PARK CITY, Kan. – The Lourdes men's wrestling program competed in the NAIA National Tournament for the 10^th consecutive season under head coach Dock Kelly and assistant coach Louis Piszker over the weekend.

The Gray Wolves competed hard, finishing in 42^nd place in the country, despite bringing in less competitors than many other programs.

Heavyweight freshman and WHAC Newcomer of the Year, Colin Sullivan, led the way for Lourdes with a 2-2 record in the tournament. On the biggest stage in the country, Sullivan faced the pressure and defeated Texas Wesleyan's Wilbert Martin 13-7 via decision. He also upset the eighth-ranked heavyweight in the country, Montana State Northern's Shane Mattson.

Also securing a victory was senior 141-pound wrestler Cole McKinley, beating Bismarck State's Kameron Stiffler 3-0 with a fall. McKinley also fought hard against two ranked opponents, almost defeating them both. He faced Grand View's fifth-ranked Marckis Branford, losing to a 10-19 major decision, and faced Cumberland's sixth-ranked Jared Dinh, falling 8-13 in a decision.

Ty Cobb lost both matches in the 197-pound weight class against two top-15 ranked opponents. He put up a good fight in both duals, losing 2-7 via decision in both of them.

Grand View ended up winning the national tournament for the 14th time in the last 15 seasons, and for the fifth straight year in a row.

Assistant coach Louis Piszker commented post-tournament on the team's success in their final season.

"It was a bittersweet week," Coach Piszker said. "It is always great to finish the season out at the National Tournament, but it's a tough pill to swallow knowing this will be our last time. After ten consecutive national tournament trips, we have a lot to be proud of. I am thankful for Coach Kelly and all he has done for not only the program, but for me as well. He gave me an opportunity to prove myself and trusted me to guide this program over the last ten years. His commitment to excellence is what made this program what it was." 

Head coach Dock Kelly also commented on the team's resilience and legacy as a program.

"This has been one of the most challenging seasons of my coaching career," Coach Kelly said. "Regardless, we still overcame all of the obstacles that were in our path, and produced three more national qualifiers. That speaks volumes about the strength of this wrestling program that we have built over the past 10 seasons. There are no words to describe Coach Louis Piszker, he can flat out coach! He has a tremendous work ethic, he's a relentless recruiter, and he is a masterful tactician when it comes to in-match adjustments. Without Coach Piszker, we would not have experienced a fraction of the success that we did. He made coaching easy for me here at Lourdes. We not only coached together, but we became family. I'll be forever grateful to Dr. David Livingston for hiring me, and for Dr. Mary Gawelek for believing in and investing in this wrestling program. I'm also grateful to former Athletic Directors Jo Ann Gordon and Janet Eaton-Smith. They worked tirelessly to keep us in position to compete on the national level during each of their tenures."

The men's and women's wrestling programs' tenures at Lourdes have came to an end, but their legacies will forever be enshrined as two of the most successful programs in Lourdes history.