After strong effort at Southmoreland tournament, Fox Chapel wrestlers look toward section success

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, January 4, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Calyx Kimbrough was hoping to get a better start to the campaign for his junior season with the Fox Chapel wrestling team. But the 152-pound junior had to feel confident after receiving plenty of encouragement from Foxes coach Michael Frank.

“He has been working his butt off, but ran into a stretch of strong wrestlers to start the season,” Frank said.

“You may not have been able to see it during the results of matches, but we were seeing improvement.”

Kimbrough reached the semifinals of the Southmoreland tournament before losing to Butler’s Gavin Rush by tech fall. Kimbrough, who is 6-8 on the season, ended up placing sixth at the tournament.

The Foxes are hoping to see incremental improvement continue through their lineup as they prepare for the Allegheny County Championships and battle for position in the WPIAL Class 3A team tournament.

Fox Chapel finished fourth as a team and had 10 placewinners at Southmoreland. Michael Worsen (121 pounds), Landon Funk (127) and Youssef Abdelsalam (133) reached the semifinals.

“Our coaches have talked about not being satisfied with the success we’ve had,” Frank said. “We’ve talked a lot about improvement as a team in practice.”

Kimbrough has been working on not getting overhyped before matches.

“What I learned is that I get in my head too much before my matches,” Kimbrough said.

Kimbrough, who feels most comfortable wrestling on his feet, would like to do better at focusing on what he needs to do. Kimbrough has already wrestled more matches this season than he has during his first two years.

He finished a combined 11-7 during his freshman and sophomore seasons on varsity. Kimbrough felt like he was more focused at the Southmoreland tournament.

“I felt like I was able to break my opponents in the third period,” Kimbrough said. “I was in better shape and was able to win because of that.”

Fox Chapel, which won its section for the first time since 1971 last year, is in good position to compete in Section 5-3A. The Foxes (6-2, 2-0) won their opening two section matches, including a tight 33-31 victory over Armstrong.

“Even though we didn’t have our best match, we can fight with any team in the section,” Kimbrough said.

Fox Chapel won six consecutive matches, from 114 to 145 pounds, to earn a narrow decision. Adam Haines’ match at 145 pounds was an important one, Frank said. Haines beat Alec Formaini, 11-7.

“We knew there was a stretch of matches in the middle that would determine the overall outcome of the match,” Frank said. “Adam had a really good match. Armstrong is a good team. I think they are flying under the radar.”

Tags: Fox Chapel