It was like Saint Vincent had been here before. But if there was a feeling of deja vu, it was probably driven by adrenaline, not history.

The Bearcats, who resurrected their wrestling program after nearly five decades away, cleaned up in their first Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships.

Three wrestlers won individual titles and SVC also captured the team championship, earning Dom Nania (Hempfield) conference coach of the year honors.

The 2024 @PAC_Athletics wrestling champion Saint Vincent College Bearcats! pic.twitter.com/L1NaRFAzzy

— SVC Bearcats (@SVC_Bearcats) February 17, 2024

Your 2023-2024 PAC Wrestling Coach of the Year, Dom Nania catches up with us after the Bearcats first ever PAC Championship! #SVC #GoBearcats @SVC_Wrestling pic.twitter.com/3BzsymsUYX

— SVC Bearcats (@SVC_Bearcats) February 17, 2024

Freshman Chase Brandebura, who took first place at 165 pounds as the top seed, was tabbed the PAC Newcomer of the Year.

Freshman Sean Cain (Mt. Pleasant) earned the program’s first title, with a fall in the 125-pound finals.

Freshman Charlie Mesich (Hempfield) won a championship as the No. 2 seed at 157 pounds.

Sophomore 133-pounder Kyle McCollum, freshman Tyler Debnar (141), freshman 174-pounder Logan Bechtold (Kiski Area), and senior 285-pounder Jake Beistel (Southmoreland) were all runners-up.

Wrestling

Army: Ethan Berginc (Jeannette/Hempfield) picked up a win by technical fall to help Army defeat rival Navy, 18-17.

The sophomore 125-pounder’s win gave the Black Knights a 15-9 lead.

Bucknell: Senior 133-pounder Kurt Phipps (Norwin) opened the scoring for the Bison with a 6-1 decision over Hunter Adrian of Brown as the team won 30-12.

Phipps is ranked No. 14 in the nation in his weight class.

Men’s basketball

Chatham: Grad guard Geoff Helm (Greensburg Central Catholic) only had six points, but his 3-pointer from the corner with 3.4 seconds remaining lifted the Cougars to a 56-53 victory over Grove City.

Helm played 25 minutes in the win for Chatham (17-8, 15-5).

Geoffrey Helm won it in the final seconds for @ChathamMBB with this clutch corner 3️⃣‼️#RollCougs pic.twitter.com/GolDX2dvOL

— Chatham Athletics (@ChathamCougar) February 17, 2024

College of Charleston: Grad student Bryce Butler (Latrobe) had nine points, five rebounds and three assists in a 77-73 victory over Northeastern. Charleston improved to 19-7 overall and 10-3 in the Coastal Athletic Association.

Saint Vincent: Sophomore Jaden Gales scored 25 points, junior Mike Iuzzolino added 19, senior Osyon Jones 14 and sophomore Dev Ostrowski 11 as the Bearcats closed out the regular season with an 83-70 win over Franciscan.

SVC (22-3, 16-3) has a bye into the PAC semifinals on Thursday. The Bearcats will play at home.

Westmoreland County Community College: Having more points than minutes played is often a sign of a good game for any basketball player.

But 41 points in 38 minutes? That is what freshman Ty Travillion (Yough) accomplished while scoring 68% of his team’s points in a 118-60 loss at Penn State New Kensington.

Travillion made 13 of 24 shots, including 6 of 10 3-pointers, and made 9 of 13 free throws in the career-best performance. He also grabbed nine rebounds for WCCC (1-21).

He leads the team with a 14.5-point average.

Women’s basketball

Marietta: Senior guard Olivia Gribble (Norwin) had a game-high 13 points, connecting on three 3-pointers, as Marietta (20-5, 15-3) defeated Baldwin Wallace, 71-56, to complete regular-season play.

Mercyhurst: Sophomore forward Bailey Kuhns (Greensburg Central Catholic) led the Lakers with 19 points and 10 rebounds in an 82-64 victory over Seton Hill.

Saint Vincent: Needing a win to secure a spot in the PAC Tournament, the Bearcats defeated Franciscan, 58-44, in the regular-season finale.

Madison Weber had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Emily Cavacini added 15 points, and Emily Thompson chipped in 10 points for SVC (13-12, 11-9), which will be the No. 6 seed in the conference playoffs.

The Bearcats will play at No. 3 Bethany on Tuesday.

Men’s indoor track and field

Grove City: Senior Gabe Dunlap (Penn-Trafford) ran a leg of the winning 800-meter relay, which finished in 1 minute, 33.30 seconds at the Mount Union Tune-Up.

Dunlap also came in third in th long jump at 19 feet, 8.75 inches.

Westminster: Grad student Ryan Beard (Franklin Regional) was part f the 1,600-meter relay team that won a title at Akron’s Al Campbell Invitational. The team finished in 3 minutes, 32.10 seconds.

Women’s indoor track and field

Clarion: Junior Leah Perry (Derry) posted an 11th-place finish at the PSAC Championships in the pentathlon, scoring 2,920 points.

Part of that total included a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles (9.46 seconds). She also competed in the long jump, high jump and shot put.

Edinboro: Sophomore Bernadette Zukina (Norwin) had confidence going into the PSAC Indoor Championships afte she broke the school 400-meter race record while winning the race in 57 seconds flat at the SPIRE Indoor Games.

Michigan: Freshman Liz Tapper (Hempfield) is carrying the momentum from a brilliant high school career into college. She won the shot put at the Silverston Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., with a record throw.

Her mark of 51 feet, 11.75 inches not only is a personal best, but it is the seventh-best distance in program history.

Robert Morris: Senior Hannah Seitzinger (Belle Vernon) was named the Atlantic 10 Track Performer of the Week.

Seitzinger ran a personal-best time of 55.80 seconds to win the 400-meter dash at the SPIRE Collegiate Indoor Games. She also anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay (3:47.95) for the Dukes.

The times are the fastest in the conference this season.

Seton Hill: Grad student Natasha Bernett won the PSAC Pentathlon with a meet-record 3,687 points.

She was first in the high jump (1.62 meters), 60-meter hurdles (8.83 seconds) and shot put (12.09 meters).

Slippery Rock: Senior Katie Plassio (Norwin) earned All-PSAC honors in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18 minutes, 10 seconds, good enough for third at the conference finals.

Junior Aleks Brozeski (Norwin), meantime, placed third in the long jump with a season-best mark of 5.50 meters, which came on her last attempt.

The unique thing about Brozeski is that she was seeded last (18th) coming into the event.

Wake Forest: Junior Bella Gera (Hempfield) finished first in the shot put at the JDL Last Chance Invite in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Gera’s top toss sailed 15.18 meters.

Wheeling: Junior Tara Perry (Derry) took eighth place in the 60-meter hurdles (9.76 seconds) at the Mountain East Conference Championships.

Hockey

Saint Vincent: Zach Ridilla (Latrobe) scored three goals to power the Bearcats to a 7-5 victory over Pitt-Johnstown.

Pro Beat

Men’s basketball

Former Yough great Ben McCauley has retired from professional basketball to wrap up a 16-year playing career, mostly overseas.

McCauley, who played at N.C. State, suited up for 15 teams ranging from France, to Poland, to Ukraine, to Turkey, Israel and Puerto Rico.

McCauley, 37, is coaching the sixth-grade boys team and helping with the 15U program for SW15H Elite in North Carolina, where he lives.

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