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One tourney down, three more to go By Matthew Digiacomo One tournament down, three to go. For Class AA wrestlers, the second grueling weekend on the road to a state championship begins at 4 p.m. today at Sharon High School. For the locals � a contingent that stands 40 grapplers strong � it�s a chance to prove last week was either a fluke or a reality, depending on how they finished. Leading the way is Saegertown with nine wrestlers. Union City and Maplewood each advanced eight out of the Section I-AA tournament, while Jamestown advanced seven from Section II-AA. Lakeview and Cochranton each tallied four. Now they all vie for a trip to the Northwest Regionals. The wrestlers who advance will not have to travel far � the regional tournament is also at Sharon High School. However, with some weights heavy with talent, the road out of districts is harder than the road out of sections. Perhaps the best weight class is also the biggest � 275. With his Section I win, Youngsville�s Mike Sullivan moved up to No. 2 in the state according to Off The Mat wrestling rankings. Mercer�s Braden Bice dropped to No. 5 after he lost a surprising decision to Jamestown�s Jason Engstrom (now ranked 20th). Add in Section II champ Mike Edwards of Reynolds (19th), Section I runner up Jason Beebe of Seneca (9th) and Section II fourth-place finisher Kent Uber (14th) and at least one state ranked wrestler will see his season end this weekend. The same is true at 140 pounds where Reynolds� Aaron Nestor (7th), Jamestown�s Alex Byler (9th), Grove City�s Beau Fisher (11th), Commodore Perry�s Brian Payne (12th) and Ft. LeBoeuf�s Nick Kaiser (22nd) will be hanging out. This weight is so stacked that Greenville�s Brent Rose (28-7 record) isn�t ranked, and Cochranton�s Mike McElhinney (16th) moved up to 145 where he only has to worry about three ranked guns � Slippery Rock�s Jeff Becker (No. 1), Reynolds� Jason Brown (4) and Mercer�s Jay McNulty (21). As for favorites ... there are a few who stand out. Saegertown�s Luke Hargenrater and Pat Bradshaw and Slippery Rock�s Becker are the only undefeated grapplers left in the AA tournament. Bradshaw is ranked No. 1 at 189 pounds with a 32-0 record, while Hargenrater is ranked second at 160 with a 33-0 mark. Becker is 20-0 after winning the Section II crown. Of the three, only one has wrestled the other section champ. Bradshaw beat Cochranton�s Jerod Northcott twice this season. However, by virtue of the quantity of local wrestlers several quality grapplers should make it to regionals. Competing locally are, listed by name, weight and section finish: Saegertown: Mike Mitchell (103, 1-3), Sean Lyons (112, 1-4), Scott Baron (119, 1-1), Andy Howles (140, 1-2), Mike Sloat (145, 1-3), Hargenrater (160, 1-1), Paul Morris (171, 1-5), Bradshaw (189, 1-1), Andy Eckart (275, 1-4). Maplewood: R.J. Wright (125, 1-5), Tim Rose (130, 1-2), Shawn Shetler (135, 1-3), Dustin Bradick (140, 1-3), Dustin Shaw (145, 1-5), Josh Polley (152, 1-2), Zack Brabender (160, 1-3), Adam Hannold (171, 1-4). Union City: J.D. Woyicki (112, 1-5), Nick Weinczkowski (119, 1-2), Cody Warr (125, 1-4), Nate Day (140, 1-4), Scott Bacon (152, 1-3), Cody George (160, 1-4), Todd Chelton (189, 1-3), John Mangol (215, 1-1). Jamestown: Byler (140, 2-4), Brian Liszka (152, 2-3), Russ Wells (160, 2-3), Colin Brown (171, 2-5), Lukas Kneeland (189, 2-5), Brent Curcio (215, 2-4), Engstrom (275, 2-2). Cochranton: Brad Peterson (103, 2-4), McElhinney (145, 2-4), Brian Feltenberger (171, 2-2), Northcott (189, 2-1). Lakeview: John Fleming (119, 2-1), John Drew (152, 2-2), Danny VanDyke (160, 2-1), Tyler Shearer (171, 2-4). Add a comment |
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