 10.

The Mid-South Conference led all conferences with 66. The Cascade College Conference garnered 43 and the Heart of America Athletic Conference received 38.

“It is a competitive field,” Mitchell said. “The COVID extra year saw some guys come back that made teams stronger. I’m really interested to see how it plays out, because I think it will continue to do that for the next couple of years.”

It is a stacked field. Nearly 50 returning All-Americans are back, including six defending champions – Brandon Orum of Life at 125, Conner Gimson of Indiana Tech at 133, Baterdene Boldmaa of Doane at 141, Andreus Bond of Southeastern (Fla) at 149, Eric Vermillion of Indiana Tech at 184, and Isaac Bartel of Montana State-Northern at 197.

There are also eight returning national runner-up finishers.

A few of the top contenders have switched weights as Grand View’s Esco Walker of dropped from 133 to 125, after finishing second to Gimson last March when he wrestled for Cumberland (Tenn.), 141-pound runner-up Ryan Moore of Thomas More (Ky) is now at 149. Grand View’s Marty Margolis was third at 149 a season ago, and now is at 165. Tyson Beauperthuy of Midland (Neb.), second a year ago at 184, is now at 197.

“I’m excited,” Acosta said. “It is a deep and competitive field. It is always a fight at the NAIA National Championships.”

Both Grand View and Life took similar approaches to prepare for the two-day championship event.

The Vikings traveled to Life and participated in the Running Eagles’ open tournament. They also participated in the Reno Tournament of Champions, the NWCA National Duals, and took on Division II powerhouse Nebraska-Kearney in a dual.

“Those things were purposeful,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t schedule Nebraska-Kearney because it was a great idea. It was for a purpose. It was to see how they responded to tough situations.

“We wanted our schedule to be tough. I think that was something we missed with COVID in 2020-21, we weren’t able to schedule as tough as we’d had like to have.”

Seven of the Vikings’ 12 qualifiers have NAIA national experience, and one of GVU’s two heavyweight qualifiers, Tommy Mommer, has wrestled at the NJCAA championships.

“We’ve proven all year we can handle the pressure,” Mitchell said. “They’ve seen it all. They’ve responded well, and I expect them to respond well this week.”

Acosta also says Life purposefully scheduled tough.

“We take pride in exposing our wrestlers to the best competition in the country,” Acosta said. “You got to use it as a weapon. Nothing should be a surprise in Wichita. Now you show up and wrestle, go after what we’ve worked hard for all season.”

The Running Eagles return six all-Americans, including Orum, Denver Stonecheck, and Asher Eichert, all of whom were finalists last season.

For complete information on the NAIA championships, go to https://www.hartmanarena.com/events/2021/naia-wrestling-national-championships