Berks Catholic's Armistead, Kline and Reber clinch medals at the PIAA Wrestling Championships [updated]

Mar. 10—Three Berks Catholic wrestlers have clinched medals in Class 2A Friday at the PIAA Wrestling Championships at Hershey's Giant Center.

Marvin Armistead, Brody Kline and Owen Reber have guaranteed that they will finish in the top eight after winning in the third round of consolations. It will be the first state medal for each, and the first medals in program history for the Saints.

Eliminated on Friday were Berks Catholic's Brayden Hartranft and Gunnar Maciejewski.

In the quarterfinals at 127 pounds, Armistead, a junior, lost to Burrell's Cooper Hornack 5-0 before beating Pen Argyl's Collin Ramsay 7-6 in the third round of consolations. Hornack (41-6), a junior, came in as a two-time state medalist. He finished fourth at 120 pounds last year after placing second at 106 as a freshman.

"I'm very happy right now," said Armistead, who is in states for the second straight year. "I had to stop playing football because of issues and problems and now I thank God for those issues and problems. I think giving up football made me who I am today. The coaches pushed me harder to fight and I'm super happy of this accomplishment. It was one of my childhood goals so I'm glad I was able to do it."

"I have the best coaches and practice partners. They push me every day in practice. They're all the reason I won that match (against Ramsay). They push me in practice and made me the best wrestler I can be, so this is their accomplishment as well."

Armistead lost to Bald Eagle Area's Coen Bainey 6-1 in the fourth round of consolations Friday night. Bainey (40-7) , a senior, is a two-time state medalist. He finished fourth at 113 as a sophomore and third at 120 last year.

Armistead (45-7) will wrestle Faith Christian freshman Arment Waltenbaugh (28-7) Saturday in the seventh-place match. Competition begins at 2 p.m. He lost to Waltenbaugh 12-9 in tiebreaker at the PIAA Team Tournament last month.

In the quarterfinals at 215, Kline, a junior, lost to Girard's Abraham Keep 3-1 in sudden victory. He beat Keep 5-3 in the first round of consolations last year.

He bounced back to beat Faith Christian's Mark Effendian 4-1 in TB2.

"It's just a mix of emotions," Kline said of earning a PIAA medal. "I'm a little upset from that quarterfinal match, but now I have to work back and get third."

Kline beat Effendian for the third time this season. He won 3-2 in the ultimate tiebreaker in the PIAA Team Tournament in February, then won 3-1 in sudden victory last week in the PIAA Class 2A South East Regional final.

"He is a tough competitor and only a freshman," Kline said of Effendian. "He's a tough kid but I knew I could mentally break him. Once I rode him out on top, I knew it was over."

Kline, in his third trip to states, will now add a state medal to the District 3 Class 2A Section 2, District 3 Class 2A and regional titles he's won this season.

"I can't even describe it," he said. "It took me two years. Last week I was on top of the world. Now I'm on top of the universe."

In the fourth round of consolations, Kline (44-6) beat Conwell-Egan's Dante Burns 4-3. He then lost to Fort LeBoeuf's Danny Church 4-3 in the consolation semifinals. He will face Keep in the fifth-place match.

Reber, a junior, won two consolation matches at 285 pounds.

He opened Friday by beating Upper Dauphin's Peyton Wentzel 3-1 in sudden victory in the second round of consolations. He then beat Glendale's Daniel Williams 5-2 to earn a medal.

"It means a lot," said Reber, in states for the first time. "It makes everything I've been doing and all the hard work feel a little more special."

Reber (39-13) was pinned by Brockway's Gavin Thompson in 5:57 in the fourth round of consolations. He fill face General McLane's William Spires in the seventh-place match.

At 114 pounds, Hartranft (44-9), a sophomore, beat Chestnut Ridge's Easton Mull 5-4 in the ultimate tiebreaker in the second round of consolations, but lost to Saucon Valley's Cole Hubert 6-2 in the third round of consolations. Hubert, a sophomore, placed fourth at 106 pounds last year.

At 121 pounds, Maciejewski (40-13), a freshman, was eliminated with a 10-0 loss to United's Gideon Bracken in the second round of consolations.