Ward to serve as Arkadelphia Rotary Club guest speaker, March 7, 2014

The Arkadelphia Rotary Club will meet Friday, March 7, 2014, at Western Sizzlin, 106 WP Malone Drive, for its weekly meeting. Mr. Kevin Ward has been invited to serve as guest speaker and will provide an update on the OBU Wrestling Teams. Rotarians and guests are invited to attend. For more information on the guest speaker, please read his brief biography below. 

KEVIN WARD is entering his fourth year as the leader of the Tiger Wrestling program. Coming to Ouachita in 2010, Ward has been at the helm since Ouachita’s first season of competition. In his first 3 seasons, Coach Ward has led the Tiger Wrestling program to become a fixture on the national scene, earning back-to-back top-15 finishes at the NCAA Tournament. The 2011-2012 season was a season of firsts for OBU Wrestling. The team took its first trip to the NWCA National Duals Tournament, losing in the first round to Nebraska-Kearney and losing a close dual to University of Findlay, before coming back to beat Truman State. Ouachita also advanced its first four wrestling in school history to the NCAA Tournament, and crowded the first 3 NCAA All-Americans in the history of the program; leading the team to a 15th place finish at the NCAA Tournament. The 15th place finish made Ouachita the most improved NCAA wrestling team in the country, in any division.

The 2012-2013 season saw continued growth in the program with another solid recruiting class. The Tigers notched dual meet wins over Central Baptist, Central Missouri, West Liberty, East Stroudsburg, Shippensburg, and Oklahoma City University. Once again the Tigers advanced four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, AL. Sophomore Garrett Evans claimed his second consecutive All-American honor with a 6th place finish at 125 lbs, and teammate Dallas Smith made it all the way to the championship match, before falling in the finals. The true sophomore finished as NCAA Runner-up, and is the first national finalist in the program’s history. The team finished in 12th place, marking the highest finish ever for OBU Wrestling.  In the last 3 seasons, Ward has coached 8 NCAA Qualifiers, 5 NCAA All-Americans, and back-to-back top-15 team finishes at the NCAA Tournament.