Last Friday, the Yellow Jacket wrestling team concluded its regular season home schedule with a Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) win against a familiar opponent in the Thiel Tomcats, 40-6.

“It was one of our goals at the beginning of the year, we thought that with our team we had a pretty good dual meet team with our depth,” said head coach Ron Headlee. “We got a couple guys back in the line-up [from injury]. Overall, our guys stepped it up on senior night, all of our seniors had bonus point wins.”

Senior night recognitions went to Tristan Buxton, Derek Hull, Landon Lohr and DJ Grindle as they took the mat for the final time in the regular season at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.

In addition to the senior night celebrations, Headlee was presented a plaque in commemoration of his 100th dual meet victory at Waynesburg in which he captured earlier this season.

“Ten years goes by pretty fast, you don’t realize how fast it goes. I have had some great wrestlers through those years,” said Headlee. “I thank them and my great coaching staff that have helped me through the time, I give them all the credit.”

Buxton started the evening in the 125-pound class with an 11-2 decision over Cory Bable, giving the Jackets a 4-0 lead.

“Buxton has been a three-and-a-half/four-year starter,” said Headlee. “He came in and split time between weight classes before taking over the 125-pound class. He has missed very few matches and has been a steady, nice starter for us.”

Hull won by technical fall in the 165-pound class, giving the Yellow Jackets a 20-6 lead. Lohr also acquired a pin on the evening two matches later, extending the Thiel deficit to 26.

“[Hull] has been consistent for us at the 157 and 165-pound weight class during all four years,” said Headlee. “[Lohr] has been in and out of the line-up for the last two years and [his] four years has been good.”

The fourth senior, D.J. Grindle, was also recognized despite dealing with injuries throughout the season.

“Unfortunately for him, he got injured in his freshman year and then fought back to health,” said Headlee. “Then, he got injured again this year.  He has had to battle a lot of injuries and we’ve felt really bad for him.”

Injuries have been a common drawback of the Yellow Jackets season, however, two of the wrestlers who were injured earlier in the season returned to the line-up on Friday.

Sophomores Ken Burrs and Dan Verhovsek returned to the mat after missing a couple of matches, picking up where they left off.

Burrs won his 197-pound weight class match by technical fall, 21-5, and Baxter picked up his pin in the 174-pound class. Verhovsek also picked up a 7-1 win in the 157-pound weight class.

“Having [Dan] at 157, was good, he did a really nice job of getting back in the line-up, it made us a lot stronger,” said Headlee. “Caleb [Baxter] has had an awesome freshman year, he has stepped it up, and not only wins but a lot of times will get falls for us. Burrs is a lot of fun to watch on the mat, he has a lot of athleticism and really goes after guys.”

Junior Jake Evans concluded the match with a 4-2 win and capped off a perfect sweep of PAC dual meets this season for the Jackets.

Following the match, Yellow Jackets were 12-7 overall and 3-0 in the conference, heading into their last dual meet at West Liberty on Wednesday night.

The Yellow Jackets will travel to the John Summa Invitational in Berea, Ohio on Saturday before returning home a week later to host the Presidents Athletic Conference Championships.

“We might rest a few of our guys for that last invitational, just to make sure were all fresh for the PAC’s because that is the main thing we will be shooting for next,” said Headlee. “We’re going to be putting a lot of time and effort in preparing for the PAC’s, one of our goals is to defend our title there and so we are going to work hard at that.”