TEN WILDCATS GET READY FOR REGIONAL TOURNAMENT

By Joe Walker

ALTOONA- The Central Mountain Wildcat wrestling team will have 10 wrestlers at this weekend’s Northwest Regional Class AAA Tournament looking to earn tickets to the PIAA Class AAA Championships on March 7,8 & 9 in Hershey. 

The 10 Wildcats are Gavin Heverly (107), Aiden Kunes (121), Patrick Tarantella (127), Dalton Perry (139), Luke Simcox (145), Griffin Walizer (152), Hunter Donley (160), Jacob Weaver (172), Bryce Brungard (189) and Rocco Serafini (215). Their first round match-ups appeared in an earlier story this week, as full bracket listings can be found on “pa wrestling.com” 

Tournament action gets underway Friday at 4:30 at the Altoona High School Gym with the first round and then the championship quarterfinals will follow. They will then pick up action Saturday morning at 9:30 with the first and second rounds of consolations. The semi finals are set for a 12:30 pm start and then the consolation semifinals to follow. 

The championship bouts and 3rd place bouts will start with the parade of champions at 5:15 pm on two mats. There will be medals for four places, but only the top three wrestlers at each weight will earn a trip to Hershey for the state tournament. 

In taking a look at each weight the Wildcats are in, we find that freshman Heverly (32-10) is the highest ranked wrestler at 107 pounds. Heverly carries a 6-0 total record against three other top contenders in Andrew Alexander (26-13) Mifflin County, Noah Young (17-13) State College and 

Lauger Waldman (12-11) Williamsport. Aiden Carter (19-12) Erie Prep was the District 10 champion. 

Wildcat freshman Kunes (31-13) will have his hands full at 121 pounds, as his top contender would be Alex Reed (29-4) of Shikellamy, who was a regional runner-up last year, while District 10 champion Brody Bishop (25-11) Hickory was a regional runner-up last year and of course a state qualifier. Dysen Gould (10-2) Punxsutawney was a runner-up to Reed in the 4/9 District tournament. 

Wildcat freshman Patrick Tarantella (23-18) is in the same bracket with District 10 champion Keagen Oler (26-4) Erie Cathedral Prep, who placed third in regionals last year, but they would not meet until semifinals. In the opposite bracket are District 6 champ Gavin Ciampoli (19-6) Altoona and District 10 runner-up Brady Slicker (29-6) Hickory. 

The 139 pound weight class is set for a battle of Penn State recruits, as the Wildcats’ District 6 champ Perry (29-2) is predicted to face District 4/9 champ Brock Weiss (27-0) of Jersey Shore in the championship finals, of course this barring an huge upsets. Perry won a state title in 2022 and took a third place finish last season. Weiss was a state runner-up in 2022 and enters the tournament with a career mark of 129-11, while Perry is currently 114-10. Weiss is a senior for the Bulldogs, while Perry is a junior for the Wildcats. 

The 145 pound weight class could have another championship final match-up between Wildcat senior Simcox (23-3) and State College senior Pierson Manville (21-0). Simcox defaulted to

Manville in last week’s District 6 finals, just to give him an added week of recovery for an earlier shoulder injury. 

Simcox, a North Carolina recruit, is 129-18 for his career and the defending state champion and ranked second in the state and number four in the country. Manville is the number one ranked wrestler in both the state and the country, as he will be heading to Arizona State to wrestle. Manville is 225-16 in his career, as he was 116-7 in the state of Minnesota before moving to Pennsylvania. In Minnesota you can wrestle varsity as a seventh and eighth grader. 

Wildcat senior Walizer may have the toughest overall weight, as five wrestlers in the weight are ranked top 20 in the state. Walizer (32-8) was the District 6 runner-up and will be in the opposite bracket of District 6 champion Luke Sipes (30-5) Altoona, who defeated Walizer 3-1 in their finals match. In the same lower bracket as Walizer is #8 Parker Kearns (31-6) Mifflin County, #16 Jordan Thompson (30-4) Bradford and #20 Brandon Byrd (20-4) Erie Cathedral Prep. 

Walizer is currently ranked fourth in the state and is 117-41 for his career, while Sipes is ranked third in state. Both Thompson and Byrd placed fourth in last year’s Regional tournament and Walizer does own a 3-2 win over Thompson and a 6-4 win over Kearns in his career. 

Wildcat sophomore Donley (21-12) has a tough opening match at 160 against District 10 runner-up Brighton Anderson (32-6) Meadville, who placed fourth in regionals last year. A win in that match would put him against District 4/9 champ Cole Wetzel (24-9) Shikellamy. The wrestler that would be the heavy favorite is in the opposite bracket and that is State College junior standout and District 6 champ Asher Cunningham (30-1), a two-time regional champ and two time state place winner. 

If Weaver (27-18) can win his opening round match, the Wildcat junior will face District 4/9 champ Conner Wetzel (31-2) Shikellamy in the quarterfinals. Wetzel is currently ranked fifth in the state and was a state qualifier last season after placing third in regionals. In the same top half of the bracket is District 6 runner-up Mitchell Baronner (23-12) of Hollidaysburg, who owns two wins over Weaver. District 6 champion Avery Aurand (29-7) is in the lower half of the 14-man bracket, along with District 10 champion Connor Kearns (28-8) Meadville. 

Brungard (29-17) is in the same half of the bracket with District 10 champ Corey Kowalski (23-9) Erie Cathedral Prep and seventh ranked Tucker Teats (34-7) the District 4/9 champ from Shikellamy, as Teats was a regional runner-up last season. Brungard would face Kowalski in the quarterfinals and with a win would meet Teats in the semifinals. District 6 champ Gavin Mickey (25-12) Mifflin County is in the same bracket with District 4/9 runner-up Nariq Burks of Williamsport. 

Wildcat senior Serafini (35-6) is the favorite at 215 pounds, as he enters as eighth ranked in the state, while his two biggest contenders are #15 Brody Rebuck (29-5) of Shikellamy, who was the District 4/9 champion. In the bottom half of the bracket with Rebuck is #17 Ty Tidall (29-5)

Meadville, both Rebuck and Tidall placed fourth in last year’s regionals. Searfini has defeated Rebuck 5 times over the last two seasons, but as they say it gets tougher each time. 

The Wildcats are the defending regional team champions and hope to repeat that feat as a team, but it is mainly about getting as many wrestlers as they can to Hershey for the state tournament. 

All fans planning to attend the event and maybe did not make it to last week’s District tournament, you are reminded that you must go through the main front doors for admission and you will be required to go through metal detectors as well.