National championships will have local flair
The NCAA Division I National Wrestling Championships kicked off on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and was a homecoming for many grapplers and coaches.
The WPIAL is always well represented at the national tournament, and two wrestlers and two coaches return home looking for a national championship.
Waynesburg Central graduate AC Headlee won a state title in 2015, and the redshirt junior is competing in his second straight national tournament for the University of North Carolina at 141 pounds.
Headlee (19-10) faced Ohio蘑菇视频 Cameron Kelly (19-3) in the round of 32 Thursday morning. Headlee was the 21st seed and Kelly the 12th, as the NCAA seeded all wrestlers in the tournament.
鈥淚t is pretty cool to compete in my backyard,鈥� Headlee said. 鈥淚 will have a lot of my family and friends there. When we come back to tournaments and see guys we know, especially from wrestling clubs like Qwest and Young Guns, we always try and catch up.鈥�
Headlee is hoping to improve this year in the national tournament after going 0-2 last season.
鈥淚 am trying to get some redemption after last year蘑菇视频 tournament,鈥� Headlee said. 鈥淚 am just taking it as another tournament and am going to go out and wrestle freely. You really can鈥檛 take anyone lightly in college wrestling and have to go day by day.
鈥淚 used to wrestle my first opponent a lot when we were younger. I wrestled him at the Tulsa Nationals in the finals. You hope to go into a match and blow people away, but you are not wrestling kids in high school anymore. We are grown men and no one is going to let up or give in.鈥�
Headlee is joined by seven Tar Heel teammates in Pittsburgh: UNC蘑菇视频 Austin O鈥機onnor (6th seed at 149), Chip Ness (15th seed at 184), Gary Wayne Harding (18th seed at 133), Josh McClure (24th seed at 157), Cory Daniel (21st seed at 285), Brandon Whitman (29th seed at 197) and Devin Kane (33rd seed at 174, pigtail)
鈥淚t is pretty cool to be going with seven of my teammates,鈥� Headlee said while preparing for the event. 鈥淲e will be heading out to Pittsburgh Tuesday morning. We plan on checking everything out before getting after it Thursday morning.鈥�
UNC head coach Coleman Scott wrestled for Waynesburg Central, and was 156-12 in high school with four WPIAL and three PIAA titles. He went on to wrestle at Oklahoma State, where he won 117 matches, was a four-time All-American and national champion in 2008. Scott was the David Schultz Memorial Champion in 2012 and placed third at the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games at 60 kilograms in freestyle competition.
Headlee and Scott both admitted to being excited when it comes to being so close to home at the national tournament, but wanted to focus on business come Thursday morning.
鈥淚t is probably a dynamic that not a lot of athletes have,鈥� said Headlee in reference to Scott being his head coach. 鈥淲e grew up in Waynesburg, but we really like it a lot in Chapel Hill.鈥�
Scott was hired to coach the Tar Heels in 2015, and wants to build the program into one of the best in the country. He likes where his team is at, but knows there is a long way to go.
Jefferson-Morgan graduate Cary Kolat is also in Pittsburgh to coach Campbell University.
The Camels have a program-record six NCAA qualifiers in: Korbin Meink (14-11 at 125), Noah Gonser (20-8 at 133), Josh Heil (23-6 at 149), Benjamin Barton (11-3 at 157), Andrew Morgan (25-8 at 174) and Chris Kober (20-8 at 184).
Kolat was 137-0 in high school with four state titles and Outstanding Wrestling Awards at the PIAA Class AA Championships. He won two NCAA Division I Championships at Lock Haven and was a 2000 United States Olympian.