Sunday the Waynesburg University wrestling team competed in their final dual meet before the semester break.
The Jackets rebounded from a loss to Shippensburg last Wednesday by winning two of their three matches in the John Carroll Duals.
Waynesburg picked themselves up and went to University Heights, Ohio focused and determined.
“We wrestled with a lot more intensity,” head coach Ron Headlee said. “We lost to John Carroll, but I thought that was probably some of our best wrestling that we had done.”
The Jackets won the first match 36-19 over Pitt Bradford, with five individual wins coming via forfeit. One match win came from senior Zach Mackall by fall in 1:21. Mackall went two for three on the afternoon.
The middle match of the day wasn’t close as Waynesburg defeated Penn State Behrend 44-7.
Another leader for the Jackets, senior Dillion Charlton, had a Jekyll & Hyde afternoon.
“Dylan had a tough one,” Headlee said. “He was leading 12-1 and ended up getting pinned, so that’s a tough lesson to learn that way, but he responded well and got a quick pin the next match.”
That quick pin was the fastest of the day for the Jackets, taking only 34 seconds against a Penn State Behrend Lion.
PAC Rookie of the Week, Rocky McGeary ended the second match with a win by fall in 5:53.
Filling the heavyweight role of National Champion Jake Evans, Headlee saw more improvement in the freshmen from West Allegheny this week.
“He dominated all weekend,” Headlee said. “He didn’t take any step backwards. He just keeps moving forward.”
Waynesburg dropped the final contest of the afternoon 25-14 to host John Carroll. The Jackets fell behind 25-0, but the match was closer than what the score would indicate. Waynesburg lost three individual matches by a combined total of three points.
The Jacket have two more matches before Christmas break, both tournaments starting with the Messiah Petrofes Invitational Dec. 6.
In the final weeks of the fall, Headlee said the team is working hard, but not finishing the job consistently enough.
“We’re getting to a lot of our shots, we’re just not finishing and scoring out of them,” Headlee said. “We’re doing a lot of work to get to the points, we’re just not scoring all of them.”