Wrestling News & Views – Tom Elling
As the final week and a half of the regular dual meet season approaches, we marvel and shake our collective heads at how rapidly this season has passed.
Central Mountain (9-0) hosted a much-improved Hollidaysburg team (6-2) on Tuesday. You can be sure former Golden Tiger coach and District 6 Hall of Famer Mike Moore was in attendance, and it’s likely that longtime assistant Mitch Johns (also a Hall of Famer) was on one of the coaching chairs. Both teams had easy wins last week. Tonight, the Wildcats will travel to Jersey Shore (6-12). If everything goes according to Coach Biff Walizer’s plans, his team will finish 11-0 and secure the top seed for the District 6 Team Championships on February 1. The Jersey Shore meet will be streamed on therecord-online.com, as will the District 6 team event. Over the weekend, Central Mountain will participate in the Ultimate Warrior individual tournament at West Branch.
On Tuesday (January 28), Sugar Valley (10-7 as of this writing) welcomes a tough South Williamsport team to Loganton. South Williamsport recently went 6-0 in a dual meet tournament, defeating five New York teams and Wellsboro—a ski-lift up the mountain from Jersey Shore. The Phoenix, coached by Jason Bilbay, faced rugged Midd-West this past Tuesday and is scheduled for a trek to Shamokin tonight. Midd-West is coached by Jeff Franquet, a former standout wrestler for Lewisburg. Franquet also gained attention for surviving a prison attack a few years back, crediting wrestling with saving his life during the struggle.
Bald Eagle Area (8-3) faced what should have been a very competitive dual at Huntingdon this past Tuesday. (As most know, my column is due Monday each week.) Ron Guenot is in his ninth season as head coach at BEA. BEA historian Todd Warner reports that Guenot needs just three wins to reach the 100-win milestone. Warner notes this is the 69th season for the Eagles wrestling team, with a W-L-T record of 766-272-13. Legendary coaches before Guenot include Bill Fisher, Joe Humphreys, Skip Pighetti, and Dick Rhoades. Rhoades, who led the 1999 Eagles to a national top ranking, claims his biggest thrill in wrestling was being my teammate at Lock Haven State College. (Dick will get a chuckle out of that.)
BEA’s state-ranked 189-pounder Caleb Close recently collected his 150th win, while teammate Caden Judice (a junior) earned his 100th the same weekend. Just up the road, Kyle Scott of Tyrone also notched his 100th win.
Lock Haven University had a successful southern trip, going 3-0 at Davidson. Scott Moore’s Bald Eagles defeated Brown (26-10), The Citadel (33-6), and Morgan State (53-0). LHU will host Kent State on Friday. It will be a busy wrestling day, as Penn State travels to Rutgers and both BEA and Central Mountain take part in the Ultimate Warrior.
Kerry Regner, former Millersville coach and recent head of coaching development with the NWCA, has accepted the head coaching position at Albright College in Reading. Albright is reviving its wrestling program, which last competed in 2006. Regner has local ties—he is married to the former Sarah Lacy, whose parents, Brad and Cathy Lacy, have roots in Renovo. Sarah’s brother, Shawn, is a talented guitarist, singer, and songwriter building a solid career in Nashville.
Did anyone notice the Pennsylvania connections during last Friday’s Big Ten doubleheader? On the bench for Illinois was longtime assistant Jeremy Hunter, a four-time PIAA champion from McGuffey and a Penn State standout. When Penn State faced Nebraska, another PA standout, Bryan Snyder (a three-time PIAA placewinner from Easton), sat beside Nebraska head coach Mark Manning, who secured his 300th career dual win last week. Bryan won the state title in 1997, and his father Barry wrestled for Penn State.
The injury bug has bitten! Ty Watters (West Virginia), Ryan Crookham (Lehigh), and Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) are all out for the season. Penn State’s Aaron Nagao was injured early on and also appears to be out for the year.
Leah Eisenhower, a former member of the Central Mountain wrestling team, is now at Wilmington University in Delaware, where she is part of the cheerleading team. The Beech Creek native recently received recognition for her academic achievements while majoring in Early Childhood Education.
Wasn’t it inspiring to see Sammy Sasso (Ohio State and Nazareth HS) recover from his adversity and win his 100th collegiate match? What a story! Wrestling supporter Rick Mahonski celebrated the occasion by gifting Sammy a gold and diamond keychain.
Finally, Joe Humphreys, mentioned earlier, is not only a legendary wrestling coach but also one of the most knowledgeable fly fishermen in the nation. A documentary, “Live the Stream: The Story of Joe Humphreys,” was made about his life. Joe has taken many notable figures fly fishing, including the late President Jimmy Carter. At 93, Joe is still going strong.
