National high school wrestling news, updates (1/15/2023)
It was another big week in the high school wrestling world
Wyoming Seminary wins two big dual meets over the weekend
On Friday night No. 1 Wyoming Seminary (Pennsylvania), the according team to Mat Scouts national team rankings, hosted No. 2 Blair Academy (New Jersey) in a marquee dual. Given The Blue Knights’ firepower and some of the “weaker” spots in the Bucs’ lineup, this had the potential to go sideways for Blair, but they were able to minimize bonus points and steal a few wins to stay within six of Seminary when it was all over, 27-21.
It was 6-6 after four matches with the Blue Knights’ freshman Dale Corbin (126) winning a big opening swing match and that being followed by Luke Lilledahl (No. 1 at 126) moving up to 132 and downing No. 5 Matty Lopes, 3-1, in overtime.
Blair stole one at 138 with No. 15 Tyler DeKraker’s upset over Matthew Botello (No. 7 at 132), also in overtime, 2-1 UTB. The Bucs’ No. 7 Logan Rozynski blanked Michael Trujillo, 3-0, at 145.
A strategic move that worked for Seminary coach Cornell Robinson was having Anthony Evanitsky (No. 24 at 157) come down to 150 where he won a tight one with freshman Joseph Schnider, 2-1. Vince Bouzakis (No. 3 at 150) moved to 157 where he handed an 8-6 loss to No. 15 Paul Ognissanti to put Seminary ahead by six, 12-6.
At 165, No. 5 William Henckel defeated Chris Crawford, 3-0, to draw Blair back within three, 12-9. Seminary would win the next three bouts, including a forfeit to No. 1 Jude Correa at 215. That victory was coupled with a 15-13 barn-burner win from No. 14 Jake Dailey over Cael Meilnik at 190 and Joe Sealey (No. 2 at 165) getting by a gamely Peter Snyder (honorable mention) at 175, 5-2.
Looking at a 24-9 deficit, Blair’s Carter Neves (No. 6) decked Orest Nazarchuck in the first period (1:17), then No. 9 Vince Anello came close to posting a major decision with an 11-7 win over Ethan Aftewicz to make the score, 24-18, with two matches left.
No. 4 Davis Motyka shut the door on Blair with an 11-7 decision of Mikey Batista (HM) at 113. With the meet decided, No. 1 Leo DeLuca ended on a bright note for Blair with a 6-1 win over No. 4 Nathan Desmond at 120.
Seminary ran it back on Saturday evening at the same time and place, and with another win over a top ten nationally ranked opponent, 34-24, over No. 9 Delbarton, New Jersey.
The Blue Knights jumped out to a 13-0 lead in this one with a big win from Motyka at 113, where the dual started, over Cameron Sontz (No. 3 at 106), 3-1 in overtime tiebreaker. At 120, Desmond defeated No. 10 Dan Jones, 8-2.
Delbarton got on the board with a pin from No. 10 Jayden James at 138 over Trujillo, 3:35, to make it 13-6. The Green Wave’s next win would come at 150 when honorable mention Gabe Logan upset Evanitsky, 4-2, to get within seven, 16-9.
Consecutive wins from Bouzakis and Sealey pushed Seminary ahead, 24-9. Sealey got by No. 9 Alessio Perentin, 5-3.
No. 8 Louis Cerchio received a forfeit at 175 for Delbarton, but Dailey ended their upset hopes at 190 with a pin over Austin Quandt to seal Seminary’s victory. Correa followed at 215 with a 10-1 win over Delbarton’s Vincent Lee.
Delbarton closed it out by receiving a forfeit at 285 and PJ Terranova defeating Aftewicz, 5-1, at 106.
Malvern Prep claims Escape the Rock glory
Last year’s version of the Escape the Rock tournament rivaled the Beast of the East for level of difficulty, why some of those teams chose not to return is unknown to us, but what was still left was quite fearsome and in no way was this gauntlet suddenly “easy”.
There were still eight nationally ranked teams present with No. 7 Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania claiming the title, its second in a row, over No. 6 Faith Christian Academy, Pennsylvania, 199-158. No. 8 St. Joseph Regional from New Jersey was third with 144 points.
Pennsylvania's Malvern Prep captured the Escape the Rock, topping a field that included eight nationally ranked teams.
Claiming gold for Malvern Prep were No. 6 Nick O’Neill, who won his second straight Escape tile 7-4 over Bryce Manera (Southern Regional, New Jersey). Manera upset No. 10 Camden Baum (Bishop McDevitt, Pennsylvania), 5-3, in the quarters.
No. 2 Jack Consiglio edged No. 17 Chase Van Hoven (Brooke Point, Virgina), 1-0, in the 145lb finals. Van Hoven got by No. 13 Alessandro Nini (Christian Brothers Academy, New Jersey) by 2-1 tiebreaker in the semis.
No. 18 Nick Wehmeyer used an upset of No. 17 Robert Kucharczk (Lake Highland Prep, Florida), 7-4, for the 189lb crown. Kucharczk had beaten Wehmeyer in their three previous encounters, once at Ironman and twice at PowerAde.
Other hardware winners for Malvern Prep were Tyler Conroy (3rd at 114), No. 24 Nathan Rickards (152) and Stosh Zalota (215) took fourth, Jason Torres was fifth at 127, and Jack Chamberlain landed in the sixth spot at 172.
Faith Christian Academy saw three grapplers reach the finals but only one could complete the journey to the top of the podium, No. 3 Gauge Botero at 121 with an 11-4 win over No. 21 Keanu Dillard (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) to improve on his runner-up finish from a year ago.
No. 20 Cale Weidemoyer (160) and No. 7 Adam Waters (172) settled for silver.
St. Joseph Regional went one-for-two in the finals with No. 3 Ryan Burton revisiting his Beast of the East final win, 4-2, over Waters, winning this one in overtime, 3-1, and heavyweight Rocco Dellagatta (No. 18) coming up short in his final.
New Jersey staked a claim to one other title when Christian Brothers Academy’s Killian Coluccio (No. 11) took out No. 9 Colby Martinelli (Pennridge, Pennsylvania), 7-2, in the 107lb final.
The last non-Pennsylvania champ was from Mountain View, Virginia with honorable mention Tyler Traves pinning Dylan Ross (Paramus Catholic, New Jersey), in the middle frame, 3:51.
In addition to O’Neill, there were three other repeat titlists from Pennsylvania in No. 2 Ayden Smith (Notre Dame-Green Pond), No. 5 Kollin Rath (Bethlehem Catholic), and No. 15 Dillon Bechtold (Owen J Roberts).
Smith ran back his PowerAde semifinal with No. 3 Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers), and repeated the outcome, this time with a 3-2 victory in the 114lb final.
Rath’s showdown at 152 was a battle of defending champs with No. 11 Matt Hendrich (Southern Regional). Rath squeezed by his foe, 4-3, on a takedown with 20 seconds left in the bout.
Bechtold had the easiest time repeating, planting Caleb Marzolino (Abington Heights, Pennsylvania) in the middle of the second period, 2:44.
State College was just the second team with more than one titlist, crowning No. 13 Asher Cunningham (160) and No. 10 Nicholas Pavlechko (285). Cunningham decked Weidemoyer at the 1:13 mark of the opening period. Pavlechko posted a 3-1 decision of Dellagatta.
The hosts, Council Rock South, had one champ, No. 18 Anthony Mutarelli (127), who claimed his supremacy with a 4-0 shutout versus No. 15 Mason Ziegler (Quakertown, Pennsylvania). Ziegler surprised No. 9 Eren Sement (Council Rock North), 2-1, in the semis.
Bishop McCort is Mid-Winter Mayhem Champ
Bishop McCort tore through the competition at the Mid-Winter Mayhem held at the Kovalchick Convention Complex on the campus of Indiana University in Pennsylvania, outpointing second place Central Mountain, Pennsylvania, 252.5-147.5.
No. 2 Jax Forrest (127) and No. 1 Bo Bassett (139) won their golds with ease in the all Pennsylvania affair over Franklin Regional’s Tyler Kapusta and Butler’s Kase Chopp, respectively. Chopp upset Central Mountain’s Dalton Perry (No. 6 at 145), 9-8, in the quarters.
At 152, No. 7 Melvin Miller won a 3-1 decision over Brady Collins (Clearfield), for his gold. Placing second for McCort were Lincoln Sledzianowski (121), No. 11 Mason Gibson (133), and No. 22 Devon Magro (160). Owen McMullen was third at 172 and No. 22 Sam Herring was sixth at 145 after forfeiting in the semi-finals and consolation rounds.
Montgomery saw the Harer brothers capture supremacy in their weight classes with No. 17 Brandt upsetting No. 11 Gibson, 3-1, at 133. No. 3 Conner got by No. 22 Magro, 3-2, at 160lbs.
No. 2 Dominic Deputy (Chestnut Ridge) downed Connor Lagier (West Scranton), 6-2, in the 107lb final. To reach the finals, Lagier took out two wrestlers who are in the honorable mention section of our 106lb national rankings, Emilio Albanese (Emmaus), 6-4, and Sam Wolford (North Lebanon), 5-3.
North Lebanon’s No. 5 Aaron Seidel claimed the 114lb gold with an 11-5 decision of Sledzianowski. Maddox Shaw (Thomas Jefferson) is ranked fourth at 138 but moved to 145 for this adventure and defeated Griffin Walizer (Central Mountain), 7-1, in the finals,
Line Mountain’s Brock Rothermel authored a 5-2 upset of No. 17 Will Detar (Trinity) in the semis, but his luck ran out in the finals as he dropped a 2-1 decision to Butler’s Santino Sloboda.
Colby Celuck (West Scranton) beat Anthony DeAngelo (Trinity), 4-2, at 172. Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close claimed the 189 title with a 2-0 blanking of Caden Finck (Montgomery).
Malvern Prep’s Philip Tabasso won the heavyweight gold with a 3-1 decision against La Salle College’s Andrew Brennan. Franklin Regional’s Juliano Marion registered the only fall of the championship round at 215 with a 2:39 planting of Trinity’s Tucker Paynter.
Clovis wins Illini Classic
The Illini Classic in Illinois is unique in that the teams in the field are all coached by University of Illinois alumni. California’s No. 17 Clovis captured top honors over No. 20 St. Charles East, Illinois, 350-272.
Clovis’ assistant coach Adam Tirapelle is a class of 2001 graduate and East’s head coach Jason Potter was a class of 2005 grad. Clovis was the only team in attendance not from Illinois.
Clovis and St. Charles East both crowned three champions, the difference in team score coming from Clovis’ six other finalists, while East had just three additional in the gold bouts.
Claiming the top honors for Clovis were James Wright (144) with a pin over St. Charles East’s Jayden Colon, 3:01. Joe Buck at 175, who also defeated an East foe, Brody Murray, 7-2, and Mark Marin, who pinned Leonardo Tovar (Plainfield North), 3:09.
Placing second for Clovis were Anthony Garza (106, HM), Thunder Lewis (113), Nikade Zinkin (132, No. 14 at 126), Samuel Chacon (157), No. 17 Adrien Reyes (165), and Noah Martinez (215). Taking third were Wyatt Lewis (138) and Noah Reynolds (150). Simon Cervantes (120) and Jordan Gonzales (285) were fourth, while Trysten Rojas placed fifth at 126.
St. Charles East’s three champions are all ranked in the top ten of their respective weights. No. 5 Dom Munaretto won a tight one with Clovis’ Lewis, 4-3, at 113. No. 1 Ben Davino downed Zinkin, 5-1, at 132. No. 9 Tyler Guerra posted a 6-4 decision of Donovan Allen (Marist) at 138.
No. 44 Marist was third with 262 points and equaled Clovis and St. Charles East’s three titlists pushing George Marinopoulos (120), Michael Esteban (126), and No. 16 Will Denny (150) to the top of the podium.
Carl Sandburg’s No. 6 Rocco Hayes claimed the 106lb title with a second period pin of Clovis’ Garza, 2:59. Lyons’ Gunnar Garelli picked off No. 17 Reyes in the ultimate tiebreaker, 3-2 at 165.
Lincoln-Way East’s Alexander Lizak (157), Lincoln-Way West’s Nick Kavooras (285), and Yorkville’s Ben Alvarez (215) round out the gold medalists.
Layton takes the top spot at Rockwell Rumble
The Rockwell Rumble title in Herriman, Utah stayed in state as No. 43 Layton secured the crown over Idaho’s Bishop Kelly, 254-201.5
Interestingly, Layton had zero champions, while Bishop Kelly had three grapplers earn gold medal statuses. Seeing silver hung around their necks for Layton were Aiden Bastian (113), Geronimo Rivera (126), Noah Bull (144), and Kaden Bennie (175).
Placing fourth for Layton was Eli Hawes (190), Gavin Regis was fifth at 150, and Cole Fenwick placed sixth at 132.
Bishop Kelly’s titlists were Holten Crane (98), Matthew Martino (144), and Jadon Skellenger (157, HM). Martino got by Bull, 3-2, at 144.
Utah’s Pleasant Grove and Westlake equaled Bishop Kelly’s champion count with three each. Winning titles for Pleasant Grove were Brad Farrer at 165 with a 3-1 overtime win over Logan Hancey (Fremont, Utah). Honorable mention Trevyn Gates beat Landen Shurtleff (Payson, Utah), 5-3. Cayaen Smith (HM) pulled off a major upset at 215 of No. 10 Cash Henderson (Wood Cross, Utah), 6-5 in the ultimate tiebreaker.
Westlake’s No. 16 Israel Borge won an 8-4 decision over Rivera at 126. Brother, Curtis Borge, needed overtime for his glory putting a 3-1 victory on the final line of the bracket over Austin Ellis (Davis, Utah). Brayden Robison won the 150lb bracket with a 15-0 technical fall of Bishop Kelly’s Carlos Valdez.
Utah’s Grand County had one champ in No. 24 Austin Paris who got by Utah’s honorable mention Layne Kleimann (Mountain Ridge), 3-1, at 138.
Other Utah grapplers winning championships were Maple Mountain’s Caleb Jackson (113), Spanish Fork’s Karson Shelley (120), and Juab’s Benedict Holmes (175).
Mountain View, Idaho’s Shilo Jones (HM) won the heavyweight bout 4-3 over Trayvn Boger (South Summitt, Utah).
Eastern States
Notable happenings from the Eastern States Tournament in New York include Minisink Valley, New York (HM in national rankings) winning the team race over St. Francis, New York, 97-83.5.
At 160, No. 1 PJ Duke (Minisink Valley) won a battle of top-five grapplers, 2-1, over No. 5 Cameron Catrabone (Williamsville, New York).
Honorable mention Griffin LaPlante (St. Francis) captured the 152lb title with a 5-1 win over Jason Kwaak (Brentwood, New York).
Braidon Woodward from Palmyra Macedon, New York upset No. 12 Nate Blanchette (Central Catholic, Massachusetts) for the gold at 170, 3-1.
No. 6 Elijah Diakomihalis (Hilton, New York) was crowned the 190lb champ after posting a 9-2 decision of Tavio Hoose (Southwestern, New York).
At 124, Gavin Mangano (Shoreham-Wading River, New York) won a battle of wrestlers on the periphery of the national rankings, 7-3, over Matt Marlow (Northport, New York).
Lastly, Long Beach, New York’s Dunia Sibomana was down at 108 and put up a 9-2 win over Cooper Merli (Newburgh, New York). Look for Sibomana to crack the 106lb national rankings this week.
