W&J Wrestling Team Wins PAC Sportsmanship Award
WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College wrestling team earned the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Team Sportsmanship Award the league announced on Wednesday.
The PAC Team Sportsmanship Award program was started during the 2008-09 sports season, and is an ongoing effort to recognize and encourage positive sportsmanship among conference teams. The award is sponsored by the PAC Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), a committee comprised of student-athletes from each member institution that assemble to provide insight on the student-athlete experience.
The Presidents were 3-7 in dual meets this winter under first-year Head Coach Tommy Prairie. Senior Taylor Potts (Wellsburg, W. Va./John Marshall) was named PAC Wrestler of the Year after claiming his second 285-pound conference championship. Sophomore Josh Etzel (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) also won a PAC title, as W&J had two conference champions for the first time since 2010.
Etzel became the first W&J wrestler to compete at the NCAA Division III Championships since 2003 after claiming the 141-pound championship at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Recently, the Presidents were also named as an NCAA Division III scholar team by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Etzel and Potts earned Scholar All-America status.
Other schools receiving PAC Winter Team Sportsmanship Awards were Geneva (men’s basketball), Chatham (women’s basketball), Westminster (men’s swimming & diving) and Saint Vincent (women’s swimming & diving).
This is the fourth year the team sportsmanship awards will be given out in each of the 19 PAC sponsored varsity sports. Each PAC team was asked to vote for the conference team in its sport which displayed the highest level of sportsmanship. The awards are handed out at the conclusion of the fall, winter and spring seasons.
