NATIONAL CHAMPION! Lycoming’s Wesneski Captures Heavyweight Title

Garrett Wesneski won 9-7 in sudden victory to become the 30th NCAA Division III individual champion for MAC wrestling

3/9/2019 10:13:40 PM

CENTRAL PAGE / RESULTS

ROANOKE, Va. (Wrestling) – Only one of 11 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) wrestlers moved on to the second day of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championship, and the senior heavyweight from Lycoming did not disappoint. The fifth-seeded Garrett Wesneski captured a 9-7 sudden victory decision in the national final to become not only an all-American, but the 2019 NCAA Division III Heavyweight National Champion.
 
Wesneski becomes the 30th MAC wrestler to win an NCAA Division III individual wrestling title, 40th including NCAA titles prior to Division III. The senior also gives the MAC three of the last four NCAA Division III heavyweight titles, after former Delaware Valley wrestler Zach Rosenberry won in 2016 and 2017.

The senior fell behind 2-0 early to the previous undefeated and second-seeded Adarios Jones of Augustana (Ill.) in the title match, but quickly turned things around with a 4-2 lead in the first period. The two headed into the final period tied 5-5.

Two-points each in the third period forced sudden-victory overtime, tied 7-7.

Wesneski wasted no time, scoring a take down in the overtime period to claim the national title. The 10th in Lycoming history. Wesneski finishes the 2018-19 season with a 28-1 record. Jones fell to 26-1 with his first defeat of the season.
 
The senior won his semifinal match, 4-3, over Wartburg’s Bowen Wileman to advance to the national final.
 
Since adding wrestling back as a conference sport in 2013-14, the MAC has claimed at least one individual national title in five of the last six seasons. The MAC has claimed eight individual national titles since 2013-14. (The MAC did not sponsor wrestling from 2006-07 to 2012-13)

----

Quotes courtesy of Lycoming Athletics

“I don’t have many words,” Wesneski said before proving that statement wrong. “It was a wild match. He was really strong. He scored off a few, what I would call dumb mistakes. I gave up too many cheap points. But I’ve put in so much time. It’s been a long road with a lot of adversity. When it got to sudden victory, I said to myself ‘I am not tired, I am going to go, go, go.’ I went to my best move, the move that I finish all the time in the wrestling room at practice every day and I finished it easy. The rest, I just blacked out. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
 
Wesneski finishes his senior year with a 28-1 record and his two-year career at Lycoming with a 66-5 overall record, his .930 winning percentage the best in program history. Along with Saturday night’s national championship, Wesneski was also a two-time Southeast Region champion and the 2018 Southeast Region Most Outstanding wrestler.
 
“It’s been awesome,” Wesneski said. “Coach Crebs gives me a hard time for going to Maryland, but that led me here, getting hurt and not seeing a chance to make it there. Crebs believes in me and he is happy to have me in home. He made me put in extra work all year because he believes in me. I gave my dad a huge hug after and that is something that I will remember the rest of my life. All my friends at Lycoming, all the support from my hometown this weekend has been great. I think I am the first college All-American from Canton and to be a national champion to boot – I can’t put it into words.”
 
Wesneski is Lycoming's first national champion since Lycoming’s Matt Miller won the national title at 197 pounds in 2008 and the 10th in program history.
 
“It’s been a great trip, a great way to end his career,” Crebs said. “He thought he was down one at end of period, but to go into sudden victory and get that shot was great. It has been an emotional rollercoaster – we thought he was going to go to Lycoming five years ago and he went to Maryland. He didn’t experience the success he wanted and he came back home. Last year, he won some matches, but not quite in condition to make it through to where he is now.”
 
Wesneski’s title helped the Warriors finish the tournament in 13th place with 23.5 points, the team’s fourth top 25 finish in the last five years and the team’s 14th top-25 finish in the 26-year tenure of head coach Crebs. After finishing second to Messiah at the NCAA Southeast Regional, the Warriors outpaced the rest of the region at the NCAA Championships, with Ferrum finishing 27th with 14.5 points, while the next closest finisher from the Middle Atlantic Conference was Wilkes in 43rd with 2.0 points.