Derry’s Cymmerman, three others reach elite status at WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships
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Saturday, February 15, 2020 | 10:08 PM
Mt. Pleasant’s Damian George works for control Derry’s Ty Cymmerman in the 126-pound weight class Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
Burrell’s Mikey Scherer wrestles Quaker Valley’s Donovan Cutchember in the 220-pound final Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 in WPIAL Class AA individual wrestling championship at Canon-McMillan High School.
Quaker Valley’s Patrick Cutchember (right) collides in neutral with Ellwood City’s Austin Walley in the 182-pound final on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championship.
Yough’s Glenn Christner (bottom) tries to escape from Freedom’s Trent Schultheis during their match in the 170-pound weight class Saturday at the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships.
Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence wrestles in the 160-pound weight class against McGuffey’s Ethan Barr on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
Burrell’s AJ Corrado won the 152-pound title at the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships. Teammate Ian Oswalt also won a WPIAL title.
Freedom’s Kenny Duschek wrestles Carlynton’s Eddie Huehn in the 138-pound weight class on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
McGuffey’s Rocco Ferraro wrestles South Park’s Anthony Weil in the 145-pound weight class Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
Burrell’s Ian Oswalt (top) wrestles Highlands’ Jrake Burford in the WPIAL Class AA 132-pound championship Saturday. Oswalt won by fall.
Valley’s Dion Lyons wrestles Burgettstown’s Anthony Lancos on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in the 132-pound weight class for fifth place at the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
Derry’s Ty Cymmerman (left) defeats Mt. Pleasant’s Damian George in the 126-pound final for his third WPIAL Class AA title.
Elizabeth Forward’s Ryan Michaels wrestles atop Beth-Center’s Kyle McCollum in the 120-pound weight class Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
Mt. Pleasant’s Luke Geibig tries to escape South Park’s Joey Fischer in the 113-pound weight class on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
Chase Brandebura of Carlynton wrestles Laurel’s Colin Bartley (bottom) in the 106-pound weight class Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in the WPIAL Class AA wrestling championships at Canon-McMillan High School.
There are certain things in the modern day of wrestling that continue to impress fans.
One-hundred fifty career wins, winning a state title or being a three-time or four-time WPIAL or PIAA champion.
If you achieve one of those during the high school career, you’re looked at in a different light.
Four wrestlers achieved that elite status Saturday at the WPIAL Class AA championships at Canon-McMillan.
Frazier senior Thayne Lawrence became the 29th wrestler in the WPIAL to become a four-time champion. He joins a list that includes Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale, Franklin Regional’s Spencer Lee and Derry’s Micky Phillippi.
Three juniors joined the group of three-time champions, which grew to 82: Derry junior Ty Cymmerman, Burrell junior Ian Oswalt and Freedom junior Trent Schultheis.
Cymmerman (33-4) cruised to another title by defeating Mt. Pleasant senior Damian George, 5-1, to win the 126-pound crown.
It was the second time in two days and third time this season Cymmerman has beaten George, including a 6-2 decision in the section finals Friday.
“I’m pleased with my weekend,” Cymmerman said. “I thought I wrestled hard. I was really technical and really good. There are definitely some things I’ll take out of this tournament and work on for next week.”
Said Derry coach Mike Weinell, “When you wrestle the same kid over and over, it gets tougher and tougher. Sometimes they close the gap and change their styles. He wrestled smart and didn’t panic in some of the scrambles. He did a great job.”
The top seven wrestlers in each weight class advance to the PIAA Class AA Southwest Region tournament at IUP beginning Friday. Cymmerman will have company as teammates Colton McCallen (120) and Brayden Mickinac (195) advanced with seventh-place finishes.
Oswalt (39-5) also had to beat the same wrestler twice. He pinned Jrake Burford of Highlands both times, including at 1 minute, 35 seconds in the 132-pound final.
“Overall, I thought I wrestler pretty good,” Oswalt said. “I want to come here and wrestle dominantly.
“I haven’t paid too much attention to wrestlers in the region. I know that (Glendale’s) Brock McMillen, a returning state champion, is in the bracket. It’s not going to change how I wrestle.”
Burrell had two WPIAL champions as junior AJ Corrado (39-6) claimed the 152 title with a 2-1 victory against Quaker Valley junior Connor Redinger, which denied Redinger a third title.
Corrado lost in the finals last year.
“We had some good matches this season,” Corrado said about the matchup with Redinger. “He pinned me (overtime) at Powerade, and I won a wild one in the team tournament. It’s something I wanted to achieve, the WPIAL title.”
A third Burrell wrestler, Mikey Scherer, was denied a title when Quaker Valley’s Donovan Cutchember defeated, 8-4, in the 220 final.
Burrell advanced 10 to the region. The other seven were Nick Salerno (third-place, 120), Ricky Feroce (third, 182), Nike Ferra (fourth, 106), Shawn Szymanski (sixth, 113), Cole Clark (seventh, 170), Logan Bechtold (seventh, 138) and Noah Linderman (seventh, 160).
Frazier didn’t have a wrestling program 10 years ago. But now it has a four-time champion after Lawrence defeated McGuffey’s Ethan Barr, 9-0, to claim the 160 title.
It was a big weekend for the Lawrence family as younger brother, Rune, won the WPIAL junior high 155-pound title at Norwin. He went 5-0 with four pins and a technical fall.
Neither allowed their opponents to score a point this weekend.
Thayne Lawrence (17-0) missed most of the season after injuring his shoulder at the Ironman Tournament in December.
“I thought I was done for the season,” Lawrence said. “It’s a good feeling to be back. I don’t think too much about lists. It’s cool to get my name on the list with some great wrestlers.”
Yough junior Glenn Christner had a good tournament. He won the Section 3 title on Friday and then reached the finals, only to fall to Schultheis, 17-2, at 170. Yough’s Shane Momyer advanced by placing seventh at 106.
Mt. Pleasant advanced five wrestlers to Indiana. George and Luke Geibig each reached the finals and came up short. Geibig fell to South Park’s Joey Fischer, 10-0, in the 133 final.
The other Vikings to advance include Noah Gnibus (fourth, 138), Patrick Brewer (sixth, 160) and Kyle Jones (seventh, 152).
Southmoreland advanced four: Bret Huffman (third, 195,), Austin McBeth (fourth, 152), Nick Yeskey (sixth, 138) and Anthony McGovern (sixth, 182).
Harberts advance
Ligonier Valley sophomore Ryan Harbert and freshman Josh Harbert each placed fifth at the PIAA District 6 tournament at Altoona and advanced to the PIAA Southwest Region at IUP.
Ryan Harbert placed fifth at 132 pounds, and Josh Harbert placed fourth at 106.
Other qualifiers
Highlands will advance five wrestlers to IUP. Joining Burford are Brock White Jr. (fourth, 160), Even Henry (fifth, 126), Jeremiah Saunders (fifth, 220) and Jeremiah Nelson (fifth, 285).
Valley will take two to the region, Micah Hughes (fifth, 106) and Dion Lyons (fifth, 132).
Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.
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