Kiski Area’s Brayden Roscosky and Sammy Starr get 100th wins

By: Greg Macafee
Friday, February 19, 2021 | 7:16 PM

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After this week’s WPIAL Class AAA Section 1A individual subsection meet, Kiski Area’s Sammy Starr and Brayden Roscosky joined a long line of Kiski Area wrestlers to win 100 career matches.

Coming into this season, not knowing what it might hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, one Kiski Area wrestling coach Chris Heater’s goals was getting his only seniors their 100th wins.

“I was telling one of them on Wednesday, in your entire lifespan, if you are successful doing something 100 times then you are pretty good at that thing,” Heater said. “That’s something to be proud of, and that’s an accomplishment if you successfully do something 100 times. You won 100 matches in high school. That’s impressive, and no matter what you do in your life, you can always look back on it.”

Roscosky, who is 27-3 this season and has a career record of 101-19 heading into Saturday’s Section 1-AAA individual tournament, earned his 100th win in the fourth round of the Section 1A round-robin Wednesday. He pinned Indiana’s Jon Dietz in 29 seconds for his fourth pin of the evening to achieve the milestone.

Unlike most wrestlers, who accomplish the feat in four years, Roscosky only had three. As a sophomore, Roscosky had success right out of the gate. He won 35 matches his first year and 39 his second, only losing 16 matches combined between the two seasons.

“In wrestling, there are a lot of accomplishments everybody wants to go for, and that’s just one of them,” Roscosky said about the milestone. “To get that, especially with the crazy season that we’ve had this year, it’s a pretty big accomplishment, bigger than what most would think. I’m very happy that I was able to get it.”

Coming into his freshman year, Starr was a stud wrestler on the lower levels and had high expectations for his varsity career. He went through a humbling season, only winning 15 matches. He had a breakout season as a junior, reaching the WPIAL finals at 152 pounds and going 31-7.

Starr, who has an all-time record of 104-42, hit 100 with a 56-second pin in his first match Wednesday.

“Leading up to it, I thought that it was going to be cool to hit 100 wins,” Starr said. “But once I actually hit it and they announced it, I thought it was pretty sick. I got the poster on my wall now, and I’m feeling good about it now. It’s especially a good confidence booster going into the postseason.”

With the careers they’ve put together, both Roscosky and Starr are itching for their first taste of WPIAL gold. After their performances Wednesday, they enter the WPIAL Class AAA Section 1 individual tournament Saturday as the top seeds in their weight classes.

Starr is going for his second section title, Roscosky is going after his third and both are feeling confident.

Roscosky hasn’t lost since the end of January at the Powerade tournament, when he fell to Mountoursville’s Cael Crebs in the blood rounds.

“I don’t want to say anything too soon, and I’m not the type to predict — I’m a little superstitious — but the goal is first place,” Roscosky said. “I’m still going to take it match by match and just battle.”

Starr is in the same boat, and after only losing twice this season — a 4-3 decision to top-ranked Luca Augustine from Waynesburg and a 5-2 decision against Frazier’s Rune Lawrence at Powerade — last season’s WPIAL runner-up feels he’s nearing his peak at the right time.

With a record of 29-2 this season, Starr hasn’t lost since the Powerade tournament Jan. 30 and has pinned 11 of his past 12 opponents.

“It’s definitely crazy thinking that I only have like 23 days of high school wrestling left, which is just making me want to go out and enjoy it every match,” Starr said. “I don’t want to hold anything back. I’m just trying to leave it all on the mat. But my body is feeling better, and I think things are just coming together at the right time.”

The Cavaliers will wrestle in the WPIAL Class AAA Section 1 individual tournament Saturday in order to earn a trip to the WPIAL Class AAA tournament Feb. 27 at Canon-McMillan.

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

Tags: Kiski Area