Quest for 4th title by Latrobe’s Luke Willochell headlines WPIAL wrestling championships

By: Paul Schofield
Thursday, February 20, 2025 | 5:07 PM

Earlier this season, Latrobe senior Luke Willochell became the second wrestler in school history to become a Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association four-time champion.

He joined Tom Bell (1961-64) on the exclusive list. Bell was the first wrestler from the county to achieve that goal, which has since been matched by 13 others.

Now Willochell has a chance to do something no other Latrobe wrestler has achieved: become a four-time WPIAL champion. There have been 10 wrestlers from the county to win four WPIAL titles.

He can do that at the WPIAL Class 3A individual championships Saturday at Canon-McMillan. The two-day tournament begins at 5 p.m. Friday.

“Winning the county title meant a lot,” Willochell said. “I achieved two goals in the tournament: winning the title and getting my 100th career pin. Now I am focused on my next goal: becoming a WPIAL champion again and advancing in the PIAA tournament.”

Wilochell (35-2, 157-14) is a three-time PIAA placewinner (second in 2022 and fifth in 2023 and 2024).

He said his goal is to get back to Hershey and win it.

Standing in his way this weekend in the 133-pound weight class is former Class 2A champion Nico Fanella (31-2, 140-16) of Indiana and Canon-McMillan junior Collier Hartman (37-4, 90-29).

The only time Willochell and Fanella met in high school was their freshmen season when Willochell recorded a 7-3 victory in the 2022 WPIAL tournament.

Fanella is a three-time PIAA qualifier and two-time Class 2A placewinner. He finished fourth in 2023 and third in 2024.

Meanwhile, two wrestlers are looking to join the WPIAL three-time champions club: Thomas Jefferson senior Maddox Shaw (26-2, 154-14) and Central Valley junior Antonio Boni (37-2, 108-13). There are 84 three-time champions. Shaw is a returning PIAA champion.

One of Shaw’s toughest opponents is Connellsville senior Evan Petrovich, the returning 145-pound champion. Shaw won the 139-pound title last year. Shaw defeated Petrovich at the Eastern section qualifier 11-4.

Other returning champions in Class 3A are Peters Township sophomore Nicholas McGarrity (107), Butler junior Santino Sloboda (114), Thomas Jefferson senior Bode Marlow (160), Kiski Area junior Cooper Roscosky (189), Ringgold senior Jake Conroy (215), Thomas Jefferson senior Shepherd Turk (285) and Belle Vernon junior Elijah Brown (172-2A).

Brown, Conroy and Roscosky are all wrestling at 215 pounds and are the top three ranked wrestlers at the weight in the WPIAL and the state.

In Class 2A, three Derry wrestlers are looking to add another gold medal when the tournament begins Friday at Chartiers Valley.

Senior Anthony Mucci and sophomores Mason Horwat and Brady Brown are among the five previous WPIAL champions competing this weekend.

Mucci won the 114 title in 2024, Horwat took home the 145 title, Brown the 189 title and Bono the 127 title and Frazier senior Ryan Celaschi won the 152 title in 2023.

Burrell junior Cam Baker would have been a returning champion, but he can not compete after suffering a hand injury at the PIAA team championship Feb. 7 at Altoona against Faith Christian Academy.

Westmoreland County 4-time WPIAL champions

Joe Makara, Burrell (2000-2003)

Larry Hall, Jeannette (2001-2004)

Troy Dolan Jr., Derry (2004-2007)

Jordan Shields, Burrell (2005-2008)

Nico Megaludis, Franklin Regional (2998-2011)

James Gulibon, Derry (2009-2012)

Micky Phillippi, Derry (2013-2016)

Spencer Lee, Franklin Regional (2014-2017)

Kurtis Phipps, Norwin (2017-2020)

Ian Oswalt, Burrell (2018-2021)

Latrobe 3-time WPIAL champions

Zack Zavatsky (2012-2014)

Luke Pletcher (2013-2014, 2016)

Vinny Kilkeary (2021-2023)

Luke Willochell (2022-2024)

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: Central Valley, Latrobe, Thomas Jefferson