Wrestling notebook: Bedford Tournament is a good test for Class AA teams

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 | 4:42 PM

It is one of the tournaments Class AA wrestlers from the WPIAL and Districts 5 and 6 look forward to every year.

The Bedford Tournament, which begins Friday, allows wrestlers to gauge how they match up against the mountain schools. Burrell, Freedom and Beth-Center, all WPIAL playoff teams, along with Mt. Pleasant and Jefferson-Morgan are entered in the tournament.

Some of the top wrestlers from Burrell are Ian Oswalt (120), Bryan Gaul (132), A.J. Corrado (138) and Austin Mele (160).

This also will be a good test for Mt. Pleasant freshmen Luke Geibig (106), Noah Gnibus (113), Noah Teeter (120) and Dayton Pitzer (182).

The Class AA individual tournaments begin Feb. 16, and the PIAA Southwest Regional, for the WPIAL and Districts 5 and 6, returns to Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex at IUP on Feb. 22-23. The state tournament at Hershey is March 7, 8 and 9.

Two earn silver

Frazier junior Thayne Lawrence and Canon-McMillan junior Gerrit Nijenhuis earned second-place medals at the Escape the Rock tournament Sunday at Council Rock South High School.

Lawrence, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 160 pounds in the TribHSSN Class AA rankings, dropped a 3-2 decision to Luca Frinzi of Bethlehem Catholic. Frinzi got a takedown with 21 seconds left to grab a 3-1 lead.

Nijenhuis, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 182 in Class AAA, dropped a 6-5 decision to Jackson Turley of St. Christopher’s. Turley led 5-1 after two periods, but Nijenhuis’ rally came up short.

Two other Canon-McMillan wrestlers also earned medals: Jimmy Baxter placed fourth at 113, and Kenny Hayman placed seventh at 126.

Belle Vernon senior Scott Joll placed seventh at 182 pounds.

Connellsville also participated in the tournament and placed 30th. The Falcons had no medal winners.

Hempfield was supposed to compete in the tournament but was forced to cancel the trip because of the threat of nasty weather.

Honoring the pioneers

The 1993-94 West Greene wrestling team had a magical season. The Pioneers were the king of Class AA, winning the WPIAL team and Section 3 titles and going a perfect 17-0 and 9-0 in the section.

The team, coached by Allen Hughes, will be inducted into the West Greene Hall of Fame at 6:45 p.m. Friday when West Greene hosts South Allegheny.

The wrestlers on the team are: John Arbuckle, Dude Bennington, Ryan Blake, Craig Gillispie, Matt Hildreth, Chad Hill, Lonnie Litton, Ryan Rizor, Matt Robinson, Kris Rudman, Chuckie Stoneking, Chad Tedrow, Chet Tedrow, Ryan Tedrow, Justin Watson (deceased), Wes Watson, Craig Whitlatch, Gary Whyte and Rodney Wilson.

Managers for the team were Ricky Deter and Haden Watson. Hughes’ assistants were Scott Blair, John Coss, Curt Hughes and Brian Jackson. Gretchen Gates was the team’s athletic trainer.

The night will include little league recognition, senior night and a welcome back all alumni.

Events canceled

Two dual events scheduled for Jan. 19 were canceled because of weather: Burrell and Freedom were entered in the annual Brookville Duals, which featured some of the top Class AA teams in the state.

Derry’s annual trip to the Strasburg, Va., duals was cancelled.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.