Feb 13, 2013 2 min read

Thiel College will be seeking its second straight league title Friday as the Tomcats host the 54th Presidents’ Athletic Conference Wrestling Championships at Beeghly Gymnasium in Greenville. Matches begin at 5 p.m.

The Tomcats, led by six-time PAC Coach of the Year Craig Thurber, snapped Waynesburg’s two-year title run last season with 110 points, edging Waynesburg (107) and Washington & Jefferson (66). Thiel, which had a string of 10 straight conference titles before Waynesburg’s victories in 2010 and 2011, will be facing a Yellow Jackets program, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Ron Headlee, that is looking to regain the top spot within the PAC, and W&J, which has a number of outstanding individuals competing for second-year head coach Tommy Prairie.

Thiel returns only one individual champion from last year. Sophomore Jacob Lowry finished his freshman season with a 29-6 record and the 174-pound title last year. Lowry is 13-0 this season.

The Tomcats will be counting on sophomore 174-pounder Jerrold Roosa and freshman heavyweight Blake Heim to secure first-place finishes. Roosa is 21-7 and Heim’s record is 16-6.

Waynesburg has three returning champions in senior 133-pounder Alex Crown, sophomore 149-pounder Chris Milligan and junior 157-pounder Sam Lombardo, a Canon-McMillan graduate.

Crown, the reigning three-time PAC champion at 125, enters this year’s tournament at 25-7.

Milligan, the 2012 champion at 149 pounds, is 19-12. Lombardo won the 165-pound PAC title while finishing 24-11. This year, he improved his record to 27-8.

Washington & Jefferson junior Josh Etzel leads the Presidents into the PAC meet with an impressive 23-1 record at 157 pounds.

Etzel won last season’s title at 141.

Freshmen Jacob Spearman is 22-4 at 125, and 149-pound Alex Powell, currently 13-14, should help the Presidents’ points total.