Mar 7, 2018 4 min read

Division III wrestling

The brackets for the 2018 NCAA Division III National Wrestling Championships, which will be contested Friday and Saturday in Cleveland, have been released and includes three competitors from Waynesburg University.

Waynesburg junior Jake Evans received the No. 5 seed at 285 pounds and will wrestle D’andre Johnson, a junior from Wisconsin-Platteville, in the opening round. Evans is a returning All-American at heavyweight and placed seventh last season.

Senior Tristan Buxton will likely face the top seed at 125 pounds in his first match at nationals, barring a major upset. Senior C.J. Pestano, an undefeated two-time All-American, has a preliminary round match with Ithaca’s Ferdinand Mase. The winner will move on to face Buxton.

Junior Ken Burrs will open the tournament against third-seeded Kyle Koser, a senior out of Messiah.

Wrestling is scheduled to get started at 11 a.m. Friday from Cleveland’s Public Auditorium.

College softball

Waynesburg University split two games Wednesday at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Lee County, Fla. The Yellow Jackets lost their first game of the year, 6-3, to Elms before rebounding with a 4-1 win over Penn State-Altoona.

Defensive miscues played a big role in the Waynesburg (5-1) loss to the Blazers (2-5). The Yellow Jackets committed four errors that led to five unearned runs. Waynesburg outhit the Blazers 11-6 with first baseman Alex Lawrence having three of the hits, including two doubles.

Pitcher Courtney Messenger improved her record to 3-0 with a five-hitter against Penn State-Altoona. She did not issue a walk.

Rachel Skon was 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead Waynesburg at the plate in the second game.

Francis out as

GM of Hurricanes

Hall of Fame player Ron Francis is out as general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes after four years but will remain with the team in another front-office position.

New owner Tom Dundon said Wednesday night that the team will begin a search for a new GM to report directly to Dundon. Francis will move into a new role as the team’s president of hockey operations.

Dundon said in a statement that he “had a good chance to be around and assess the operations” and felt a change “is needed when it comes to hockey personnel decisions.”

The move came a day after the Hurricanes’ 6-1 loss at Minnesota, which left Carolina four points outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Women’s basketball

team pushes bus

A women’s college basketball team isn’t letting a snowstorm that’s pounding the Northeast get in its way.

Members of the Northeastern University women’s basketball team pushed their bus back on course after it was stuck in the snow outside a practice facility in Philadelphia Wednesday.

The team posted a video of the feat on its Twitter account.

The Huskies are in the city to compete in the 2018 CAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

A university spokesman says the entire team and some assistant coaches “had a blast” trying to free the bus after practicing at St. Joseph’s University. They were headed back to their hotel in downtown Philadelphia.

Northeastern plays Delaware in the quarterfinals Thursday.

In the NBA

Rudy Gobert had 23 points and 14 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell finished with 20 points and six assists, and the Utah Jazz snapped the Indiana Pacers’ four-game winning streak with a 104-84 victory Wednesday night.

The Jazz improved to 15-2 over their last 17 games. Ricky Rubio finished with 18 points and seven assists for Utah, and reserve Jae Crowder added 16 points. Joe Ingles had 11 points and 10 assists.