The Waynesburg University wrestling team captured the 2018 Presidents’ Athletic Conference Wrestling Championship on Saturday, becoming back-to-back conference champions.

The Yellow Jackets had seven wrestlers complete in finals matches, three of which took home first place.

In the 125-pound weight class, senior Tristan Buxton defeated Thomas More freshman Brady Wells in the semi-final, before going on to win an 8-2 decision in the final over another Thomas More freshman in Jimmy Murphy.

Head coach Ron Headlee was proud to speak of all of his guys, including many of his top three finishers.

“[Buxton] got off to a good start and wrestled well and with it being his senior year, I was glad to see him finish up with a win,” said Headlee.

Sophomore Ken Burrs continued his dominance in the 197-pound weight class when he picked up a quarterfinal win against Washington & Jefferson senior Dalton Wildman, as well as a fall against Thiel sophomore Devan Van Vliet. Those matches lead up to a convincing 14-6 major decision against W&J senior Will Oberschelp to secure first place. Burrs’ performance earned him the Outstanding Wrestler of the Year Award.

“Burrs was dominant all day, he was well deserving of the [Outstanding Wrestler of the Year Award,]” said Headlee. “If he keeps on, he could do really well at the regional and national level. He has a lot [more] potential.”

The final match of the day was a heavyweight battle featuring junior Jake Evans and Thiel sophomore Gage Gladysz. Evans beat Gladysz for a third win of the day to become the 285-pound champion for a third consecutive year.

“Once again, [Evans] has wrestled Gladysz three times this year and each time he has been dominant,” said Headlee. “He has done well with staying steady and on the course. Hopefully, this was just one of the first steps in the postseason for him to go on to the regional level.”

With regionals approaching, Headlee is expecting more success from his first-place guys.

“All three of them have the ability to move on now to regionals and possibly take it to the next step and go to nationals for us,” said Headlee.

Waynesburg also had four wrestlers fall in the finals to take home second-place as well as four third-place finishers.

Sophomore Josh Kuslock placed second at 133-pounds, but had a strong day leading up to the final.

“He couldn’t get his offense going, he was on the bottom,” said Headlee. “He just needs to get better and being able to score.  During the first semester he did well and had more movement, but for some reason, during the second semester, he hasn’t quite got that going. [Thomas More freshman Tanner Yenter] is good, we haven’t been able to figure him out.”

At 141-pounds, freshman Matt Lascola picked up a big win in the semi-finals to knock W&J out of a chance at top two placing in that respective weight class.

“He had a great first year, getting in the lineup for us,” said Headlee. “[Lascola] is a great guy to have on the team, he battles and tries to get better. I was really happy for him to make it to the final, that semifinal was another key match for us.”

Freshman R.J. Hall picked up a win at 149-pounds in the semifinals, 8-0, to advance to the final.

“Hall had a pretty good match with W&J, we knew it was going to be a big match heading into it,” said Headlee. “[Thiel senior] Jason Miller is good, he’s a good guy, but this time was just a little too much for us.”

Freshman Caleb Baxter continued his first-year success for much of the day before coming up short to W&J sophomore Jared Walker.

“[Baxter] has had a great year for us as a freshman, he is going to keep getting better and I thought he wrestled well up to that point,” said Headlee.

The third-place finishers, who still made significant contributions to the team total included seniors Derek Hull and Landon Lohr as well as junior Josh Sneeringer.

Other honors for the day included PAC Coach of the Year, awarded to Headlee.  Senior D.J. Grindle, who missed most of the season due to injury was honored as Waynesburg’s representative to the PAC Sportsmanship Team.

“We are really proud of them, we knew coming in that we had a pretty good recruiting class,” said Headlee. “Halfway through the season we lost some guys including three starters that weren’t in the lineup. Overall, it shows that you never know who will be in our lineup. Every day they come into the room and work hard.”

The Yellow Jackets will head to the NCAA Division III Central Regionals in Crawfordsville, Indiana on Feb. 23.