A-K Valley wrestling notebook: Burrell nabs three top seeds for sectional tournament

By: Greg Macafee
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 | 4:53 PM

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WPIAL Class AA wrestlers will converge on Canon-McMillan high school this weekend for their sectional and WPIAL individual tournaments.

The sectional tournaments will take place Friday, and when the seedings were announced Wednesday, a few Burrell Bucs found themselves atop the Section 3-AA brackets.

Juniors Ian Oswalt (132 pounds) and AJ Corrado (152) and senior Mikey Scherer (220) earned the top spots in their respective weight classes. Corrado and Oswalt are two-time section champs, and after not wrestling for the first three years of his high school career, Scherer is in search of his first.

All three wrestlers have won 25 or more matches this year, and Oswalt and Corrado have both tallied 34 apiece.

Shawn Szymanski (113), Nick Salerno (120), Noah Linderman (160), Cole Clark (170) and Ricky Feroce (182) were all tabbed as No. 2 seeds.

The Highlands Golden Rams also found themselves near the top of each weight class. Although they didn’t earn any top seeds, Jrake Burford (132), Blake Clark (145), Charles D’Angelo (152), Jeremiah Saunders (220) and Jeremiah Nelson (285) were given No. 2 seeds.

Class AAA will hold its individual sectional tournaments Feb 22.

Looking for a repeat

The WPIAL Class AA individual championships are this weekend at Canon-McMillan, and Burrell’s Ian Oswalt is the lone A-K Valley wrestler that will be looking to repeat.

Last year, Oswalt defeated Beth-Center’s Jimmy Gwyer by a 1-0 decision in the 120-pound final.

While Oswalt will be the only A-K Valley wrestler looking to repeat, two wrestlers will be looking to take that next step. Last season, Burrell’s Nick Salerno and AJ Corrado both lost in the finals, Salerno at 113 and Corrado at 138.

Another one

Plum’s Vince Citrano has been busy collecting tournament titles this season. The 113-pound sophomore has finished first at the Eastern Invitational at Gateway, the Armstrong Winter Classic, the Steve DeAugustino Holiday Classic and the Allegheny County Championships. 

He earned tournament title No. 5 at the Buckeye Local Panther Classic on Feb. 1. Citrano went 4-0 and earned two pins, and major decision and a 17-2 technical fall in 4 minutes, 25 seconds during the tournament. His final win came via pin in 1:51 over Bryce Rodriguez from Carlynton.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Burrell, Highlands, Plum