Feb 27, 2014 By Mike Dudurich for The 4 min read

Twenty-nine wrestlers from five district schools will be at Canon-McMillan High School this evening for the beginning of the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships.

They’ll be in pursuit not only of a WPIAL title, but also a chance to compete in next weekend’s PIAA Tournament in Hershey’s Giant Center. The top three finishers get spots in the grand prize event for Pennsylvania high school wrestlers.

Not surprisingly, Belle Vernon leads the area contingent with 10 qualifiers into the WPIALs. The Leopards will go into the WPIALs as one of the youngest groups, but they are extremely talented and could make some headlines this weekend.

“The kids are definitely excited for a number of reasons,” said first-year coach Tyler Nauman. “Just having so many guys at the tournament is a big deal for them. It’s pretty impressive for them to be so young and to be at this point.”

So just how young are these Leopards? Four are freshmen, four are sophomores, one is a junior and one is a senior.

Belle Vernon was awarded a trio of third seeds in the WPIALs: freshman Jarod Verkleeren (145), sophomore Derek Verklereen (152) and sophomore Austin Bell (160). Junior Pat Mayernik (220) earned a fourth seed.

“For the most part, I think we are where we thought we should be,” Nauman said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen at 120, with Brendan Hasson being upset in the section final. We’re happy with how that turned out. At 160, we thought Austin could have been a No. 2, but really there’s not much difference between a 2 and a 3.”

Nauman has high hopes for this weekend and he said what he predicted earlier this season in terms of how many qualifiers for the PIAAs still remains in effect.

“I said I thought we’d get three up there,” he said. “Both of the Verkleerens and Austin Bell. And with the way Hasson has come along, he could be there, too.”

The rest of the traveling BVA contingent: Jacob Dunlap (106), Tyler Seliga (113), Mitchell Hartman (126), Martin Kobaly (170), William Korber (195) and Pat Mayernik (220).

Waynesburg is one of the most historic wrestling programs in the WPIAL and the Raiders have things going again. The Raiders will take nine wrestlers up I-79 to Canon-McMillan and they’ll be youngsters, too. There’s one freshmen, three sophomores and four juniors.

Sophomore Shaun Wilson (23-8) at 120 pounds is second-seeded behind returning state champion Luke Pletcher (35-0) of Latrobe.

A.C. Headlee (31-4) was a WPIAL runner-up last year to Dom Forys of North Allegheny. The Waynesburg junior moved up to 126 pounds and is seeded fourth in what might be the toughest weight class in the tournament.

Also making the trip for Waynesburg are: Cole Rush (106), Logan Henderson (132), Terry Victory (145), Shane Piper (152), Colin McCracken (160) and Ryan Keys.

Connellsville had a good dual meet season and the Falcons have been doing quite well in the individual post-season, too. Seven of coach Tom Dolde’s wrestlers have qualified for the WPIALs.

Junior 113-pounder Tyler Kenney (30-7) leads that contingent and is the only Falcon seeded in the top four. He grabbed a third.

Connellsville’s other qualifiers are: Gaige Cramer (120), Bryce Butler (138), Tommy Provance (182), Matt Butler (195), Gunnar Lynch (220) and Louis Mauro (285).

“I haven’t personally looked at the bracket because I generally don’t do that,” said coach Tom Dolde. “You have to wrestle whoever is there and I’ve never had an argument with how the brackets have come out. The kids seem excited with them. I’m sure we’ll do OK. I’m not one of those guys who tries to figure out how many kids we’ll take to states. If that happens, it happens. The big thing is that our kids perform up to their capabilities.”

Albert Gallatin qualified three into the WPIALs: David Wallace (106), Cody Lavery (120) and Branden Dice (170).

Laurel Highlands will be represented by James Pierce (160).

The schedule for the WPIAL Championships is as follows:

Thursday: 5 p.m. — Pigtail round; 6:30 p.m. — Preliminary round.

Friday: 6 p.m. — Quarterfinals and first -round consolations.

Saturday: 10:30 a.m. – Second — round consolations; Noon — Semifinals and third -round consolations; 2 p.m. — Fourth — round consolations; 5:30 p.m. — Consolation finals; 6:50 p.m. — Parade of Champions; 7 p.m. — Finals.