Dolan, Darling only two PIAA returning two-time champions
Troy Dolan and Tim Darling have never wrestled and almost certainly never will. Dolan wrestles at 119 pounds for Class AA Derry Area in District 7. Darling competes at 152 pounds for Class AAA Nazareth in District 11.
But they do share one distinction: They are the only two-time champions going into the PIAA wrestling championships, which start Thursday morning in Hershey.
“It’s something you take pride in, there’s no doubt about that,” Dolan said of his previous PIAA titles, won at 112 pounds in 2005 and at 119 last season. “But those titles are in the past, especially when it comes to this year’s tournament. I know I have a very good weight class again this year.”
Darling takes a similar approach to his title defense.
“Last year was last year; this year is this year,” said Darling, who will attend Penn State. “I know what’s in front of me and know what to expect. That’s a pretty big advantage, but the bottom line is that I still have to win four straight matches if I want to win another championship.”
Darling won PIAA championships at 112 pounds as sophomore and 130 pounds as a junior.
It is rare for a two-time champion to lose as a senior, but it has happened. Two years ago, Greensburg-Salem’s Donnie Jones was stopped by another multiple-time champion, Northampton’s Joey Ecklof, in the Class AAA 152-pound final. Ecklof won his third title by beating Jones.
In 1999, Loyalsock’s Tom Waldron, seeking his third straight championship, was beaten in the Class AA 135-pound final by Wyalusing’s Dave Patrick.
In one of the PIAA’s biggest upsets, three-time champion Jason Betz of Warrior Run was pinned in the 125-pound Class AA semifinals by Pine-Richland’s Jeremy Lengle in 1995. Lengle then lost to Jefferson-Morgan’s Travis Makel for the gold medal.
Dolan, a Missouri recruit, is 42-2 with both losses at a tournament in Ohio. Darling is 42-4, losing twice to Blair Academy’s Eric Medina and twice at a tournament in Newark, Del.
“It showed that I had to stay on top of my game,” Dolan said of his seventh-place finish in the Ironman tournament at Walsh Jesuit High in Ohio. “I got my focus back after that.”
Dolan rebounded from those losses to win a tournament at Canon-McMillan High School in Canonsburg by beating another PIAA champion, Canon-McMillan’s Colin Johnston, 2-0 in the final.
Darling acknowledged being frustrated with his losses, but said it was all part of being prepared for the state championships.
“I don’t like or dislike being a target; it comes with the territory,” Darling said. “So I know I’m going to get someone’s best, and I ended up losing a couple of matches. But I feel ready for the state tournament now.”
Dolan’s Derry Area team had one of the best seasons in school history, producing a 16-3 record, a second-place finish in the District 7 team championships and the school’s first appearance in the state dual-meet championships. Derry also qualified a school-record 10 wrestlers for last week’s PIAA Class AA Southwest regional in Johnstown.
Darling’s Nazareth team went 22-2 and won its first PIAA Class AAA dual meet championship.