Oct 2, 2014 4 min read

Cody Klempay believes he has finally found the right landing spot for his wrestling career.

Klempay, who anchored Canon-McMillan’s lineup at heavyweight for a couple seasons, is wrestling at Waynesburg University this season, and at a much lighter weight than his 275 pounds while with the Big Macs.

“I got down to North Carolina, and I wasn’t able to see my family,” said Klempay. “I wanted to come back, and be closer to home. I had some friends at Waynesburg, and I got in touch with (head coach Ron Headlee). Everything just fell into place.”

Headlee was happy to land a talent such as Klempay, a two-time PIAA medalist who will wrestle at 197 for the Yellow Jackets.

“It’s a nice change,” said Klempay. “I’m down to 205 now, and I’m not even practicing. It hasn’t been that difficult.”

Klempay was a third-place finisher in the PIAA Championships in his junior season, posting a 47-1 record. His only loss came in the heavyweight semifinals of the state tournament to Dawson Peck of Chambersburg.

A shoulder injury wrecked his gold medal chances in Hershey as a senior, where he finished in sixth place after defaulting. Klempay had surgery on the shoulder in April of 2012.

“It was successful,” said Klempay. “I’ve been strengthening it.”

Klempay had a 151-23 record at Canon-McMillan, where he was a four-time section champion, a one-time Powerade champion and three-time runner-up.

Klempay spent last season as a volunteer assistant coach at Canon-McMillan while waiting for the transfer to go through at Waynesburg.

“They have a good wrestling tradition at Waynesburg,” Klempay said. “The program has been moving in the right direction. I knew Sam Lombardo went there, and there were others I got to know.”

Klempay has three years of eligibility remaining and will major in criminal justice.

“My No. 1 goal is like everyone else’s, to be a national champion or at least All-America,” he said. “I want to progress, take it one match at a time and be competitive.”

Headlee back at Pitt: Drew Headlee has made it back at Pitt, this time as an assistant wrestling coach.

Headlee, a Waynesburg High School graduate, took the position left open when Matt Wilps took a job with Hendrick Motor Sports.

“We tried to make it work last year,” said Headlee, who graduated from Pitt in 2008 and spent the past two years as an assistant coach to Pat Santoro at Lehigh. “After Matt left, we talked. And it happened in a couple of days.”

Headlee worked with Cary Kolat at the North Carolina Regional Training Center in Chapel Hill. Prior to that, Headlee worked at the West Virginia’s Regional Training Center.

On the international stage, he has competed in eight countries, including Russia, Belarus and Cuba.

Headlee was a four-year letterman and three-year captain with the Panthers under then-coach Rande Stottlemyer. He qualified for the NCAA championships three times and won an Eastern Wrestling League title twice.

Headlee won the 125-pound title at the Mat Town Invitational, the 133-pound gold at the Body Bar Invitational at Cornell and was a University National Freestyle champion.

“I stopped competing this spring,” Headlee said. “I wanted to get back to Pitt for a long time. People ask me why I want to come back and I tell them I wouldn’t come back if I didn’t feel good things were going to happen there. Pitt has come a long way in wrestling.”

Important dates: Here are some important dates for the scholastic wrestling season:

Nov. 17 – first practice date

Jan. 14 – final section dual meets

Jan. 21 – WPIAL Section Team Championships

Jan. 26-31 – WPIAL Team Tournament

Feb. 5-7 – PIAA Team Tournament in Hershey

Feb. 14 – Class AA Section Tournaments (Sec. 1-Ellwood City, Sec. 2-McGuffey, Sec. 3-Avonworth)

Feb. 20-21 – WPIAL Class AA Individual Championships at TBD; and Class AAA Section Tournaments (Sec. 1-Kiski, Sec. 2-Ringgold, Sec. 3-Fox Chapel, Sec. 4-Trinity)

Feb. 26-28 – WPIAL Class AAA Individual Championships at Penn Hills

Feb. 27-28 – PIAA SW Class AA Regional Tournament at TBD

March 5-7 – PIAA Championships in Hershey