The No. 23 ranked Pratt Community College wrestling team participated in the Holiday Inn Loper Open hosted by the No. 2 ranked NCAA DII School in the country, the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The event was filled with nationally ranked opponents from every level of collegiate athletics ranging from the NJCAA all the way to the NCAA DI level. The Beavers battled stiff competition as every wrestler from Pratt went toe-to-toe with an opponent from a nationally ranked program at least once in their respective bracket.  

The Beavers' top performance of the tournament came from 141-pounder Justin Hershberger. Hershberger notched a first-place finish in his weight class. His undefeated day of action began with a bye and was then followed by a pin fall victory. Hershberger went head-to-head with Kyle Cisneros of No. 17 Northeastern Junior College in the third round of the championship bracket. He defeated Cisneros by decision, 10-6. Hershberger continued putting his opponent on their back after racking up two more falls in the quarter-finals and semi-finals over an NCAA DI and NCAA DII foe. His final challenger of the day was Jason Hanenberg from the NCAA DII No. 9 Western Colorado University. Hershberger managed to come out on top with a decision victory (3-2) that made him the top 141-pound wrestler at the open.

Finishing third in an open for the second time in the 2018-19 season was 197-pound Chris Henderson. Henderson was defeated in his first match of the open but proceeded to climb his way up the backside to the third-place championship. In the first bout of the open Henderson fell to conference foe Shane Delong from No. 10 Barton Community College. Henderson competed against three opponents from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference during the event including his first-round consolation adversary from Colby Community College. Henderson pinned the Trojan wrestler in 6:25. His second consolation match came to a finish even faster after defeating Jonathon Garcia from NAIA No. 20 Briar Cliff University by pin fall only 34 seconds into bout. No. 25 Cloud County Community College's Cameron Young was Henderson's next victim. Young went down after a staggering 8-1 decision victory in favor of Henderson. Before advancing to the backside championship match, Henderson took on Delong yet again. This time around Henderson came out victorious. He produced a win by way of pin fall and defeated Delong 18 seconds faster (1:14) than he was beaten in the first match of the day. A forfeit victory in the third-place match completed Henderson's day.

Freshman 149-pounder Spencer Heise hit the mat as a Beaver for the first time at the Loper Open. A day comprised of three wins and two losses started the season for Heise. After drawing a tough first-round matchup against an NCAA DII wrestler from the University of Mary, Heise suffered his first loss of the day. He went on to win three-straight matches including a victory over an NCAA DII and NAIA opponent. He also took on and beat Enjhbold Sukhbaatar from conference rival No. 6 Northwest Kansas Technical College. Heise made his way to the sixth round of the consolation bracket. His final match was against Maverick Keigher from No. 17 Northeastern where a loss ended his end day at the open.

At 165 pounds, freshman Luke Culbertson competed for the Beavers. Culbertson drew a tough bracket where he faced off with Andrew DeArmon from No. 10 Barton to start competition. For his last match he was paired up against Air Force's Jack Johnson. Two unfortunate losses took Culbertson out of competition.

"So many great things happened this weekend. For some it was their first pull of the season, and I was so excited for them. The gratitude and the effort was there and I can't be more proud of this group," said Head Wrestling Coach Ken Kepley. "We are focusing on what we implement in practice and carrying it over to matches and, a coach cannot ask for much more than that regardless of the outcome. We have a lot of work to do, but at the same time we are on the right track and, I couldn't be any more proud of Beaver wrestling"

PCC wrestling will return to the mat when the travel to compete in the Bob Smith Open at Fort Hays State University on Dec. 2. Competition will begin at 9 a.m.