Waynesburg University wrestling sent three men to the national tournament in Cleveland, Ohio March 9 and 10 in search for the school’s first individual national championship. Junior Jake Evans was able to take one home in the 285 pounds.

Waynesburg also sent senior Tristian Buxton in the 125 weight class and sophomore Ken Burrs in 197 weight class, but neither of them made it to the second day.

Since the beginning of the year, head coach Ron Headlee felt he had at least three guys on the roster who could make it to nationals, and that’s the exact number of people that went. For Headlee, Evans’ win has been a long time coming. His accomplishment came over SUNY Oneonta junior James Bethel. Headlee admires all of Evans’ work.

“There aren’t many things I can say about the hard work Jake put in,” said Headlee.

After battling injuries all year, Burrs was able to find himself on the national stage. He was able to over throw third seeded Kyle Koser from Messiah College in a 9-8 upset to advance to the second round. He was defeated by sixth seed Triston Engle 5-4, and then lost in the first round of the consolation bracket.

For Burrs, this journey was long awaited, as he fell 30 seconds short of earning a spot at nationals last year. Burrs feels his success this year will carry momentum into the 2018-19 season for himself personally.

“It’s a good feeling,” said Burrs. “I guess knowing that I’m on upper-end of the spectrum, especially leading into the next year [and] most likely [I’ll be] ranked pretty high, so it’s definitely a good feeling—like a good booster going to the next season.”

For Buxton, the only senior of the group, this was his last opportunity for a national championship, and after an early first round exit, he knew there were not many matches left in his career. He lost in the consolation bracket to put an end to his historic Yellow Jacket career. For Buxton, although he was disappointed with the loss, he recognizes the high level of competition he was up against.

“It was definitely one of the toughest weight classes to be in, and the kids he lost to—they were both All-Americans,” Headlee said. “He didn’t freeze up or anything like that, he went out and gave his all and it didn’t work out for him. His goal was to make it there and he did.”

At the end of Evans’ win, Headlee was jumping up and down with assistant coach Gennaro Bonaventura after the historic victory, but Headlee knows that there is high and lows with wrestling.

“I think back to it like you have so many ups and downs in wrestling,” Headlee said. “You have your highs like Jake winning, and then you have your Tristian being a senior and his last time competing and losing those kind of things are up and down.”