PROVIDENCE, R.I. (pacathletics.org) – The Washington & Jefferson College wrestling team wrapped up its season by competing at the 2025 NCAA Championships. The two-day end of season event was hosted by Johnson & Wales at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island.

A trio of sophomores, Taylor Smith (Mifflintown, Pa./Juniata), Casey Smith (Mifflintown, Pa./Juniata) and Christian McChesney (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Salem), represented W&J at the event.

This marked the first time three PAC wrestlers have advanced to Nationals since 2020. This also represents the fourth time in W&J history that the program qualified three wrestlers for the national tournament in the same season (2002, 2014, 2019).

Taylor Smith, appearing for the second-straight year at the event, showed promise. He opened the day for W&J with a championship round victory, besting seventh-seeded Daniel Uribe of Wabash by a 5-4 triumph by decision in the 149-pound bracket. Unfortunately, he suffered a 4-2 loss by decision in the second round to Elijah Cyr of Castleton. After receiving a bye in the consolation round two, Smith dropped a narrow 6-5 decision to Michael Conklin of The College of New Jersey, which eliminated him from competition and completed his sophomore season with a 16-3 record.

Casey Smith finished with a 1-2 record while competing in the 157-pound bracket. He opened the day with a championship round one loss by 4-0 decision to the No. 2 seeded Peter Kane from Williams, who entered the day unbeaten for the season. In the second round of the consolation bracket, he picked up a win by major decision (17-7) over Jason Rezac of Alvernia to advance in consolations. Smith fell by an 8-1 margin to get eliminated in the third round of consolations to Darian Estevez of the University of Chicago. Competing at NCAAs for the first time, Smith registered a 21-5 overall record during the season.

Also making his first appearance at nationals, McChesney finished the day 0-2 in the 285-pound heavyweight bracket. McChesney was bested in the first round of the championship bracket by Robby Bates of North Central (Ill.) by tech fall (TF 5:00, 18-0). McChesney later dropped a decision by fall to Adolfo Betancur of host Johnson & Wales in 3:19 to finish his sophomore season at 27-9 overall.

Led by head coach Sonnie Blanco, W&J wraps up its 2024-25 season, which saw the program capture its eighth Presidents' Athletic Conference title.

Contributed by W&J Athletic Communications