Wrestling notebook: PIAA announces interesting changes to championship schedule

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, January 30, 2024 | 7:29 PM

Purchase Photo Options

The PIAA recently released the time schedule for the individual wrestling championships March 7, 8 and 9 at Giant Center in Hershey with some interesting changes.

With the addition to the girls championship, the PIAA decided to run the semifinals for the Class 3A and 2A boys and girls simultaneously at 7 p.m. March 8.

In previous tournaments, Class 2A semifinals were Friday night and 3A semifinals 9 a.m. Saturday.

“Friday night is going to be crazy,” Latrobe coach Mark Mears said. “Tickets will be at the premium for the semifinals. I’m interested to see where they put all the wrestlers and coaches. That one will be packed.”

On Saturday, the consolations will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the place matches (third, fifth and seventh) will start at 11:30 a.m.

The finals will be run simultaneously at 4 p.m.

“The last day will be similar to the NCAAs,” Mears said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how they pull this off.”

The Class 2A boys will kick things off Thursday at 9 a.m. The girls will make their first appearance at 2 p.m., and the Class 3A boys will follow at 4.

The 2A quarterfinals will be 8 a.m. Friday, the girls’ quarterfinals at 11:45 a.m. and the Class 3A boys at 2:15 p.m.

WPIAL, PIAA individual qualifiers set

The WPIAL and PIAA individual tournaments are set to begin Feb. 16 and 17 for the Class 2A boys with section tournaments at Greensburg Salem, Keystone Oaks and Burgettstown.

The WPIAL girls championship will be Feb. 17 at North Allegheny, and the PIAA West Regional will be March 1 and 2 at Canon-McMillan at the same time as the WPIAL 3A boys championship.

The WPIAL Class 2A championship is Feb. 23 and 24 at Chartiers Valley and PIAA Southwest Regional March 1 and 2 at Altoona.

Sites for the Class 3A section tournaments Feb. 23 and 24 are: Sections 1 and 2 at Kiski Area; Sections 3 and 4 at Norwin; and Sections 5 and 6 at South Fayette.

Strong showing at Bedford

Seven WPIAL teams — Burrell, Beth-Center, Derry Area, Frazier, Mt. Pleasant, Chartiers-Houston and West Greene — competed at the Thomas Automotive Wrestling Classic at Bedford, and it might have been the best performance by the WPIAL teams in the annual event.

Burrell finished third with 176.5 points behind Chestnut Ridge and Clearfield.

Cooper Hornack won the 139-pound title, and Cam Baker placed second at 107. Julian Bertucci at 127 and Jacob Stewart at 133 placed third, and Luca Rose at 121 was sixth. Placing eighth were Carter Thomas (114), Caydn Crawford (133), Calio Zanella (145), Nico Zanella (160) and Ayden Kun (285).

Derry Area placed fifth and had three finalists. Nathan Barkley won the 172-pound title, and freshmen Mason Horwat (145) and Brady Brown (189) finished second. Anthony Mucci at 114 was third.

Mt. Pleasant finished sixth and had two champions: Jamison Poklembo at 145 and heavyweight Dylan Pitzer. Pitzer had four first-period pins and a decision.

Greg Shaulis at 152 placed third, Tristan Wtorkiewicz at 127 was fourth and Stephen Predajna at 160 was seventh.

Frazier ended up in ninth place and had two champions: Ryan Celaschi at 160 and Rune Lawrence at 215. Celaschi had a pin, three technical falls and a major decision win. Lawrence had four pins and a decision.

Jackson Angelo at 129 placed third, and Tyler Clark (133) placed sixth.

Beth-Center placed 14th and had three placewinners: Mason Wright third at 121, Jacob Layhue fourth at 189 and Noah Layhue fifth at 172.

Colin Whyte, who placed seventh at 215, was West Greene’s placewinner, and Jorden Williams, who sixth at 114, was Chartiers-Houston’s lone medalist. Williams was injured in the semifinals.

WPIAL Class 3A growing

The PIAA recently released the enrollment figures for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, and numerous Class 2A schools will be moving up.

Moving up are Montour, Indiana, Albert Gallatin, Hampton, Blackhawk and Belle Vernon. It is uncertain if Waynesburg, which has a Class 2A enrollment, will continue to compete in Class 3A.

Depending on what Waynesburg decides Class 3A will expand to 44 of 45 teams. Class 2A will have 42 teams.

Marion picks Pitt

Franklin Regional senior Juliano Marion plans to sign a letter-of-intent to wrestle for Pitt

The No. 3 ranked 215-pounder made his selection recently.

Marion (26-5) has won two-consecutive tournaments — Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association and Mid-Winter Mayhem – and helped the Panthers clinch the Section 3-3A title by defeating Norwin. It was his third consecutive WCCA title and second consecutive Mid-Winter Mayhem title.

He picked Pitt because of its excellent academics. He plans to earn an engineering degree.

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.