Watching National Champion Lane Foard ’25 wrestle was not just a privilege – it was unforgettable. 

As soon as his matches began, Foard was a predator – stalking, and then pouncing with ferocity, vanquishing his opponents with a combination of bruising power and studied technique. Recognizing his singular talent, on July 31, 2025 the Richmond Times-Dispatch named Foard their Athlete of the Year. Many may not realize Foard left his family to attend Benedictine. It didn’t take long for him to realize that in the Benedictine community and brotherhood he’d found another family to call his own.

I've been wrestling since I was about five years old. My Dad went to high school with one of the local club coaches. One day he was like, you want to wrestle? And I'm thinking, like, “the WWE!”  I'm like, “Yeah, I want to wrestle, of course!” 

When we pulled into the campus – I was all in. I mean –  it was just – I saw the campus. I saw the bell towers, the fields. And it just, it kind of really hit me hard. We go in – and everyone just made me feel like I was already part of the culture even though I was just checking it out for the day. I just immediately fell in love with the school.

Your folks live an hour away, so you had to leave home, and live with a host family. That must have been hard. 

It was hard, at first. I mean, I came from the middle of nowhere in Madison County, where there's more cows than people. At first it was hard, especially not really knowing my host and his parents much at all. And then a week or so later, I was like, this is okay. Benedictine made it very easy and comfortable for me. 

My freshman year. At that point it was kind of just getting started. A spot opened up for me to go to Delaware with them. I remember Mr. Smith coming to me, saying, “Hey, you're in!” And I remember I was, like, jumping up, cheering. He's like “Calm down, don’t go crazy,” and that was my start. The standout memory had to have been the Montana trip. I mean, we're out in Montana for a week, and we're fly fishing all week. We're really camping – like not glamping, not fancy camping. We're in tents under the stars, outdoors for a whole week by the river, and it was just so beautiful. 

I love Coach Yost. He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had, and along with all the other assistant coaches, I could not be where I am without them. With Coach Yost, it's not just technique. He cares about the athletes. He cares about their faith, who they are as people. And he drives into us –  again and again – the facts of accountability, and being a man of conscience. He really is very disciplined when it comes to that. He wants to form good men of virtue. You know, just as Saint Benedict does. He really drives that and makes that the main focus when it comes to building a wrestling team. 

He will just come to you, and you'll talk to him one on one. He'll dive in on what's wrong. I mean he won't hold back. I mean, that's what a true coach does. But, more importantly, he's trying to do it right. He's very clear. You know what you did wrong. But the bigger part is building you back up into what you should be doing. 

I wrestled one of my arch rivals this year. I had lost to him four times my sophomore year and junior year. So this year he wrestled 175 all year, and just before Nationals he bumped up to 190. His name is Emmitt Sherlock. Coach came up to me right before the week leading into Nationals, and said “Sherlock bumped up.” And I was like, “Let's go!” I wanted that matchup back! I was just lit. That was the fuel I needed. So we get to Nationals, and we end up being in the finals. As predicted, it’s a really good match. It’s  0-0 going into the final period. I started taking a lead. I get up 1-0, 2- 0, 3-0….and I take him down. I put him on his back. I get up 8-0. And I remember just looking back at my coaches, and every one in the  stands, and my teammates, as the clock ticked down. That's probably my most memorable achievement. One of the best moments of the day was knowing I could say I'm a national champion. But I didn't just do it for me. I did it for the school. I did it for my coach. And my coaches and teammates were going crazy like, “We did it!” It wasn't something that I said I did. It was something that, you know, WE won. WE did this.

Accountability, I think, is one of the biggest things. When you're a leader, you’ve got to be accountable. I mean, if someone does something wrong and they're under you, it’s on you. Leadership is accepting the fault for your actions, knowing when you’re wrong, and taking advice. A big thing they taught me to do in leadership is, whether you think you're right or wrong, open your ears. Really be open and not so close minded. Just keep your ears open and listen. The rule of Saint Benedict opens right there. Listen! Listen with your heart. 

I think the discipline’s gotten better. The military's gotten better. And I think the brotherhood has really grown. If something goes wrong, you know, we can count on our classmates and brothers to come and lift us up or help fix it. The Brotherhood – that's remained a constant here.