Here are the Centre County high school wrestling leaders through Jan. 29
The District 6 dual championships start on Tuesday for the Class 2A schools, but that didn’t stop Centre County’s squads from hitting the mat this week.
Bald Eagle Area and Penns Valley had the most work this week as they each had two duals and an individual tournament.
The Rams had two dominant dual wins over Hollidaysburg (75-0, Tuesday) and Mifflinburg (57-13, Thursday). Penns Valley traveled to Grove City for the Fred Bell Tournament on Friday and Saturday, where they finished sixth as a team with 147.5 points. Placewinners were: Connor Meyers (7th, 107), Jack Darlington (4th, 114), Brayden Lisowski (5th, 121), Colten Shunk (7th, 133), Ty Watson (4th, 152), Kollin Brungart (5th, 215) and Landon Hess (8th, 285).
The Eagles were 1-1 in their duals. They beat Tyrone, 42-20, on Tuesday, but dropped a 37-31 loss to Central Mountain on Thursday. BEA took part in the Ultimate Warrior tournament, where it finished ninth in the 42-team field with 92.5 points. The Eagles’ placewinners were: Coen Bainey (2nd, 127), Mason Reese (8th, 145), Caleb Close (3rd, 172) and Gage Gardner (7th, 215).
Bellefonte had a dual against Tyrone on Thursday, which the Red Raiders won 28-24. They went on to compete at the Rumble in the Den dual tournament at Meadowbrook Christian on Saturday.
Bellefonte won the event by topping Williamson, 56-12, in the semifinals and taking care of Wyoming Valley West 34-24 in the finals. Wyoming Valley West was 16-3 coming into that match; meanwhile the Red Raiders improved to 12-4. Bellefonte’s individual results were not available by press time.
Philipsburg-Osceola only had the Ultimate Warrior on its schedule this week. The Mounties finished tied for 24th as a team with 50 points. They had just two placewinners in Caleb Hummel (7th, 107) and Marcus Gable (3rd, 152).
State College had the least amount of action this week with a dual against Mifflin County. The Little Lions picked up a 39-33 victory on Thursday. Winners for State College included: Mason Sanderson (107, forfeit), Nick Berrena (114, pin), Hayden Cunningham (133, pin), Pierson Manville (145, pin), Asher Cunningham (152, pin), Carter Weaverling (172, decision in ultimate tiebreakers) and Nick Pavlechko (285, pin).
Now that the week has been recapped, let’s look at the leaderboards.
Wins
With so much action for some wrestlers, several collected seven wins this week. They were Close, Gable, Watson, Lisowski and Brungart.
Close jumped to the top of the leaderboard as he now has 28 wins. He grabbed five alone in the Ultimate Warrior.
Gable had all seven of his wins in the Ultimate Warrior. His 25 total wins are tied for the lead on the Mounties with Hummel, who only had four wins this week.
Watson has been rather quiet this year when it comes to the leaderboards, but he’s slowly making his mark here. A year ago, the junior was at over 30-plus wins at this point. However, he’s only at 24 now after collecting the seven this week.
Watson had five alone at the Fred Bell.
Lisowski and Brungart are just off the leaderboard, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get talked about, especially since they had seven victories apiece this week. They both had wins in Penns Valley’s duals and collected five at the Fred Bell for their previously mentioned finishes.
Bainey is tied with the pair of P-O wrestlers at 25, which is good for third in the county. He had six wins this week, but is inching closer to a milestone victory. The American commit is only three wins away from getting to 125 for his career.
Here are the wrestlers that secured their 20th-plus win this week:
Bald Eagle Area: Bainey (25 wins) pinned Tyrone’s Remington Fleck in 46 seconds in the dual on Tuesday; Jeffre Pifer (21) pinned Wilson’s Jackson Millen in 1:30 of their first round match
Penns Valley: Watson (25) pinned Warren’s Grant Heeter in 2:23of their Fred Bell opener; Darlington (22) pinned Kane’s Kayin Bard in 1:05 of their second round match; Shunk (21) topped Cochranton’s Blake Foulk, 4-2, in their consolation fourth round match; Lisowski (20) received a medical forfeit from McGuffey’s Lucas Barr in their fifth-place match; Brungart (20) pinned General McLane’s Ryan Dedrick in 2:51 to claim fifth place
Philipsburg-Osceola: Gable (25) pinned Towanda’s Aiden Miller in 37 seconds of their consolation second round match; Fleck (21) shut out BEA’s Alex Surovec, 7-0, in their second round match
Here are the wrestlers that secured their 10th-plus victory this week:
Bald Eagle Area: Gardner (12) topped Pen Argyl’s Michael Culver, 7-1, in the second round; Cameron Dubbs (10) beat Central Mountain’s Bryce Brungard, 4-1, in a consolation third round match
Bellefonte: Addison Shawley (10) shut out Tyrone’s Richard Rawlings, 9-0, on Thursday
Penns Valley: Zachary Rummel (13 wins) pinned Hollidaysburg’s James Bialo in 5:04 on Tuesday; Corl (12) received a forfeit against Hollidaysburg; Chase Fleshman (10) pinned Moon’s Joe Angle in 1:49 of their consolation second round match; Ethan Fetterolf (10) shut out General McLane’s Matthew Caro, 13-0, in their second round match; Max King (10) beat Cambridge Springs’ Preston Gorton, 5-2, in their consolation second round match
Pins
The two at the top of this list remained the same in Bellefonte’s Gage Long leading the way with 24. However, Pavlechko added another this week to get to 19 and inch closer to the “Pin King.”
Pavlechko isn’t the only one lurking either now.
Bainey had four this week to join Pavlechko at 19. The senior’s previously mentioned pin against Tyrone opened the week, and was the 60th of his career. He ended up pinning Fleck again in the Ultimate Warrior tournament.
Bainey now has 63 falls in his career, which is good for third all-time in BEA history. He sits behind current Tyrone coach Quentin Wright (84) and Joel Yoder (78).
Last year’s “Pin King” in Watson had a slow start to the year, but he’s rolling now as he had six falls this week. His 18 pins are fourth in the county.
He had four alone in the Fred Bell, three straight to begin the tournament. His quickest was flattening Youngsville’s Griffen Daley in 37 seconds of their second round match.
Pifer continued his trend of putting people on their backs too by adding three more falls this week to get to 17.
Brungart like Watson had six pins this week — five alone in the Fred Bell, where it was pin or be pinned for Brungart’s tournament. He now has 15 on the year.
Here’s who earned their 10th-plus pin of the year this week:
Penns Valley: Brungart (15 pins) stuck Hollidaysburg’s Rally Hoover in 2:39 on Tuesday; Shunk (11) flattened Mifflinburg’s Wesley Smith in 1:57 on Thursday
State College: Manville (10) put Mifflin County’s Lucas Sheetz on his back in 1:20 on Thursday
Major Decisions
There were several changes this week in this category.
No longer is Asher Cunningham at the top by himself. He is now joined by Close, who had three major decisions this week to get to five on the season.
The sophomore opened the week by tallying a 9-1 win over Central Mountain’s Jacob Weaver on Thursday. He then added two more in the Ultimate Warrior.
Close earned a 13-3 win over Port Allegany’s Aiden Bliss in the second round. He made the consolation finals by shutting out Johnsonburg’s Rayce Milliard, 14-0.
Darlington had two in the Fred Bell to get to four on the year, which is good for third in the county with Fleck and Bellefonte’s Noah Weaver. Darlington opened his tournament by crushing Maplewood’s Cadyn Shetler, 14-1. He made the semifinals by shutting out Trinity’s Frank Fedorchak, 8-0.
Fleck also earned his fourth major decision this week when he beat Richland’s Easton Robertson, 14-1, in their consolation third round match.
Hummel joined the list this week by earning his third major decision, which is tied with five others for sixth in the county. He shut out Central York’s Harris Keares, 11-0, in their consolation fourth round match.
Technical Falls & Fastest Falls
The leaders at the top of the technical falls category remained the same in Weaver and Manville.
There were just two wrestlers that were able to pick up a technical fall this week in Shunk and Bainey.
For Shunk, it was his third of the year, which is good for second in the county with Hayden Cunningham. The Rams wrestler racked up a 19-4 win over Redbank Valley’s Levi Shick in 5:21 of their third round match.
For Bainey, it was just his second technical fall of the year. He slapped a 17-1 defeat on Central Mountain’s Carnell Noone in 3:23 of their first round match.
There were no new times added this week to the fastest falls list. Bellefonte’s Max Murray still leads the way with an eight-second pin.
Leaders
Wins
Name | School | Total |
1. Caleb Close | Bald Eagle Area | 28 |
2. Gage Long | Bellefonte | 27 |
T3. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | 25 |
T3. Marcus Gable | Philipsburg-Osceola | 25 |
T3. Caleb Hummel | Philipsburg-Osceola | 25 |
6. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | 24 |
T7. Pierson Manville | State College | 23 |
T7. Nick Pavlechko | State College | 23 |
T9. Max Murray | Bellefonte | 22 |
T9. Ezra Swisher | Bellefonte | 22 |
T9. Jack Darlington | Penns Valley | 22 |
T9. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 22 |
Pins
Name | School | Total |
1. Gage Long | Bellefonte | 24 |
T2. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | 19 |
T2. Nick Pavlechko | State College | 19 |
4. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | 18 |
5. Jeffre Pifer | Bald Eagle Area | 17 |
6. Kollin Brungart | Penns Valley | 15 |
7. Max Murray | Bellefonte | 14 |
T8. Caleb Close | Bald Eagle Area | 12 |
T8. Mason Reese | Bald Eagle Area | 12 |
T8. David Martin | Penns Valley | 12 |
Fastest Falls
Name | School | Total |
1. Max Murray | Bellefonte | :08 |
2. Brayden Lisowski | Penns Valley | :10 |
T3. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | :11 |
T3. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | :11 |
T3. Nick Pavlechko | State College | :11 |
T6. Gage Long | Bellefonte | :12 |
T6. Dylan Koptchak | Philipsburg-Osceola | :12 |
T6. Sam McDonald | Philipsburg-Osceola | :12 |
9. Max Murray | Bellefonte | :13 |
T10. Max Murray | Bellefonte | :14 |
T10. David Martin | Penns Valley | :14 |
Technical Falls
Name | School | Total |
T1. Noah Weaver | Bellefonte | 4 |
T1. Pierson Manville | State College | 4 |
T3. Colten Shunk | Penns Valley | 3 |
T3. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 3 |
T5. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | 2 |
T5. Asher Cunningham | State College | 2 |
T7. 12 wrestlers | 1 |
Major Decisions
Name | School | Total |
T1. Caleb Close | Bald Eagle Area | 5 |
T1. Asher Cunningham | State College | 5 |
T3. Noah Weaver | Bellefonte | 4 |
T3. Jack Darlington | Penns Valley | 4 |
T3. Nate Fleck | Philipsburg-Osceola | 4 |
T6. Lucas Fye | Bald Eagle Area | 3 |
T6. Cameron Garcia | Bellefonte | 3 |
T6. Grady Garrison | Bellefonte | 3 |
T6. Max Murray | Bellefonte | 3 |
T6. Caleb Hummel | Philipsburg-Osceola | 3 |
T6. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 3 |