Wrestling Shut Down in Ohio
While most students at Waynesburg University were sitting at home on Saturday, Nov. 19, 18 of them were sitting on a bus, heading north to Alliance, Ohio.
The Waynesburg University men’s wrestling team traveled to Ohio to wrestle at the Mount Union Duals, located at the University of Mount Union. The meet featured six teams, and Waynesburg wrestled four of them.
The Jackets first match of the meet, and only win of the day, was against Greensboro College, which was a close contest and ended with Waynesburg coming out victorious by a score of 24-22. The next three matches were against Messiah College, Heidelberg University and the University of Mount Union.
Waynesburg wrestled competitively against Messiah, which is the number two Division III program in the nation, only losing by six points 25-18. The weekend was one head coach Ron Headlee was both pleased and disappointed with.
“We started out really good; it was a good win for us,” said Headlee. “We were going against the number two team in the country and then Heidelberg and then Mount Union. I didn’t think we wrestled quite as well as we could. Overall, we had three guys get four wins and I’m happy about that.”
Waynesburg’s only team win of the day came against Greensboro College, which was the first opponent Waynesburg faced on the day. Headlee added that he believed wrestling four matches in a row also hurt the team. Waynesburg’s Jake Evans, Tristan Buxton and Ryan Shank notched three wins on the day, an accomplishment Headlee was happy with.
“They had some tough kids,” said Headlee. “Ryan Shank beat a kid that is ranked and beat a kid that is on the radar for national title contender, so for him to beat a kid from Messiah, that is a real good win for him.”
The match was one that Shank was comfortable with.
“Personally, I feel I wrestled really well, obviously there is always a few nitpicky things,” said Shank. “As a whole I am pleased with how I wrestled and could tell I am getting better every time I go out.”
Buxton, another wrestler with three wins on the day, was pleased with his performance and the team’s performance.
“I think that I performed very, very well; I think that the caliber of wrestler I faced was not what I had expected, overall though, my performance was good, I thought,” said Buxton. “The Greensboro match, the team came together and we had all the confidence in the world and we seemed like we had great chemistry.”
Buxton further explained that the team gained the confidence and momentum from their previous win over West Liberty. A lack of confidence is something that the Jackets had yet to establish as a team until this point in the season. Buxton said the dilemma lies in maintaining the confidence.
“We carried that momentum after we beat West Liberty into Saturday and after we beat Greensboro, we lost it,” said Buxton. “We know where we need to be, we just need to be there and stay there. We lost our foothold a bit this weekend, but I’m not concerned.”
The Jackets next match is set for Dec. 3, when the Jackets travel to Ada, Ohio to take part in the Ohio Northern University Duals. The Jackets have no matches during the week of Thanksgiving and the long time off is one Headlee isn’t worried about.
“No, it is good for them,” said Headlee. “They usually get a little refresher and I think it will be great.”