For the 2018-19 season, Ouachita Baptist, which is located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, will compete in NCAA Super Region Four - a nine-team region comprised of three other GLVC members in Drury University, Maryville University and McKendree University, as well as five members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). Bellarmine University and the University of Indianapolis will represent the GLVC in Super Region Three.
Now entering its third season, GLVC wrestling had previously operated with seven member institutions, however the resignation of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and the elimination of the Truman State University program, dropped membership to five institutions, one shy of NCAA sport sponsorship standards.
"The Great Lakes Valley Conference is pleased to welcome Ouachita Baptist University to our wrestling family," said GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich. "Given its position in one of our two Super Regions, OBU is an ideal fit for the GLVC, and we are excited to provide all the opportunities that come with conference affiliation to its student-athletes."
Not only will OBU student-athletes wrestle for a GLVC Championship this year, they will also be eligible for all major postseason honors such as GLVC Wrestler and Freshman of the Year, All-Conference awards, the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award, GLVC Wrestler of the Week, and all end-of-year academic awards.
"We are excited about our wrestling team becoming an associate member of the GLVC," said Ouachita Baptist Athletic Director David Sharp. "This will provide our student athletes the opportunity to compete for both an individual and team conference championship."
Kevin Crutchmer, who is set to begin his second season at OBU, echoed those sentiments.
"We are very excited and honored to compete in such an established conference with a lot of tradition in all sports," Crutchmer said. "We can't say thanks enough to the Great Lakes Valley Conference administrators, coaches of the five teams that we will be competing against, David Sharp and Dr. Ben Sells, for allowing us this opportunity to compete for an attainable goal for our program. Our student athletes will be able to accomplish personal goals inside the conference that will be honored for a lifetime. That's really important to athletes in a program trying to excel in all facets of growth."
The GLVC Championship will be determined in a new format this year as the past two seasons have featured Conference dual matches over a three-week period in late January and early February.
In 2018-19, the six GLVC programs will be paired with a travel partner, with whom they will compete against any time during the week of Jan. 21-27. The season-opening duals will feature UIndy at Bellarmine, McKendree at Maryville, and Drury at Ouachita Baptist. All six teams will then compete in their final four duals during a one-day, five-round competition at UIndy on Saturday, Feb. 2. The team with the best winning percentage from its five GLVC dual matches will be crowned GLVC Champion.
To add to the championship environment and experience for the student-athletes, GLVC coaches will conduct All-Conference and major postseason awards voting at the conclusion of the competition, with the honors being presented shortly thereafter at the GLVC Championship banquet.
The GLVC Championship will be streamed live on all GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN) platforms, including GLVCSN.com, its iOS/Android mobile apps, and its Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV OTT platforms. The first GLVC duals are expected to be streamed by the host institutions.
In the brief two-year existence of sponsoring wrestling, the GLVC has been represented by three NCAA individual champions, two NWCA National Wrestler of the Year honorees, 16 All-Americans, and 38 NCAA qualifiers. Additionally, the GLVC has placed at least one team in the top 10 at the NCAA Championship in each of the past two years and seen three programs finish in the top 20 of NWCA All-Academic Team honors, including the past two academic champions in Indianapolis (2017) and Maryville (2018) for highest team GPA.
This past season, OBU saw incoming 165-pound senior Tyler Mann finish fourth at the NCAA Championships to become the eighth different All-American in program history. As a team, OBU finished 23rd overall, marking the sixth time in eight years the team earned a top-25 finish.
For more information on GLVC wrestling, stay tuned online at GLVCsports.com and @GLVCsports (#GLVCwrestle) on Twitter.
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