Local wrestlers claim WPIAL Class AA gold medals
Mount Pleasant’s Dayton Pitzer won WPIAL gold two years ago, but lost last season because of a knee injury.
The junior returned to the top step of the WPIAL Class AA awards podium stand Saturday and needed only 70 seconds to do so.
Teammate Jamison Poklembo, Bentworth’s Chris Vargo, and Frazier’s Rune Lawrence also won WPIAL individual titles, along with an automatic berth into the state tournament.
Pitzer received a bye into the semifinals and promptly needed only 33 seconds to pin Burgettstown’s Turner Lehman. The junior then made short work of Knoch’s Eli Reese in the title bout, winning by fall in 37 seconds.
Lawrence won the gold medal at 172 pounds with a fall in 1:36 over McGuffey’s Ethan Barr. Lawrence needed only 32 seconds to win by fall in the semifinals against Burrell’s Colby Christie.
Vargo opened the 113-pound semifinals with a 15-0 technical fall in 3:17 over Quaker Valley’s Logan Richey.
Vargo met Elizabeth Forward’s Damon Michaels in the title bout and came away with a 4-1 decision. Vargo scored a takedown in the first period and had a reversal in the second period. Michaels scored his point with an escape in the third period.
Michaels advanced to the finals with a fall in 3:14 over Laurel’s Colin Bartley.
Poklembo joined Pitzer on the awards stand with his gold medal-performance at 132 pounds, securing a 9-2 decision over Valley’s Dion Lyons. Poklembo advanced to the finals by virtue of a 5-2 decision over Beth-Center’s Kyle McCollum.
The Vikings’ Ian Fasano also advanced to the finals, but lost by fall in 2:43 to Laurel’s Mitch Miles.
Four Beth-Center wrestlers, along with one each from Elizabeth Forward and Mount Pleasant, kept their seasons alive by winning in the third-place consolation finals.
McCollum (132), Tyler Debnar (138), Tyler Berish (145), and Trevor Pettit (160) took WPIAL bronze for the Bulldogs. The Vikings’ Noah Gnibus took third place at 172 pounds, and the Warriors’ Nicholas Murphy placed third at 285 pounds.
West Greene’s Seth Burns also advanced to the consolation finals, but dropped a decision to Burgettstown’s Parker Sentipal at 106 pounds.
Burrell’s Cooper Hornack (106), Niko Ferra (120), Ian Oswalt (138), and AJ Corrado (160), South Park’s Joey Fischer (126), Blackhawk’s Kenny Duschek (145), Laurel’s Grant Mackay (152), and Quaker Valley’s Patrick Cutchember (189) all won WPIAL titles.