New coach Colin Johnston hoping to guide Saint Vincent wrestling back to top of PAC

Dom Nania launched Saint Vincent’s resurrected wrestling program two years ago by leading the Bearcats to the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title. Last season, the Bearcats were PAC runner-up.

But in April, Nania stepped down to focus on a career outside of wrestling. A month later, Saint Vincent had its new man, hiring Colin Johnston to guide the program into the third season of its second incarnation (the wrestling team had gone dormant after 1975).

Johnston is accomplished as a wrestler and a coach. On the mat, he won 164 career matches — including a PIAA title in 2006 and three Powerade titles — at Canon-McMillan before being an NCAA qualifier at WVU. He was the head coach at Limestone (S.C.) University, Fairmont State and Pitt-Bradford. He also was an assistant and interim head coach at Division I Davidson.

“We were skeptical at first,” said sophomore Anthony Orlandini (Montour). “We were pretty upset that (Nania) was leaving. But once we saw coach Johnston come in and was confident in us, we knew he was a good guy for the program.”

Added Johnston: “I think they adapted well. There was no real issues when I got here. They wanted to win, and I came in with that same mentality that they can win.

“Every day I’m learning new things about these guys, but I’m starting to kind of get them a little bit more and what they like and what they don’t like.”

Johnston inherited a solid group, including junior Chase Brandebura (Carlynton), a two-time PAC champion at 165 pounds. Fellow junior Ryan Yocum (141) has 16 wins in two seasons and was runner-up in the PAC last winter.

Additionally, freshmen Logan Connolly (133, Chartiers Valley) and heavyweight Jonah McCoy have shown promise early. Connolly won the 133-pound title at the Shenandoah Invitational last month.

Orlandini, PAC runner-up at 149 last season, has two titles at 149 this season: in the “B” bracket at the Mount Union Invitational and at Shenandoah.

“The biggest thing to me is the extra work that he puts in,” Johnston said about Orlandini. “He’s always asking questions. … And his weight management is good. He’s eating the right things. He’s getting the rest that he needs. Everything he’s doing off the mat is huge for him.”

Of course, not everything has been smooth sailing for the Bearcats. They came out on the wrong end of an unusually early PAC match against W&J, losing 29-20 in just the second match of the season. Connolly (fall), Orlandini (technical fall), Brandebura (decision) and McCoy (fall) had SVC’s wins in that match.

“It would have helped us having (the W&J match) a little later, but it also would have helped them, too,” Orlandini said. “But I think we needed that loss because it’s just going to help us. Since that loss, we’ve all been training harder, getting extra workouts in, and it’s kind of really made us know where we’re at and know where we need to be.”

There also have been a number of injuries that have kept Johnston’s lineup in flux for much of the pre-holiday schedule.

There’s time for the Bearcats to get right. They travel to the Messiah University Invitational this weekend then, after a month off for the holidays, compete in the Fairmont State Open on Jan. 3.

Then it’s into the thick of the PAC schedule, with four of SVC’s final five matches being in-conference: Jan. 8 at Hiram, Jan. 15 vs. Thiel, Jan. 29 vs. Waynesburg and Feb. 5 vs. Bethany.

The PAC championships will be Feb. 14 at Hiram, and Johnston is confident the Bearcats will have a shot at the title.

“I think we have the group of guys to win it,” he said, “but it’s going to take a team effort, and everyone’s going to have to be healthy. … I think we’re going in the right direction, and I think we’re going to keep expanding and getting better every single day.”