West Greene’s Whyte earns title at C-H Invite
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
HOUSTON — West Greene crowned an individual champion for the first time at the Chartiers-Houston Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Chartiers-Houston Junior/Senior High School as Colin Whyte won the gold medal at 285 pounds.
Whyte, a junior, edged Mt. Lebanon senior Ben Lloyd, 1-0, in the final.
Whyte escaped in the third period and avoided a takedown on the edge of the mat as Lloyd got behind him and drove Whyte to the mat. Whyte attempted a single-leg takedown on Lloyd with five seconds remaining in the bout and hung on for the victory.
“I think I did pretty well,” Whyte said. “There are definitely some things I need to work on like getting to my shots and remaining in the ties more and not backing up.”
Whyte, who qualified for the state tournament last year, is looking forward to making a return trip and placing. He attends Quest School of Wrestling.
Lloyd qualified for the PIAA individual championships in Class 3A last season.
“It was nice to get a win against a quality Triple A wrestler,” Whyte said.
Whyte’s teammate, Noah Collins, was runner-up at 121.
“I thought we did well as a team,” Whyte said. “We have some experienced guys and some new guys who worked really hard and got some wins.”
Bethel Park won the team championship with 206.5 points. Butler (188.5) was second and North Hills (153) third.
Beth-Center’s Mason Wright scored the first takedown in the finals at 133 against Bethel Park’s Seth Miller but dislocated his finger in the process and dropped a 10-5 decision.
“The doctor put the dislocation back into place, but it had an effect on him and that kid wrestled a heck of a match,” Beth-Center coach Gary Welsh said. “You have to tweak some things and find ways to finish some positions. I liked how offensive he was all week, and he looked solid.”
Miller rode out Wright in the second period and scored a reversal and four near-fall points in the third for a 6-3 lead.
Wright cut the deficit to one with a reversal but had to cut Miller to attempt the match-winning takedown. Miller took advantage of Wright’s last-second attempt to score and recorded a second takedown.
The Bulldogs had three other place winners in Malachi Peak (3rd at 189), Homer Headlee (4th at 215) and Alex Medlen (6th at 114).
“It was a mixed bag for us in terms of results today,” Welsh said. “We had some inexperienced kids that stepped on the mat this weekend and had the deer in the headlights look early on, but they settled in and improved as the tournament went on. We have some things to work on, but you always have that so early in the season.”
Jefferson-Morgan freshman Brayden Hanning placed second at 107. Teammate Landon Heath was third at 285.
Albert Gallatin’s Colin Rockwell placed sixth at 215.