Whyte earns medal
West Greene junior takes fourth at PIAA wrestling championships
HERSHEY — Colin Whyte usually doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, but after earning a victory in the quarterfinals and assuring himself a spot on the podium Friday in the PIAA Class 2A Individual Wrestling Championships, the West Greene junior had to let it out as he pointed into the stands at the Giant Center.
Whyte, who opened with a 4-1 decision over Luke Sottolano of Williamson, had just defeated Brookville’s Gavin Hannah, 9-6, to advance into the semifinals.
“It is just a moment (placing at the state tournament) I have been working for a long time,” Whyte said. “Last year, I lost in the blood round here, and my goal from there was to get back to states and get on the podium.”
Whyte assured himself of at least sixth place in the state at 285 pounds, and wound up earning a fourth-place medal.
Whyte had a much better Friday morning after the quarterfinals, knowing he wasn’t going to be in a win-or-go-home scenario.
“I gained some experience wrestling in tense matches when I was in the blood round at Powerade,” Whyte said. “That really helped me for tense matches here at the state tournament, but I think I will be a little more calm wrestling tonight knowing that I am going to place. I will just go out there and wrestle my match.”
Whyte wound up fourth after dropping a 13-2 major decision to Faith Christian’s Mark Effendian in the semifinals, earning a 10-3 consolation win over Laurel’s Casey White and then suffering a controversial 4-3 loss in the consolation finals to Bishop McCort’s Caleb Rodriguez.
The match was tied at 1-1 when Rodriguez was awarded the takedown with 20 seconds remaining in the third period.
The Pioneers’ coaches protested the call, arguing that Rodriguez was out of bounds, but the takedown was awarded for a 4-1 advantage.
Whyte was awarded a penalty point and escaped to cut the deficit to one.
Whyte upped his high school career to 116-30 heading into his senior year.
Waynesburg Central senior Jake Stephenson went 1-2 at 189.
Stephenson opened with a 6-2 decision over Blue Mountain’s Bradley Renninger but then lost by 19-2 technical fall in 5:18 to Sun Valley’s Brandon Carr, then lost by fall to Kiski’s Mark Gray in 1:27.
Stephenson finished his career with an 80-42 record.