For the third straight season, the Yellow Jacket wrestling team will send more than one member of its squad to the NCAA Division III National Championships for a chance to earn two national titles.

Senior heavyweight Jake Evans and junior 197-pounder Ken Burrs earned the right to compete in the national tournament after last weekend where they were both silver medalists in their respective weight classes at the NCAA Division III Southeast Regionals, falling just short of taking home a first-place finish.

Head coach Ron Headlee originally had a goal of four of his men to move onto nationals, but some of the seeding didn’t provide good match-ups at the regional tournament.

“We had some good things and bad things, I don’t think it was our best effort at regionals,” said Headlee. “We had a couple things that didn’t go our way and we couldn’t quite get it going. We just couldn’t find a way to get it done this weekend.”

Evans looks to repeat as the 285-pound national champion after defeating James Bethel of Oneonta State in the title match last year.

“It’ll be good, but it’s hard going in there,” said Headlee. “You have a lot of pressure on you going in there, you haven’t lost at all to a Division III guy and there’s work that needs to be done. He got that match out of the way and has a loss now. I just think it’ll help him be focused and he won’t have as much pressure going into the tournament.”

Burrs also made a run at a title in the 197-pound classification last season, however, he fell short and just scored team points at nationals. He didn’t wrestle all semester until the regionals as he was held out with an injury. However, a second-place finish sets up Burrs with a chance at a national title of his own.

“Ken coming back from injury, finding a way to get it done, basically wrestling with just one hand this week,” said Headlee. “He’s just trying to see how he feels after that injury.”

Headlee believes that no matter what the result of the trip to nationals brings for Burrs and Evans, the impact of Evans on the Waynesburg wrestling program has been nothing short of “unbelievable” and will be felt for years to come.

“Unbelievable,” said Headlee. “Having a national champ and having a chance to go back for a second year. If his one loss has any indication of how he receives wins, I think he’ll bounce back and we’re just happy he has had an awesome career at Waynesburg and the best one in a long time for anyone that’s ever stepped on the mat for us.”

As Burrs and Evans head to nationals, Headlee expressed his gratitude for the support that the university and the student body show for the wrestling program.

“We appreciate everyone following us and hopefully we can get Jake and Ken through,” said Headlee.

The NCAA Division III National Championships will be held March 8-9 in Roanoke, Virginia at the Berglund Center.