Just one year after Filippo Crivelli set the standard for wins as a Waynesburg University wrestler with 121, two of his former teammates have surpassed that mark.

Junior 285-pounder Jake Evans and senior 125-pounder Tristan Buxton, in a matter of two weeks, have rolled to 127 wins and 122 wins, respectively, to place them first and second all-time for Waynesburg wrestling victories.

Despite the size difference, the two have different stories.

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Head wrestling coach Ron Headlee was painting a porch back in 2015, something he does aside from his duties as Waynesburg University’s head wrestling coach, with assistant coach Gennaro Bonaventura, when he received a phone call from Clay Evans.

Evans inquired to Headlee about the possibility of having his son, Jake, come and wrestle for the team for the upcoming season.  Jake Evans was not a typical wrestling recruit for Headlee. At the time of the phone call, Evans was 26 years old and roughly eight years removed from high school, when he went to Elizabeth Forward.

Evans spent much of his life wrestling, but was uncertain of what he wanted to do exactly once he graduated from high school after posting over 100 wins in his Warriors career. So, he decided to just stick with wrestling and compete at open tournaments for years until he saw an opportunity to get back into academics and experience collegiate athletics for the first time.

“I did local open tournaments where anybody could really show up to. Occasionally there would be someone good there, but mainly it was just like washed up guys,” Evans said. “I was just really sticking with wrestling, I didn’t really have a plan…after one of the open tournaments after I lost, I went and started practicing somewhere and got into it and we talked about schools a little bit and college wrestling. That’s how I checked out Waynesburg.”

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Tristan Buxton was more of a traditional recruit for Headlee: a guy coming out of Trinity High School after wrestling at 106 pounds and 113 pounds for most of his career. Buxton didn’t start wrestling until eighth grade, and noted that he didn’t hit his stride as a wrestler until his later years of high school, specifically when Trinity wrestling had a coaching change to Mark Powell and Ron Tarquinio. Tarquinio, in particular, had a significant impact on the standout Waynesburg 125-pounder.

“He took me under his wing and I saw my wrestling go from point A to point B so fast,” Buxton said. “I just started feeling comfortable and started to beat kids. Whenever I lost, it was unexpected. I would start to hate losing because I was getting so much better at wrestling and getting things done on the mat.”

Buxton’s connection to Waynesburg started many years before arriving as a collegiate athlete, as he participated in “Toss,” a wrestling camp run by Headlee at the university that works with dozens of wrestlers at younger levels. As Buxton continued to learn the ins and outs of the sport, Headlee said he stood out despite his smaller stature. That is something that Headlee carried with him when Buxton, who also looked at Seton Hill and Washington & Jefferson, was graduating from high school in 2014. Buxton fit the mold Headlee and his staff were looking for in a 125-pounder.

“He loved coming in the room and it didn’t matter who he went with, he gave 100 percent and he was always full of energy,” said Headlee. “125 for us is the hardest to recruit because guys grow out of the weight class…we said that we wanted to start looking at 113 pounders and guys like that. I had watched [Buxton] and known he had done well as a senior, and he was still at 113 and we liked that.”

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At the time Evans was set to come to Waynesburg, Headlee already had an established heavyweight in Greg Kumer, who had won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title at 285 pounds in 2014 and 2015. He wanted to give Evans a chance to compete at the collegiate level, and thought that working out with an established collegiate heavyweight would be good for both of them. From the moment Evans stepped on campus, however, Headlee knew he was different.

“He just came in the room and I could just tell he had a great work ethic and wanted to get better…the biggest thing about him is he’ll just come in the room and want to get better every day,” Headlee said. “I could tell him something today and if he had a match tomorrow, he will try it. He’s one of the few kids who is not afraid to try things that you tell him right off the bat.”

Evans established himself immediately, winning the starting heavyweight job and posting a 37-9 record in his first season. Thirteen of those wins came by pin-fall, which is minuscule compared to recent seasons. As a sophomore during the 2016-17 campaign, Evans rolled to a program-record 49 wins, 30 of which came by pin. This year, during his junior season, he currently boasts a record of 41-3, with 21 of those victories by pin.

Headlee believes that the biggest transition Evans has made since he became a Yellow Jacket has been incorporating pinning to his game. He thinks the pins drive him each time he takes the mat.

“In his first year, he didn’t pin very much, but then his second year he started pinning some people. You could just tell he had a new motivation,” said Headlee. “He was going after the pins and wins, and I think that made him more aggressive. That drove him to be a better wrestler. I think he likes pinning people and likes going after that pin record and being more aggressive on his shots.”

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For Buxton, the transition to college wrestling might not have been as seamless on the record sheet as it was for Evans, but after a freshman year where he went 13-9, he improved to 32-14 as a sophomore and then 45-5 as a junior. As things stand following the PAC Championships, he has accumulated a 33-5 record thus far in his final season as a Yellow Jacket.

This biggest adjustment from high school to college, according to Buxton, was learning to use “heavy hands,” which is a technique that involves a lot of pulling and snapping to try and wear down your opponent, and also understanding that everyone wrestling at the collegiate level is serious about competing, whereas in high school some kids aren’t trying to get to the next level.

“I really had to get good at [heavy hands] quick. Also just learning technique a lot better because you can’t [relax in a match] in college because if you do, that’s when guys capitalize,” Buxton said. “You never get an easy match because all those guys that don’t want to wrestle are weeded out in high school. Everyone that wants to wrestle in DIII, they’re there because we’re not getting paid to wrestle, everyone that’s there wants to be there, and they’re good.”

Headlee has been especially impressed with Buxton’s development on the mat and as a person in his time as a Yellow Jacket.

“He’s not one that looks at names and gets intimidated, he just goes out and wrestles. That’s one thing I like about him,” said Headlee. “Tristan, just overall as a person—it’s not just the wrestling he’s just such a great person. His personality and what he gives to the sport really makes me think a lot of him.”

Buxton also attributes a lot of his development at the collegiate level to Anthony and Gennaro Bonaventura. Anthony, now an assistant coach at Stevens Institute of Technology, was a wrestler for Waynesburg from 2010-2014, and Gennaro wrestled for the Yellow Jackets from 2011-2015 and is currently an assistant coach for Waynesburg.

“[Anthony] still texts and calls me today to tell me what I need to do and he coaches at another DIII school…Gennaro has a solid, gold heart and you can’t really ask for anything else from the guy,” Buxton said. “He’s always there for you supporting you. You can’t ask for anything better than a couple of guys like that in your life.”

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The wins continue to pile on for the Waynesburg big man, who wasn’t sure how it would go when he first came in to the program two and a half years ago. Now, he has his sights set on one thing: a national championship.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect at all. I thought I might have a chance of doing well, but I wasn’t really sure to be honest,” said Jake Evans. “It’s nice to have the record, but winning nationals is definitely my main goal, or at least placing higher as an All-American…I’m trying to focus a little more on my movement, especially foot movement, since heavyweights don’t usually have as much athleticism. I’m trying to use that in my favor. I’m also trying to focus on wearing guys out more.”

Buxton set a personal goal of hitting the 100-win mark, but as the curtain begins to close on his Yellow Jacket career, he too has his sights set on national-level recognition.

“I wanted 100 wins, that was just another goal, but I have my sights set on one thing right now and that’s to be an All-American and a National Champion,” he said. “You just have to simplify things now, just have to stay zoned in on one thing.”

With regionals coming up Feb. 23-24, the two Yellow Jacket standouts are looking to fine tune things to prepare themselves as best as possible to make a run at a national title.

“I’m just trying to focus all my energy towards winning,” said Jake Evans. “It’s only a month left, and I’m going to try to do my best to make sure I do everything right.”