Competing in the Mid-South Conference Championships for the first time in program history, Lourdes put two of its four wrestlers on the podium Sunday as the Gray Wolves finished sixth as a team inside of Ephram White Park Gym in Bowling Green, Ky.
 
Stefana Jelacic (Fountain Hills, Ariz./Chandler H.S.) earned a runner-up finish at 116 pounds while Theresa Rankin (Grass Lake, Mich./Grass Lake H.S.) placed third at 123 pounds.
 
"The ladies performed pretty well today," head coach Kate Hill said afterwards.  "We were able to compete with a majority of nationally-ranked wrestlers and we have the deepest conference within the NAIA.  We saw a lot of improvement and found some areas we still need to improve in."
 
Jelacic opened her day with a 11-0 tech fall over Riley Horvath of Indiana Tech.  In the semifinals, the Gray Wolf freshman won her sixth consecutive match to open her collegiate career with a 13-4 decision over Charlotte Fowler of Campbellsville.  In the title bout, Peyton Prussin of Life recorded a fall at the 1:08 mark in the opening period to take the title.
 
Rankin won her opening match with a tech fall as well, downing Vanessa Nebre of the Cumberlands (Ky.) 10-0.  The fifth-year senior dropped a 3-1 decision to Jacquelin Ghent in the semifinals before bouncing back to defeat teammate Akemi Garcia (Orlando, Fla./Cypress Creek H.S.) on a 10-0 tech fall.  Rankin finished her day with an 8-2 decision over Alesandra Burgos of Brewton-Parker.
 
Garcia dropped her first match of the day to eventual champion Julia Vidallon of Life on a 10-0 tech fall before suffering the defeat to Rankin.  She concluded her tournament with a 6-3 decision over Korisssa Vanover of Indiana Tech to take fifth place.
 
Mattie Meek (Sturgis, Mich./Sturgis H.S.) suffered a pair of setbacks for the Gray Wolves at 109 pounds.  McKayla Campbell of Campbellsville pinned the freshman at 1:44 of the first period in the opening round before Meek fell 10-0 in a tech fall to Korigan Wilkey of Indiana Tech in the consolation round.
 
As a team, Lourdes finished the meet with 41 points, just 18 shy of fifth place Brewton-Parker.  Campbellsville was crowned the Mid-South Conference champions with 207.5 points, outdistancing runner-up Life which finished with 169 points.
 
Lourdes will now travel as a team to the NAIA National Invitational to be held March 12-13.  Action begins at 10 a.m. EST on day one inside of Herald Newman Arena in Jamestown, N.D.