Oklahoma City, OK – The University of Great Falls wrestling team which has been ranked in the top six in the country all season long concluded its 2009-2010 campaign today by finishing third overall at the 53rd Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships held at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University. The third place team finish is the highest in the history of the program which saw the Argos place six All-Americans including freshman Myles Mazurkiewicz (Havre, MT) and junior Byron Kuylen (Sidney, MT) who came in as runners-up at 133 pounds and 149 pounds, respectively.

“I couldn’t be prouder of this group of guys,” said UGF head coach Caleb Schaeffer. “These guys put so much time into their training and they really work on improving day in and day out. Coming into the season we knew we’d have a chance to compete for a top five finish in the nation so for us to come in third, which we’ve never done before, is extremely gratifying. Again, all the credit goes to the kids.”

The Argos entered the championship session with a slim lead for second place but Southern Oregon University grasped control with national championship wins at 125 pounds by Mitchell Lofstedt and another at 141 pounds by Barry Johnson. Notre Dame College (OH) had entered the final session with first place and a team national championship already in the bag. Team points have not yet been calculated but the Argos were locked into third place overall, according to Schaeffer.

Mazurkiewicz dropped a 13-3 decision to Tommy Pretty of Campbellsville University (KY) in the 133-pound championship. A flurry of scoring in the opening seconds saw the match tied at 2-2 before Pretty took control.

“Pretty kind of jumped on Myles early and you could see that he was a little nervous,” Schaeffer said of his freshman stud. “For him to even be in the finals as a freshman just goes to show how good he really is. He kind of took this tournament by storm and people around the country are going to be looking for big things from him in the future.”

Kuylen then took on Jeffrey Pelton of Notre Dame, a former high school state champion in the state of Ohio, needing to secure a victory for his team to lock up second place. After a low-scoring tussle, Pelton took Kuylen down in the final minute to score the 6-4 win by decision.

“I thought Pelton was stalling enough that he should have been called on it but the official didn’t see it that way,” Schaeffer said. “Byron lost two matches all year long coming in so we were pretty confident but, that’s just how it goes sometimes.”

Other top finishers for the Argos were junior Michael French (Malta, MT) and senior Alex Calvi (Cut Bank, MT) who each rebounded from devastating losses yesterday to finish third at 184 pounds and 197 pounds, respectively. French continued his rivalry with Evan Hinebauch of Montana State-Northern in the third place match, scoring a 9-0 decision over his fellow highline native. Calvi scored a win by pin-fall over Nic Leither of Northwestern College in his third place match.

Rounding out UGF’s All-Americans for 2009-2010 were junior Ross Mosher (Augusta, MT) who finished seventh at 157 pounds and red-shirt freshman Michael Hader (Columbia Falls, MT) who finished eighth at 165 pounds.

Wrestling in their final collegiate tournament along with the steady Calvi were seniors Brendon DeCock (Huntley, MT) and Jason Costello (Redmond, WA). Both DeCock and Costello have garnered All-American status in past years but were eliminated yesterday before reaching the top eight in their weight classes.

“What more can you say about those three seniors,” Schaeffer questioned after the culmination of the tournament. “Those three have helped lay the foundation for what our program has risen to today. Even though we didn’t win a team national championship, the sun has certainly not set on UGF wrestling. We’ll be back in the years to come with the chance to compete for a title and when we do get one (a national championship) the wrestlers on that team will be indebted to the guys who came before them, especially Calvi, DeCock and Costello.”