The Montour High School wrestling team is ready to take the mat, this time at the WPIAL Class 3A level with rivals West Allegheny, Moon and Blackhawk in its section.
Spartans coach Zach Tournay is heading into ninth year at the helm.
Tournay is a 2003 graduate and loves coaching the black and gold. His father, Merle Tournay, revived the long-dormant Montour wrestling program in 1988 and Zach is motivated to propel the wrestlers to new heights on and off the mat.
“I grew up around it because of my dad, so being able to share a passion like this sport with high school-age kids, I love doing that,” Tournay said. “My dad started this program in 88-89, it’s like a family legacy and I take pride in that. I’m Montour and I’m black and gold since I was little. Being able to not only be a head coach and coach wrestling, but at my own alma mater, that’s also very near and dear to my heart.”
The Spartans are a young team with just three seniors – four fewer than last year’s team boasted. Nonetheless, the team still has plenty of experienced wrestlers taking the mat.
Junior Rook Smith (160 pounds) placed eighth in the WPIAL last season and strung together a 31-8 record, qualifying for the state tournament in the process. Smith won first place at the Chartiers-Houston Invitational last weekend, while sophomore Jacob Chacon (139) placed fourth.
Chacon finished 20-11 last season and is the younger brother of 2023 Montour grad and Duke Blue Devil wrestler Peter Chacon.
All four captains from last year’s team were seniors who combined for 92 wins. This year, all four captains will be in that role for the first time.
“They’ve really embraced that role in leading, especially with one senior and three juniors,” Tournay said. “It’s kind of new for them, but so far so good.”
Junior Kristen Walzer (107) is the lone female wrestler and is one of Montour’s captains. Walzer took home sixth in the states in the separate girls division and wrestled against boys in the 107 class. She compiled an 18-10 record last season.
“She is a great young wrestler who wrestled boys basically throughout the entire season with us, because she’s our starting 107-pounder,” Walzer said. “She takes it to the mat. She’s not a pushover. When a lot of people think about boys wrestling girls, she’s beaten some boys along the way, so she’s not a pushover.”
Smith and Chacon are also captains. Tournay expects big things from them.
Danny Brandl (145), who finished with a 14-15 record last year, is the lone senior captain.
Tournay said that he expects an outstanding year from junior Tom Cunningham (152).
“He’s put in a lot of work over the past summer,” Tournay said. “He’s gotten into club wrestling, along with Rook Smith at 160. Both of them are good friends who’ve been wrestling with each other all over the summertime.”
Sophomore Jacob Halbedl will be the starter at heavyweight. He posted a 22-15 record last season.
“He had a really nice freshman year,” Tournay said, “so we’re hoping to build upon that this year and maybe we get him to the WPIAL or the regional tournament for the postseason.”
Walzer, Smith, Chacon, Brandl, Cunningham and Halbedl all return as starters and Tournay plans on leaning on them this year.
With a lot of new faces on the squad, the captains and veterans on the team have stepped up in leadership roles.
“We have wrestlers who were on the team last year, but we also have the other half of our team who are freshmen who are just coming up to varsity,” Tournay said. “We have first-year wrestlers, a couple sophomores, a couple juniors who are first-year wrestlers, coming out for wrestling for the very first time. Seeing our captains and the older wrestlers interact with them and bringing them along has really helped out a lot as well.”
One thing Tournay values is the team camaraderie.
“We’re probably the closest group of teammates out there, not just this season, but even in years past,” Tournay said. “My teams always seem to be supporting each other and helping each other and really in it for the team, which is great. That’s what you ultimately want.”
Tournay is excited to jump back into 3A with Moon, West Allegheny and Blackhawk. Montour was at 2A for four years, but Tournay knows the Spartans have competed at 3A before and will be excited to wrestle at 3A yet again.
“We see them at various tournaments, so it’s not like we’ve never wrestled them before, because we see some of their individual wrestlers at tournaments,” Tournay said. “Being able to compete in a dual meet and dual meets for sections, that’ll be fun getting back into the Triple A side of the business.”
The Spartans finished 11th of 30 teams in the Chartiers-Houston Invitational.
Tournay looks forward to seeing the wrestlers grow on and off the mat.
“They’re a great group of young men and women,” Tournay said. “I really enjoy going to practice every day, interacting with them, teaching them and watching them bond. Just being around the team is always something I look forward to every day.”
Rook Smith placed 2nd in WPIALs