Photos courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f450922055
2024 PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships
MORRISON WINS STATE TITLE AT 107-POUNDS
Hatboro-Horsham’s Dom Morrison Wins 107-pound Championship
by Glenn Kaiser
Hershey, PA (Giant Center) - Freshman Dominick Morrison won the 107-pound PIAA AAA Wrestling Championship Saturday afternoon. Morrison becomes Hatboro-Horsham’s second state champion. It took 49 years for the Wrestling Warriors to secure a second gold medal in Hershey, Dennis Merriam was the first in 1975. Morrison
wrestled smart all weekend to win his first state title and is off to a great start to his scholastic career. He was humble after the big win but celebrated immediately with his family in the stands. Dom will be chasing all Hatboro-Horsham wrestling records in regards to wins and titles the next three years. It was a great win for a great Hatboro-Horsham program as the Warriors look to up their presence in Chocolate Town, USA, moving forward.
Morrison edged - a local to Hershey - Cedar Cliff’s Aiden Herndon 2-1 in a tight match of nerves between two freshmen. But it was Morrison seemingly in control the whole time despite the low scoring and penalty calls. Morrison, in typical fashion beat just about everyone in the weight-class at this tournament like he did all season, with his only losses to AA state champion, Joey Bachman from Faith Christian Academy and Colby Martinelli (Pennridge) at Escape the Rock where Morrison took third. He lost to Bachman at the Coal Cracker, finishing third there.
Dom is an outstanding kid who will most likely move up in weight-class over the next several years, but he will enjoy this first title and look for more no matter what weight class his is in.
Unfortunately, the other SOL finalist, Collin Gaj from Quakertown, was not so fortunate as he had to settle with silver after losing in overtime to BECA’s Kollin Rath in the 152-pound final. Gaj threw everything he had at Rath, including his best shots from his feet to only be thwarted by Rath with scrambling defense, funking and pure strength. Gaj will be back here again for another try next year with even more motivation.
Council Rock North’s Alex Diaz finished with the bronze medal at 107 after winning his pigtail bout, then losing to runner-up Herndon 1-0 in first-round action before rattling
off five straight wins. Also finishing with bronze medals were Quakertown’s Mason Ziegler at 121-pounds and Eren Sement (CR North) at 127-pounds. Sement won his third bronze medal here in Hershey and will get one more chance next year as a senior. He has already committed to the University of Penn to wrestle collegiately.
CB West’s Patrick Kelly capped his season with a fourth-place finish at 139-pounds after a crazy two weeks that saw him win a Southeast Regional title and follow that with a top-four finish at the Giant Center.
It was a tremendous weekend of wrestling for all, including the girls. Grace Nesbitt from Neshaminy was the runner-up at 100-pounds, and Maya Krieger (Bensalem) won silver at 170-pounds. At 235-pounds Souderton’s Mackenna Atkinson, just a freshman, was the runner-up as Souderton finished in 11th place in the team standings. It should be noted that Chris Atkinson, Souderton’s Head Girls Coach, was named the District One’s Man of the Year. Q-town’s Caroline Hattala finished with a sixth place at 190-pounds after a great sophomore campaign.
The SOL had a great take of medals this year, all the place-winners and results can be viewed at www.PA-Wrestling.com or directly on the www.PIAA.org websites. Team-wis, Quakertown finished in the fourth spot with 67-points, Pennridge was seventh with 53.6, and CR North was 11th with 43.5-points. An amazing finish for these three-teams from the SOL.
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