Saturday marked the official start to the 2018-19 Waynesburg University wrestling season as the Yellow Jackets traveled to Washington & Jefferson College for the W&J Invitational. Waynesburg took fifth overall at the invitational and was led by senior 285-pounder Jake Evans, who took home the heavyweight title.

Head coach Ron Headlee was pleased with some of the performances, including the opportunity to see the freshman wrestle for the first time this season.

“The guys performed pretty good, there is always some bright spots and some disappointments,” said Headlee. “It was good seeing some of the freshmen wrestle, seeing some things we need to learn about them also some of the injuries with us having to pull some guys.”

Headlee said sophomore Josh Kuslock and junior Ken Burrs were disappointed in their efforts and they didn’t compete at their potential. Headlee added that freshman Dylan Winters had a good tournament and that juniors Matt Lascola and Zach Mackall did well in their respective weight classes.

Lascola placed sixth in the 141-weight class after winning back-to-back decisions to reach the quarterfinals for the tournament.

One of the biggest highlights was the continued dominance of Evans. Evans, the current No. 1 285-pounder in the nation in Division III, grabbed a 6-3 victory over Lycoming’s Garrett Wesneski to capture the 285-weight class title. Wesneski was ranked fifth in the country going into that day.

“I thought he wrestled a good tournament,” said Headlee. “It was not his best week at practice, but it was still nice to be able to win.”

For his efforts on Saturday, Evans was honored as the PAC Wrestler of the Week as he had three first period pins en route to his championship match.

The Yellow Jackets had another representative in a championship bout as Mackall gutted his way to the 157-pound title bout. Mackall ended up finishing second after upsetting second-seeded Ryan Luth from Washington & Lee University.

“As a team I think we wrestled good, there is a couple things we have to work on,” said Mackall. “But it’s the beginning of the year so we have time.”

Mackall would go on to say that during the championship match he was wrestling the name and he wasn’t really wrestling his match. He also said that he was unfocused and his opponent took advantage of it and ultimately took the title.

Freshman Dylan Winters placed sixth in his first collegiate action. Winters also picked up his first pin in his first match before going into the consolation

Waynesburg also had a number of wrestlers win at least one match over the weekend, including two freshman, three sophomores, two juniors and a senior.

The Jackets will have a dual meet tonight at Shippensburg at 7 p.m., before going on the road the this Sunday to University Heights, Ohio to take part in the JCU Duals.