Postseason grind tests mettle of Fox Chapel wrestlers

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, February 22, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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The path to qualifying for the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships has an extra step to the process this season. For the first time in the larger classification, wrestlers must qualify for a regional instead of going straight from the WPIAL tournament to states.

Fox Chapel wrestling coach Michael Frank said he isn’t sure how he feels about it. It will be good for 121-pound Foxes senior wrestler Michael Worsen, who will have more opportunities to hit the 100-win mark.

But the grind on the wrestlers will be immense.

“The section tournament was a week earlier, but getting five kids out of the West region to states offers more opportunities for WPIAL kids than we had before,” Frank said. “But for some kids, they will be wrestling the same kids over and over again at sections, WPIALs and regionals. Battling the same group of kids will take its toll physically.”

Worsen was one of nine Fox Chapel wrestlers to qualify for the WPIAL tournament. He is 96-39 in his career and 26-7 this season. Worsen is one win away from equaling a career best for wins in a season.

Worsen won 27 matches as a junior.

“I would love to see it,” Frank said. “He’s worked hard. It would be a deserving honor for him to get there. It would be fun for him to get it at a big tournament.”

Landon Funk is another WPIAL qualifier for the Foxes at 127 pounds. He will be making his third trip to the tournament.

The Seton Hill recruit is hoping to make a big splash after winning his first match and bowing out last season.

“You have to save as much energy as you can,” Funk said. “You don’t want to waste all of your energy on one match. You want to go out and wrestle every match as best as you can.”

Luke Montgonery (114 pounds), Youssef Abdelsalam (133), Andrew Kratsa (152), Milo Chiu (160), Jack Viti (189), Joseph Geller (215) and D’Angelo Hamilton (285) also qualified for WPIALs for the Foxes.

Fox Chapel would like to see a good number of those wrestlers advance to the regional.

“Getting nine kids through was a good accomplishment,” Frank said. “The guys competed hard all day long. There were a couple of matches we have to clean up going into this weekend, especially since the competition is going to increase in strength.”

Tags: Fox Chapel