Wrestling team wraps up season with historic wins

Messiah College wrestling completed the most accomplished season in program history this year, with two individual National Champions and a National Runner-Up finish as a team. Lucas Malmberg ’16 and Ben Swarr ’18 earned the titles, and four others also finished as All-Americans.

The two titles, six All-Americans, and the seven total wrestlers who qualified for the National Tournament were all program records for the Falcons.

Everything that happened this year was a coming-to-fruition of things we’ve been working on for a long time,” said head coach Bryan Brunk. “The program records, the program highs—everything was a fruit of our labor, and it was exciting for every single wrestler, coach and fan.

For Malmberg, the National Championship at 125 was long in the making, since he finished as the national runner-up in each of the past two seasons. This year, Malmberg raced out to an early lead and eventually finished with a 14-6 major decision. The win was a relief, but Brunk knew it wasn’t a guarantee.

“Lucas and our staff did the work ahead of time to be prepared for anything,” Brunk said, giving insight into Malmberg’s mindset entering the championship bout. “We were prepared to do our best and to win or lose, because Lucas knew his identity wasn’t wrapped up in being a champion. Lucas knew his identity in Christ was already taken care of.

But certainly it was great for him to get rolling early and put the match away. After he went up big early, there was so much anticipation for him to finish as champion.

In contrast to Malmberg, Swarr found himself in a low scoring battle from the start. Up against the No. 1 seed, Swarr was tied 1-1 into the final period where, with just 10 seconds to go, he scored a dramatic takedown to support a thrilling 3-1 win.

“It was weird, when he got that takedown,” Brunk recalled of the bout-shifting moment. “When he scored, I stood up and turned away from the mat and started jumping up and down with our fans. We’re such a team-oriented group, and I know that Ben’s win meant as much to our team as it did to Ben.”

For Brunk and his team, the recent success on the mats, including a third-place finish in 2014 that coincided with the National Championship of Kaleb Loht ’15 at 141, is a product of the culture.

“We have fun,” said Brunk, “and we work hard to make sure everyone is a part of what we do. We are friends who cheer for each other, and I also think we’re known as a team by how much we focus on our identity in Christ. I think all this helps us have the best team culture in the country.”

— Steve King ’06, associate athletics director