Wrestling News and Views by Tom Elling
Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas or a happy holiday.
(NOTE: All records mentioned below are as of December 22 as my deadline is Monday each week.)
Sugar Valley (3-5) dropped two dual meets last week. On Monday, Juniata topped the Phoenix (38-25); on Wednesday, it was Sullivan Country taking the dual (40-2).
Hunter Berry (114) and Jarren McCloskey (139) lead the team with eight wins. Tobias Conoway, (121) Dakota Jodun (152), and Koda Mincer (285) have six wins each. The next action for Jason Bilbay’s team is January 4th at the South Williamsport Duals.
Jersey Shore (3-6) had a mixed bag last week with a 54-21 win over Muncy and a decisive loss to Shikellamy (60-12) on Thursday. This weekend, the Bulldogs will take part in the Neil Turner Memorial Tournament at Conestoga Valley HS (21 teams). Bellefonte, Mifflin County and Shikellamy are among the entries. On January 4th, Coach Tony Owens’ squad will join eleven other teams is a dual meet event at Line Mountain.
Top wrestlers (record-wise) for the Bulldogs are Slate Sechrist (215) with 9 wins. Tobias Morgret (152) has 8; Louden Spotts (139) 7 and Mazden Lupton (145) 6.
Bellefonte (5-3) will also take part in the Turner Memorial tournament Friday and Saturday. Mike Maney’s Red Raiders did well at the earlier Woodruff Memorial in Wyalusing going 4-1). January 3-4, they will participate in the Laurel Highlands Championships at Central Cambria HS.
Top records for the team include: Ezra Swisher (152) 13-0; Noah Weaver (160) 12-2; Jackson Long, (172) 11-4, Wyatt Long (133) and Luke Hockenberry (189) have 9 wins. Swisher was a King of the Mountain Champion this past weekend. Weaver was 4th; Jackson Long 5th and Wyatt Long 8th. Noah Weaver is the nephew of LHU head coach Scott Moore.
Bald Eagle Area (7-2) placed 10th at the King of the Mountain. Earlier in the week, The Eagles lost a tough one to Penns Valley (36-34). This Saturday and Sunday, they will be in Chambersburg for the MyHouse Trojan Wars. (29 teams). The only other District 6 school in that tournament is West Branch. Tanner Guenot (127), Caden Judice (133) and Dawson Lomison (139) lead the Eagles with 13 wins. Caleb Close and Gage Gardner,have 11. Judice and Close were runners-up at the King of the Mountain. Guenot and Lomison took 5ths. Gardner (who forfeited his bouts after a QFwin due to injury) was 6th.
Central Mountain (3-0) settled for a second place in the K-O-M to an impressive Montoursville team. The top ten teams were: (1) Montoursville 156, (2) Central Mountain 142, (3) Altoona 137.5, (4) State College 123, (5) Mifflin County 118, (6) Greater Latrobe 116, (7) Boyertown 111.5, (7) Brookville 111.5, (9) Warrior Run 110.5, (10) Bald Eagle Area 103.5. The D6 team race looks to be very competitive. #2 state ranked Dalton Perry at 145 remains unbeaten (12-0) with a King-of-the-Mountain gold in his collection. Aiden Kunes (has 11 wins; Bryce Brungard and Patrick Tarantella have ten.Gavin Heverly at 114 ( was a KOM runner-up. Aiden Kunes at 127 was 4th; Patrick Tarantella was 6th at 139 and Bryce Brungard took 7th at 189.
The Wildcats of Biff Walizer are off until January 4th when they have entered the Coudersport.Duals. Other teams involved are host Coudersport, Greenville, Grove City, Hickory and West Mifflin.
On the college side— Lock Haven University took on the some higher ranked NCAA foes, going 0-3.
The Bald Eagles lost duals to North Carolina 37-3; Iowa State 30-6 and Ohio State 36-6. Cole Bartam picked up a win in his first varsity action with a 7-6 decision over Ohio State’s Gavin Bell. Fellow frosh Tucker Hogan went 2-1 for the day. Of local interest Luke Simcox wrestled at 141 for North Carolina. The two-time PIAA champ from Central Mountain dropped a MD to Iowa States #19 Jacob Frost.
Penn State shut out Binghamton (52-0) in the first round of the Journeyman Duals in Nashville. Eight of the wins provided bonus points. Thereafter, the Nittany Lions crushed Little Rock (44-0) and Missouri, 41-3. The only wrestler to lose an individual bout was Levi Haines and that was a SV 4-1 decision to top-ranked Keegan O’Toole of Missouri. Somehow, I think Levi and the coaching staff will come up with a strategy to turn that around next meeting.
Girls: Central Mountain Wildcat Booster hosted the ‘Queen of the Mountain tournament in dual meet fashion. Hughesville dominated . Williamsport, Shikellamy and Pocono Mountain West followed in that order. Locally, Central Mt. went 1-3, while BEA finished 1-2. Area downed the Lay ‘Cats 33-18 in a head-to-head. In its infancy, the biggest problem is filling a roster for most teams, including our locals. The Lady Cats’ top performers were Austynn Falls (4-0), Ashlyn Miller (4-0), Mallory Wunder, (3-1) and Kendall Wagner (3-1). For BEA, Grace Crestani went 3-0 including a repeat win over foe Wagner) and Eden Eveleth was 2-1.
Wade Schalles sent me a note regarding my recent column, He says he enjoys my news and views.. ‘Wondrous’ also informed me that he was the first to suggest the ‘half-time’ break at collegiate meets when he was at ODU in 1980. Sometimes change comes slowly.
Speaking of change, there has been a lot of diverse opinion on moving the PIAA TEAM Championship from Hershey’s Giant Center to Altoona High. I had a chance to speak with PWCA president Pat
Berzonski this past weekend. The Chestnut Ridge assistant told me—-
“On Wednesday afternoon, the PIAA Wrestling Steering Committee convened via Zoom to discuss a potential solution for the fact we had no home for the Team Championships that are slated for February 7th and 8th. The press release from the PIAA office to address this situation was sent out on Thursday and has been the subject of discussion since.
To explain somewhat quickly how we got to this juncture starts with the fact that the Giant Center was simply not interested in taking on the responsibility of hosting the three-day championships anymore. The PIAA put out a Request for Proposals to see if any other venues were interested in hosting the event and there were no bids submitted. The administrative team at the PIAA did their due diligence to scour the state looking for a venue that was both willing and able to accommodate. Trying to find a location that was as economically feasible and one that served to be time-sensitive in regard to our student-athletes and their respective staff’s travel was also of concern. In short, there was nearly a scenario that we’d be wrestling at a combined locale of the Bryce Jordan Center and Rec Hall in conjunction with Penn State matches versus Michigan and Maryland. It garnered support from PIAA but fell short of swaying “upper level athletics @ PSU”. The location that checked as many of the aforementioned boxes ultimately became the Fieldhouse at Altoona Area School District in Blair County (District 6). It passed the Steering Committee with unanimous support. We realize that this is not the optimal solution but it’s the best solution that we had on the table. We’re appreciative to the Altoona School District for taking on this responsibility.” (More from the discussion on other pertinent matters coming later.)
OVERTIME:
.Was saddened to hear of the passing of former Bloomsburg head coach Roger Sanders. That easy smile will be missed.
. Mark Mears (head coach at Greater Latrobe) was not present at the King of the Mountain. We send special thoughts to Mark and family. His daughter Hannah, a Penn State grad, is that delightful reporter who interviews the Pittsburgh Pirate players following the game. She also did some matside interviews for NCAA wrestling this past year.
Former Drexel Coach Jack Childs was mentioned in Anthony Robles memoirs. There was also mention of the ‘Drexel Coach’ in the movie ‘Unstoppable.’ Jack also coached at Stevens Trade.
Northern Lehigh grad Ryan Hlushak will be inducted into the Drexel Wrestling Hall of Fame this spring. Hlushak was a three-time PIAA placer, winning the title in 2003 @ 152 lbs.
Coaching friend Rudy Nesbitt of Taylor Allderdice HS in Pittsburgh not only wins the best-dressed coach in the state, but he recently received his 200th win as a wrestling coach.
Some former PIAA stars (not on local teams) who got wins at the duals include Nate Schone (Selinsgrove- 192 at Iowa State); Three-time PIAA champ Vinny Kilkeary (Latrobe -125 @ Ohio State) and Paniro Johnson (Cathedral Prep- 165 @ Iowa State).
Ava Bayless from Reynolds HS in Greenville is ranked #2 for the Iowa Women’s team.
Former LHU wrestler Aaron McKinney has been named head wrestling coach at Waynesburg College.
Will Harris, former head coach at Johnstown HS, was named head coach of both men and women at Penn Highlands Community College.
Former LHSC assistant Tom Justice has penned an outstanding wrestling How-To book on Takedowns.It is over 740 pages and features some local wrestlers in the photo illustrations. To order this must-have book, contact Tom at 437 W. Church St., Lock Haven, PA 17745. Phone (570) 660-3542 or email: tljustice145@gmail.com
If you are into PIAA ranking, Jeff Upson of PA Power has released his first listing. To subscribe, go to Rockfin and check PA-Power wrestling.
.
