WAYNESBURG, Pa. – The Thiel College wrestling team won its 23
rd Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) championship Saturday at Waynesburg University's Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.
The team title was the first for the Tomcats since 2016. It also tied Thiel with past conference member John Carroll for the most in league history.
Thiel racked up 128.5 points Saturday to win the title. W&J finished second (103 points) while Waynesburg was third (67.5 points).
Nine Tomcats wrestled in the championship finals. Six of the nine went on to earn individual titles, including:
Evan Whiteside (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway),
Hunter E. Thompson (Titusville, Pa./Titusville),
Hunter Martz (Hawthorn, Pa./Redbank Valley),
Logan Long (North Bend, Pa./Central Mountain),
Peyton Hearn (Conneaut, Pa./Conneaut Area) and
Bryce McCloskey (Greenville, Pa./Reynolds).
Frank Gill (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin),
Braydon Herbster (Linesville, Pa./Reynolds) and
Dylan Proper (Titusville, Pa./Maplewood) finished second in their brackets.
Whiteside, who won the 125-pound title, was named the PAC's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Whiteside reached the top of the podium with a pair of pins Saturday. The sophomore turned Waynesburg's William Wilson in 40 seconds in the semifinals before pinning W&J's Emanuel Dovshek in 3:36 in the finals.
Whiteside is the first Thiel wrestler to be named the PAC's Most Outstanding Wrestler since Brett Beltz in 2016.
PAC Newcomer of the Year honors went to Tomcat sophomore Thompson, who won the 133-pound title Saturday after defeating W&J's Hunter Swedish by major decision (16-3) in the championship finals.
Craig Thurber, the Rod E. Wilt '86 Head Coach for Thiel Wrestling, was honored as the PAC Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career.
Thiel will compete in the NCAA Division III Southeast Regional Championships Feb. 25-26 at Lycoming College. The NCAA Division III Championships will be held at the U.S. Cellular Center in Grand Rapids, Iowa on March 11-12.
*Portions contributed by the Presidents' Athletic Conference
