Trib HSSN Wrestler of the Week: Upper St. Clair’s Jake Slinger

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 15, 2019 | 1:12 PM

WRESTLER OF THE WEEK

Jake Slinger, Upper St. Clair, senior, heavyweight

A PIAA Class AAA medalist as a junior, Slinger is having a dominant senior campaign, and he continued that over the weekend at the Burgettstown Tournament.

Slinger rolled to the heavyweight championship at Burgettstown, winning his first three matches by pin — all in the first period — before an 11-0 major decision over a red-hot Gerald Comedy of Washington in the finals.

The senior’s season record now stands at 21-0, with 18 pins. He won titles in tournaments at Chartiers-Houston, Southmoreland and Burgettstown.

Other nominees

Sage Parsley, Greensburg Salem, senior: He helped swing the Golden Lions’ Section 1-AAA match against Latrobe thanks to a pin of Jack Pletcher in their 160-pound bout, giving Greensburg Salem the lead in a come-from-behind 44-27 victory.

John Shanahan, Canon-McMillan, senior: The 160-pounder made a statement with a pin of McGuffey’s Seth Burgdolt in the Big Macs’ 46-21 win over their local rival on Saturday. Shanahan beat Burgdolt in overtime at the Tri-County Athletic Directors Association tournament the previous week.

Ryan Sullivan, Shaler, senior: The defending PIAA Class AAA champion had a dominant performance of his own at Burgettstown on his way to the 120-pound title. Sullivan went pin-pin-pin in his first three matches, with the longest one taking just 1 minute, 9 seconds off the clock, then took down Elizabeth Forward’s Dylan Bruce with a 26-11 technical fall in the championship.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Greensburg Salem, Shaler, Upper St. Clair