Eight West Hills area competitors – six boys and two girls — punched their tickets to the PIAA Wrestling Championships by virtue of their performances at the state regional tournaments, which concluded Saturday.
Cael Yanek of Moon Area and Montour’s Rook Smith both finished fourth at the Class 3A West Regional Tournament, held at Canon-McMillan High School, to lock up berths in the state tournament, which takes place March 6-8 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Yanek competed at 133 pounds and Smith at 160.
Other local wrestlers who will move on to Hershey for the boys tournament are Moon’s Liam Costa, who placed fifth at 160 pounds; Moon’s Bryce Thomas, who finished sixth at 107; Braiden Sudor of Carlynton, who wound up sixth at 215 at the Class 2A Southwest Regional, held at Altoona High School; Carlynton’s Henry Barbisch, who finished seventh at 285.
The top six finishers in the Class 3A tournament and the top seven finishers in the Class 2A tournament advance to the state meet.
In addition to the boys competition, the PIAA Girls West Regional Tournament took place Saturday and two West Hills competitors – Montour’s Kristen Walzer and Moon’s Haley Smarsh – both brought home the gold to earn a spot at the PIAA meet.
Walzer, wrestling at 100 pounds, finished first by posting a 5-4 decision over Lily Young of Sharpsville in the championship match.
Walzer reached the finals after posting an 8-0 major decision over Julieth Flores of Connellsville and pinning Ella Clark of General McLane at 5:38.
Smarsh, wrestling at 130, trailed Chloe Zacherl of McDowell late in the second period of their championship match before pinning Zacherl at the 3:43 mark. Zacherl had lost just once in 29 matches entering the contest.
Smarsh won her first match by pin, stopping Juliana Vanslyke of Mount Lebanon at 2 minutes, 31 seconds, and then posted a 15-1 technical fall over Kelley Enterline of Greenville in the semifinals.
On the boys side, Moon’s Yanek fell by technical fall, 19-3, in the third-place match Saturday.
Yanek opened regional action by pinning Charles Bottoms of Obama Academy at 3:08, then decisioned Jake Knable of Mifflin County, 2-1, in the quarterfinals. Yanek lost by pin to Indiana’s Nico Fanella at 49 seconds in the semifinals, then decisioned Gus Stedeford of North Allegheny 4-2.
Smith lost a 2-0 decision to Thomas Jefferson’s Brayden White in the third-place match. Earlier, Smith opened the regional by pinning Aviv Diamant of Taylor Allderdice in just 28 seconds. He then lost 7-2 to White in the quarterfinals before coming back to register three straight pins.
Smith first stopped Gavin Zillman of Harbor Creek at 2:13, pinned Brock Evans of Waynesburg at 4:50 and stopped Noah Weaver of Bellefonte at 1:02.
Costa decisioned Noah Weaver of Bellefonte, 11-7, to lock up fifth place. Costa lost his opening match by technical fall, 19-4 at 3:13, to Luke Sipes of Altoona, then reeled off three straight wins before losing by forfeit to Brayden White of Thomas Jefferson.
Costa won by technical fall over Alex George of Dubois, 18-0 and 2:07, then pinned Xavier Zeruth of State College at 2:33 and decisioned Cristian Lowther of Ringgold, 5-4, before losing to White.
Thomas lost a 10-4 decision to Zach Rehak of Thomas Jefferson in the fifth-place match Saturday. He also lost his first match of the tournament Friday – a 9-2 decision to Andrew Alexander of Mifflin County – then won his next three matches before losing by major decision, 13-1, to Michael Johnson of West Allegheny.
Thomas pinned Mason Gracey of Meadville at 1:50, won by forfeit over Connor Sidney of Hollidaysburg and decisioned Dominic Nardozza of Altoona, 7-2, before falling to Johnson.
Moon’s Michael Olszewski, wrestling at 172, won once in three matches but did not place. He lost to Bode Marlow of Thomas Jefferson by technical fall, 21-6 at 1:45, in his first match, then won by technical fall, 15-0 at 3:30, over Ethan McAdoo of Harbor Creek before losing by technical fall, 17-1 at 3:11, to Carter Morvay of North Hills.
In Class AA action, Carlynton’s Sudor, who lost in the WPIAL finals last week, fell 1-0 to Tyler Lobb of Moshannon Valley in the fifth-place match. Earlier, Sudor defeated Chase Stuchal of River Valley, 7-1, then suffered an 11-0 major decision setback to Zane Hagans of Somerset.
Sudor rallied by registering consecutive pins over Brennan Breisinger of Quaker Valley in 1:58 and Kolton Carlson of Laurel at 4:23.
Barbisch, also a WPIAL runner-up, pinned Alex Rusilko of Bentworth at 2:29 in the battle for seventh and final qualifying spot. Earlier, Barbisch pinned Gianni Browne of Meyersdale in 40 seconds of their first match but lost 6-4 to Bishop McCort’s Caleb Rodriguez in the quarterfinals.
Barbisch then posted an 11-0 major decision over Kelton Bonnell of Juniata before falling by pin to Howard Brambley of Everett at 1:26.
Carlynton’s Jermell Lindsey lost both of his matches at 172. Lindsey lost by technical fall, 17-2 at 3:24, to Grady Clark of Huntingdon and then was pinned by United’s Dylan Stephens at 1:39.
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