Latrobe freshman thrives under bright lights of WPIAL Class 3A tournament
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Friday, March 1, 2024 | 10:03 PM
Latrobe freshman Hunter Snyder looks up during a cradle on Plum senior Jack Tongel during a 172-pound quarterfinal at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Kiski Area junior Mark Gray takes down Thomas Jefferson senior Brady Fitz during a 172-pound first-round match at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Norwin freshman Landon Sidun lifts up Baldwin freshman Jason Alex during a 114-pound first-round match at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Penn-Trafford junior Tasso Whipple (right) battles Central Catholic freshman Roman Thompson in a 189-pound quarterfinal at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Trinity sophomore Dom Canali grabs the leg of Norwin freshman Nathan Klingensmith during a 121-pound first-round match at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Connellsville freshman Nolan Rice attempts to pin Latrobe freshman Brody Bronson during a 107-pound match at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Penn-Trafford sophomore Dylan Barrett attempts to pin Trinity senior Mickey Horne during a 107-pound first-round match at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Kiski Area sophomore Abrahm Taylor attempts to keep North Allegheny senior Aiden Buggey from escaping duing a 215-pound quarterfinal at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Latrobe junior Luke Willochell pins Ringgold junior Nico Bove with a cradle during a 121-pound match at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Latrobe freshman Hunter Snyder (left) puts Plum senior Jack Tongel on his head during the 172-pound quarterfinal at the WPIAL Class 3A wrestling championships Friday.
Latrobe freshman Hunter Snyder has been on the big stage before.
He’s competed in Freestyle Nationals at Fargo and Junior Olympic states.
Now he’s one win away from earning a trip to Hershey for the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships.
Snyder is one of four Latrobe wrestlers to reach Saturday’s semifinals with impressive wins Friday at the WPIAL Class 3A tournament at Canon-McMillan. The other three are junior two-time champion Luke Willochell (121), junior Leo Joseph (114) and senior Jacob Braun (127).
Snyder had a 55-second pin in the first round then took care of Plum senior Jack Tongel, 11-1, in the quarterfinals.
Now the third-seeded wrestler will get a rematch with the second seed, Trinity senior Bodie Morgan, who defeated Snyder, 12-11, on Dec. 9.
Snyder (35-4) has won 24 consecutive matches.
“This is what I expected from those four,” Latrobe coach Mark Mears said. “I told Hunter when you’re in a tournament, stay focused in the moment. You can’t worry about anything else. Hunter has an advantage over a lot of freshmen because he does so much freestyle.”
“The other three were 6-0 with five first-period pins. The key is that we’re not finished with what we want to do.”
Snyder loves to get into scrambles and he usually ends up on top. Against Tongel, he had the Plum senior on his back with a cradle.
“Coach told me to be ready for the big matches and go out and wrestle your best,” Snyder said. “I felt I wrestled really well. I had first-match jitters, but you’ll get that. Every match is the same and have fun scoring points.”
Snyder said he’s worked against Morgan and Pine-Richland junior Vaughn Spencer, the No. 1 seed, before. So he knows he’ll have to wrestle his best.
Willochell is looking to become a three-time champion. He pinned Ringgold junior Nico Bove in 17 seconds and Peters Township senior Isaac Meyers in 42 seconds. He’ll face Canon-McMillan sophomore Collier Hartman in the noon semifinals.
Joseph defeated Waynesburg sophomore Floyd Huff, 16-3, and pinned Fox Chapel junior Landon Funk in a minute. He’ll face Norwin freshman Landon Sidun in the semifinals.
Braun pinned Hempfield freshman Jacob Halsted in 26 seconds and Bethel Park junior Seth Miller in 1:18. He’ll face Waynesburg senior Ky Szewczyk in the semis.
Sidun and senior Nathan Campbell advanced for Norwin. Sidun had a pin and a technical fall while Campbell had two first-period pins.
Penn-Trafford, Franklin Regional and Hempfield each had two wrestlers reach the semifinals.
Sophomore Dylan Barrett (107) and senior Hayden Coy (145) advanced for the Warriors, Nico Kapusta (107) and Eli Carr (152) for the Spartans, and seniors Ty Kapusta (121) and Juliano Marion (215) for the Panthers.
Kiski Area sophomore Cooper Roscosky (189) was the only Cavalier to reach the semifinals.
WPIAL team champion Connellsville leads the team scoring with 73 points and four wrestlers in the semifinals. Latrobe is second with 58 points and four in the semifinals, and Trinity is third with 49.5 points and three wrestlers still alive for gold.
Advancing for the Falcons were freshmen Nolan Rice (107) and Kia Vielma (133) and juniors Evan Petrovich (145) and Lonzy Vielma (160). Rice and Petrovich are seeded No. 1.
Canon-McMillan also has four wrestlers vying for gold.
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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