PIAA awards 9 top seeds to WPIAL wrestlers

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, March 1, 2020 | 2:18 PM

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The PIAA released the pairings for the state wrestling tournament, and, not surprisingly, numerous WPIAL champions were seeded No. 1, including seven in Class AAA.

The annual PIAA individual championships begin 9 a.m. Thursday at Giant Center in Hershey with Class AA preliminary rounds. Class AAA competition begins at 4 p.m.

The top seeds from the WPIAL in Class AA are two-time state champion Thayne Lawrence (21-0) of Frazier and Ellwood City senior Austin Walley (41-1) at 182. There were six wrestlers from the Southwest Regional seeded No. 1.

South Park junior Joey Fischer (41-2) at 113 pounds and Elizabeth Forward senior Ryan Michaels (42-2) at 120 are seeded No. 2.

Three returning state champions headline the Class AAA tournament as No. 1 seeds: Franklin Regional junior Carter Dibert (37-2) at 113, Seneca Valley junior Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (39-3) at 132 and Canon-McMillan senior Gerrit Nijenhuis (43-0) at 182.

Also seeded No. 1 are Norwin senior Kurtis Phipps (36-1), two-time runner-up, at 126 pounds; Seneca Valley sophomore Dylan Chappell (45-4) at 120; Hempfield junior Tyler Linsenbigler (38-2) at 145; and Mt. Lebanon senior Luke Stout (38-0) at 195.

Waynesburg junior Wyatt Henson (46-4) at 138 and Hempfield junior heavyweight Isaiah Vance (38-1) are seeded No. 2.

Check out the PIAA Class AAA and AA tournament brackets at piaa.org.

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.

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Ellwood City, Franklin Regional, Frazier, Hempfield, Mt. lebanon, Norwin, Seneca Valley, Waynesburg