Feb 26, 2016 By Chelsey Withers editorial Assistant 4 min read

The Waynesburg University wrestling team returns to the mats for the NCAA Division III Mideast Regionals after finding success in the conference championships.

In preparation for the tournament, the Yellow Jackets competed in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships, in which a number of wrestlers won individual titles. Head coach Ron Headlee said the competition at the PAC Championships was “tight.” The Jackets finished second out of the three teams in the conference.

“I thought we wrestled really well at [the] PAC’s. We are young and we’re only one match away from winning the PAC’s,” said Headlee. “We had a great second round. I saw enthusiasm in our guys, and they began to believe in themselves. It gave them some confidence.”

In the PAC tournament, Waynesburg walked away with three PAC Champions: junior 141-pounder Filippo Crivelli, junior 184-pounder Ryan Shank and freshman heavyweight Jake Evans claimed individual titles for the Jackets.

For Crivelli, this marked his second PAC title win. Crivelli is the most experienced wrestler who will be competing for the Yellow Jackets in the regional tournament. For the less experienced wrestlers, Crivelli said attitude is an important part of success.

“The advice I would give some of the other wrestlers is to keep a good positive attitude and believe in your training,” said Crivelli. “We’ve been working hard all year for this, and it’s time to show what we’ve got.”

The wrestlers will compete against teams from a variety of schools. There are 93 schools competing in the region that Waynesburg will wrestle in. There are six regions and to qualify for the national tournament a wrestler must be in the top three of his weight class.

Another difference for this tournament is it consists of two weigh-ins. According to Headlee, this change is something they will need to prepare for.

The conditioning and training the wrestlers put in throughout the season becomes crucial once the wrestlers reach the two-day tournament.

Shank said his own health has been a major factor in his season’s success.

“Last year going into regionals, I was really banged up and that played a big part on me not being in the right frame of mind,” said Shank. “This year I’m healthy and have been healthy all year, so I’m really excited to get out there to scrap, especially in such a deep weight class. A PAC title is just a small goal for the year, so it’s good to get the win, but my mind has been on punching my ticket to nationals since the end of last year.”

The other PAC champion Evans, will be competing in the regional tournament for the first time as well. As a freshman, Evans has continued a three-straight season win in the heavyweight title for Waynesburg. In his final match at the PAC championships, Evans won in a 13-1 major decision.

“This is going to be the first time there for a lot of guys and I am sure they are going to have butterflies and nerves and they just have to understand that everyone is going to be the same way,” said Headlee. “They just have to trust themselves. Experience definitely helps, that is why we are trying to get those three guys to the national tournament. If you want to be a national champion [whether now or in the future], you feel a lot more comfortable going in the following year having already been at the tournament.”

Waynesburg University will begin the tournament on Saturday, Feb. 27 and will end on Feb. 28. This year’s regional competition will be held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.