WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Nov. 21) – Despite missing three nationally-recognized starters from its starting lineup, the Waynesburg University wrestling team battled hard against three quality opponents at a quad match on Saturday.
For various reasons, the Yellow Jackets were without the services of Rico Borz (125-133 lb.), Jesse Byerly (!49 lb.) and Corbin Semple (184 lb.). The absences forced head coach Ron Headlee and his staff to make big changes to the team's starting lineup.
After dropping a heart-breaking 20-18 loss to Messiah, the Jackets rebounded with a 22-21 over Baldwin-Wallace. The day ended with a 27-13 loss to York.
After a long hard-fought day on the mats, Waynesburg's dual record dropped to 2-2 on the season.
The Jackets' top performers of the day were freshman 125-pounder Alex Crown and junior Nick Garber, who both went 3-0 on the day with two wins each coming with bonus points.
Crown started Waynesburg's win against Baldwin-Wallace with a 4-2 win over Alex Dombrady. After B-W tied the match (3-3) with a decision win at 133, first-year 141-pounder Cody Renner beat Eric Schubert by 7-1 decision to put his team back up three (6-3).
Garber bumped up to 149 pounds and didn't seem to mind the change as he pinned Danny Huffman in just 47 seconds to put the Jackets up 12-3.
B-W cut the lead down to 12-6 win an overtime win at 157 pounds, before sophomore 165-pounder Alex Evanoff dominated Joe Georgian to the tune of an 11-0 major decision victory.
Again, Baldwin-Wallace answered, this time with a win by pin at 174, but the Jackets' Jared Roberts picked up a pin of his own in 1:04 seconds that made the score 22-12 with two matches to go.
After B-W picked up a pin at 197 to cut the lead to 22-18, senior heavyweight Melvin Warrick, who was making his first appearance of the season after playing for the Jacket football team, managed to avoid giving up bonus points in his match. Thought Warrick fell 10-3, it was enough to give the Jackets a 22-21 victory.
As previously mentioned, Crown and Garber both went 3-0 on the day. The first-year 125-pounder picked up a victory by decision and one by technical fall.
Garber's win by pin was his sixth of the year. The Waynesburg native also picked up a win by decision and one by major decision.
Sophomores Alex Evanoff and Jared Roberts picked up two wins each on the day.
Messiah had the biggest day of the four teams by going 3-0. Waynesburg, York and Baldwin-Wallace all went 1-2 on the day.
For a complete look at all the results from the day, click here.
The Jackets are off for two weeks and expect to have their full roster back for their trip to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Invitational on Dec. 5.
