Brackets and Team Scores
 
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Feb. 25) – Saturday's trip to the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Wrestling Championships was a mix of disappointment and success for Waynesburg University. The Yellow Jackets led all Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) teams with a third-place finish in the 10-team field, but they were also the only conference team not to have a grappler win an individual title and qualify for the national championship tournament in La Crosse, Wisc.
 
Things got off to a bad start before the first bout of the day was held as standout junior 125-pounder Alex Crown, who not only qualified for last year's national tournament, but placed fourth in the country, missed the event with an illness. However, the active Jackets wrestled well and sent seven team members to the championship or consolation finals.
 
The group was led by sophomore heavyweight Brandon Fedorka, who made it to the championship bout against top-seeded Logan Renas by scoring a win by fall and a satisfying decision victory over Washington & Jefferson senior Taylor Potts, who upset Fedorka at this year's PAC Championships. Fedorka settled for second place after falling to Renas.
 
Freshman Jake Vitolo gave his coaches and teammates something to look forward to in the future as he placed third at 133 pounds. Like Fedorka, Vitolo avenged a loss from the PAC championships by beating W&J senior Zach Cecchetti 3-0 in his first match of the day. Though he was dropped into consolation by Thiel senior Corey Brown, the first-year Jacket gave a respectable performance in a 10-5 defeat. Vitolo went on to score back-to-back decision wins to finish in third place and compete in the true second place bout.
 
Another Jacket freshman, Chris Milligan, won his first-round bout at 149 pounds by 5-3 decision over W&J's Chris Leva before suffering a hard-fought 7-3 defeat at the hands of top-seeded Jake Strasbaugh. Once in consolations, Milligan picked up a win by decision to advance to the third-place bout before settling for fourth place.
 
After a fantastic regular season, senior Garett Johnston entered what many considered to be the deepest, most talented weight class in the tournament at 157 pounds. Johnston won his first bout of the day by fall over Thiel's Ryan Carson and followed that up with a very physical 7-3 decision over Olivet's Daniel Fleet to reach the semifinals. Johnston's next match was against two-time All-American and former national champion Isaac Dukes of Case Western, who defeated the Jacket standout 11-4. Johnston rebounded with a pair of decision wins in consolations to take third place, but he didn't qualify for a true-second bout.
 
Waynesburg saw another of its own make it to a third-place bout in sophomore Sam Lombardo, who opened up with a 9-6 win over Wabash's Jake Moore. Unfortunately, Lombardo dropped a 7-4 decision to second-seeded George Markou to fall into consolations. The second-year starter rebounded with a win by fall in his first consolation match to reach the third-place bout, which Lombardo dropped by a heart-breaking 5-4 decision.
 
Like Fedorka and Vitolo, sophomore Cody Catalina took a measure of revenge for a loss at the PAC Championships by beating conference champion and former Pennsylvania high school champion Stephen Ceremuga 2-1. Unfortunately, Catalina's run to a title ended in his next bout as he lost to top-seeded Greg Rhoads of Wabash. Once in consolations, Catalina ended his day with two-straight wins, including a 7-2 decision over Olivet's Josh Crawford in the third-place bout.
 
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was turned in by freshman Patrick Jennings. The first-year Jacket scored a 10-6 win over Alma's Conrad Bovee during his first match of the day, but was sent into consolations by top-seeded Justin Leonard of Olivet. Jennings advanced to the third-place bout by beating Trine's Mackenzie Green 6-4. In the consolation finals, Jennings picked up maybe his biggest win of the year by beating PAC champion Patrick Morris of Thiel 8-6.
 
Olivet took the team title with 165.5 points, while Wabash followed in second place with 112.5 points and the Jackets rounded out the top three with 103. There is still a very slim possibility that Johnston and Fedorka could qualify for the national tournament as they were both named alternates. Dukes was awarded the lone wildcard from the event.
 
Though the 2011-12 season is head coach Ron Headlee's first without a national qualifier, his Jackets still went 10-8 during his fourth year with the team and 2-0 in PAC competition, despite battling through a daunting schedule that featured five Division II schools, four of which were ranked, and six Division III squads who spent times in the NWCA Division III national top 30 team rankings.