Feb 9, 2019 2 min read

GREENVILLE – Waynesburg University won its third-straight Presidents’ Athletic Conference wrestling team championship late Friday night at Thiel’s Beeghly Gymnasium.

The Yellow Jackets totaled 108.5 points in the three-team field, edging runner-up Washington & Jefferson by only five points (103.5) for the top spot. Thiel was third with 86.5 points.

Waynesburg has won seven PAC team titles.

Waynesburg finished with five PAC champions, two runners-up and three third-place finishers. W&J had three competitors win PAC titles while finishing with five runners-up and three third-place finishers. Thiel had a pair of champions, three runners-up and four third-place finishers.

Waynesburg senior heavyweight Jake Evans was voted the conference’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for the second time in his career (2017). With his pin in 1:23 of W&J freshman Jake Walker in the championship bout, Evans set the NCAA all-divisions record with 175 career wins. Evans is the defending NCAA Division III champion and nation’s leader in pins.

It was Evans’ fourth PAC championship and clinched the team title for Waynesburg.

Waynesburg 11th-year head coach Ron Headlee was voted the PAC’s Coach of the Year for the third-straight year. The Coach of the Year award was Headlee’s seventh.

“I am so proud of this group of wrestlers. They just kept fighting,” Headlee said. “We were down early and weren’t scoring early in the tournament, but they kept believing in themselves. It’s pretty special to have a Jake Evans to turn to clinch another title. I also want to give my coaching staff a ton of credit. They had our team ready to wrestle.”

W&J junior 157-pound Hunter Neely won his third-straight PAC title with a 10-2 major decision over Waynesburg junior Zach Mackall in the finals. He won at 165 last year and at 157 in 2017.

Other local champions Waynesburg’s Dylan Williams (125), Josh Kuslock (133), Matt Lascola (141) and Tony Welsh (174) and Washington & Jefferson’s Michael Heinl (149) and Jared Walker (165).