West Liberty Sweeps MEC Wrestling Honors
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – After rolling to Mountain East Conference and NCAA Regional championships and bringing a team trophy back from the NCAA Division II Nationals, the West Liberty University wrestling team made a clean sweep of the MEC Wrestling Awards when they were announced on Thursday.
Irwin was voted MEC Coach of the Year with 125-pound national champion Cole Laya chosen as the MEC Wrestler of the Year. Ty McGeary, West Liberty's fast-rising 174-pounder, received MEC Freshman of the Year honors.
In his second season at the WLU helm, Irwin led the Hilltoppers to one of the best seasons in more than a half-century of wrestling on the hilltop. Irwin's wrestlers dominated the MEC Tournament, winning six individual titles and earning All-MEC honors in nine of the 10 weight classes in an impressive sprint to the team championship.
The Black and Gold built on that momentum at the Super Region 3 championships, rolling to the first regional title of West Liberty's NCAA era behind a trio of regional champions and six national qualifiers. Irwin was voted Super Region 3 Coach of the Year and was once again a finalist for the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year Award.
With four All-Americans, two national champions and a national runner-up, Irwin's Hilltoppers also made history at the NCAA D2 Nationals in St. Louis. West Liberty's fourth-place finish was the school's best since transitioning from NAIA to NCAA affiliation during the mid-1990s. Back-to-back individual national championships from Laya and 133-pounder Tyler Warner – Nos. 9 and 10 in school history – marked the first time WLU had multiple national champions in the same year.
Laya, a three-time NCAA Division II All-American from Fairmont, W.Va., went 18-1 on the mat this year, walking away with conference, regional and national championship trophies. He was especially impressive at Nationals, pinning Paxton Rosen of Central Oklahoma in the afternoon semifinals before posting a dominating 12-2 rout of UNC Pembroke's Nick Daggett in the championship match. Twelve of Laya's 18 wins were bonus point victories – five falls, five technical falls and two major decisions.
McGeary, a freshman from McDonald, Pa., came on strong down the stretch for the Black and Gold. He was a third-place finisher at the MEC Tournament and made an impressive run at the regional to pick up another third-place finish. He was named as an alternate for the NCAA Tournament at 174 pounds and finished the season with a sparkling 12-3 mark. He shared MEC Freshman of the Year honors with Notre Dame’s Matthew Kaufman.