By Alex Frazier
Meet…Gavin Queenan
In Monday’s district duals, Norristown heavyweight Gavin Queenan locked up with Quakertown’s Jake Swearingen, switched to a crotch lift and tossed Swearingen to the mat like so much confetti.The only problem was the referee blew the whistle and penalized Queenan for a slam.
“They called it a lift because I left my feet,” said Queenan. “I like to got out there and feel my opponent out, see if they’re aggressive or if I have to be the aggressor.”
While Queenan meant no harm, he sometimes gets a bit overzealous given his strength and size. At 6-0, 260 pounds, Queenan is not a small heavyweight.
Nor is he weak.
He started lifting with his brother when he was younger and then joined a club team when he was at Glen Mills. He would wrestle in the afternoon and lift at night.
“I was doing it for wrestling,” he said.
Queenan started wrestling when he was four with the Norristown Golden Eagles with his current coach Mark Horner. When his father took his older brother Preston to wrestling practice, Gavin went along and quickly took to it.
“It came to me naturally,” he said. “It seemed like I had the love for the sport then.”
When he was just six years old, Harner decided to enter him in the heavyweight division (about 95-100) because he had missed weight for 73.
“He didn’t know he was going unlimited until the qualifying tournament,” said Harner.
No matter.
He won Eastern Nationals that year and repeated the following year.
“That was a great experience, back-to-back years,” said Queenan.
“He was a phenomenal youth wrestler,” said Harner.
At the age of 12, he stopped club wrestling, and didn’t wrestle in middle school.
In ninth grade, he attended Wordsworth Academy, which didn’t have any sports, but he kept in shape by weight lifting.
Queenan didn’t get a chance to wrestle again until last year at Glen Mills. In the wrestling room, he had the opportunity to work with several college wrestlers and was able to continue weight training.
All of these factors added up to an incredible season despite the long layoff.
Queenan went 20-6 for the Raging Bulls. He placed second at sectionals, but sprained his ankle in his first match at districts and lost to Rustin’s Curtis Riddle, 8-4. The injury also affected his performance in the second match, which he lost on a 14-5 major to Penncrest’s John Young.
“That was a great experience,” said Queenan of Glen Mills. “I met some new people and was on a great power lifting program up there. It’s my thing. I also learned a lot of discipline.”
Back at Norristown this year, he is on track to advance to states. He’s back with Harner, his youth coach, who has been a big influence on him.
“Coach Mark has been coaching me since I was four years old,” said Queenan. “It seemed like he always wanted me to come wrestle for him, so I had the opportunity to wrestle for him.”
He also has the guidance of Harner’s son Brett, a state placewinner last year as a freshman, Mike Springer and Brandon Parker.
“I’ve been around those guys since I was younger,” said Queenan. “It’s been a great experience sharing these times with them. They keep me in line.”
Queenan has also taken 125-pounder Nick Soldano under his wing. A shy kid, Soldano would sit at a tournament for hours without saying a word to anyone.
Harner decided to room him with Queenan at tournaments, hoping to bring Soldano out.
The experiment has been a success.
“He’s real good being friends with jayvee kids who don’t get a lot of attention and newer kids,” said Harner. “He’ll take a younger kid and hang out with him. He gets along with everybody. He’s always respectful to his coaches and teammates.”
Through Wednesday, Queenan was 27-5 (17 pins) with several impressive wins. Early in the year, he was pinned by Penn Manor’s Evan Singleton, but to his credit he came back to beat Singleton 6-4 last weekend at the New Oxford Tournament.
That wasn’t his only accomplishment. He also defeated Cole Dillman of Conestoga Valley, 3-2 in overtime. The match went to a rideout and Queenan chose down, stood up and escaped for the win.
“It took every ounce of energy out of me,” he said. “I got off the mat and pretty much collapsed. I have to pick up my conditioning a little bit.”
Dillman is ranked fourth in the state in the PA Power Rankings.
In the finals he faced the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in the state Averee Robinson of Susquehanna Township. Queenan actually took him down but lost focus and was headlocked to his back and pinned.
“I was displeased with that match,” said Queenan. “I wasn’t paying attention. I was just going off of impulse.”
Harner says that Queenan “thinks he’s a 103 pounder,” because he shoots too much and doesn’t have the patience required of a heavyweight.
“The biggest difference between a kid that’s been wrestling 10 years and a kid that’s been wrestling four years is that mat experience, those decisions when to go for something and when not,” said Harner. “He wants to be creative and not do the heavyweight thing.”
Getting that mat experience in the Norristown wrestling room is difficult because there is no one good enough and his size to test him. Occasionally he gets to work with a former Upper Perk heavyweight. Or last year’s heavyweight Marcus Robbins, who returned at Christmas break. Otherwise, he wrestles the coaches.
What Queenan does next year is up in the air right now. He wants to wrestle in college, but he may not have enough credits to graduate high school because of the different schools he’s attended. Harner is looking into the possibility of another year of eligibility. He is only 17 now and won’t be 19 before next school year, so he is eligible age-wise.
Academically, he’s earning As and Bs.
Queenan is considering Kutztown and Shippensburg as college choices. He thinks he may major in accounting.
As he said, “(I am) a little bit good in math, but I definitely like money.”
District Duals – Eleven of the 24 teams in this year’s district duals were from the Suburban One League. The bad news is that only three of them moved to the second day of competition.
No. 8 Council Rock North lost to defending champion Boyertown by four points, 37-33. The ninth-seeded Bears led from start to finish, as they built a 21-0 lead after three matches. The Indians reeled off three wins from Micah Haynes (112), John Dutrow (119) and Shane Longstreth (125) to pull to within six points, but Boyertown opened the gap again. Brendan Poff’s pin in the final 171-pound match wasn’t enough to overcome a 10-point deficit.
Pennsbury eliminated Downingtown West in the first round 36-29. Jason Bing (103), Anthony DiEmidio (112) and Josh DiSanto (119) posted the Falcons to a 15-0 lead. Jeff Lieb (130) and Pat Schlatter (140) chipped in pins to give Pennsbury a 27-8 lead. Ryan McGlynn (152), Dan Williams (160) and Josh Caven (215) provided decisions to complete the victory.
The 13-seeded Falcons were reeled in by No. 4 Owen J. Roberts, 50-19 in the second round. Caven, Bing, DiEmidio and DiSanto were the lone winners.
No. 23 Upper Moreland lost a narrow 32-30 match to No. 10 West Chester Henderson. Will Dill (145) gave the Golden Bears a 30-28 lead with a 20-second pin of Ryder Harkins, but Artem Imnadze couldn’t hold it as he lost by a major decision in the final bout.
No. 18 Central Bucks East was pounded by No. 15 Perkiomen Valley 51-7. Anthony Calderaio (119) and Shane Peltonen (171) were the lone winners.
The schedule for the remainder of the District One Dual Meet Tournament, which on Friday, Feb 4. at 6 p.m. at Council Rock South is as follows:
Weigh-ins for all teams are at 5 p.m.
6 p.m.– Quarterfinals on four mats
8 p.m. – Semifinals on two mats
Saturday, Feb. 5
10 a.m. – Weigh-ins for consolation teams (AAA)
11 a.m. – AAA Consolation First Round
12 Noon – Weigh-in AA
1 p.m. – AA Semis and Second Round Consolations
2 p.m. – Weigh-in for finalists
3 p.m. – AAA final, third place and AA final
In the quarterfinals, No. 1 Council Rock South takes on No. 9 Boyertown, No. 5 West Chester Rustin wrestles No. 4 Owen J. Roberts, No. 3 Norristown tackles No. 6 Upper Perkiomen, and No. 7 Garnet Valley wrestles No. 2 Spring-Ford.
Around the league –
In Wednesday action, Council Rock South won 10 of 14 matches to defeat Pennsbury 51-14. Matt Rappo (140), Matt Martoccio (145), Tim Riley (189), Billy Rappo (103) and Dan Martoccio (125) all recorded falls. Josh DiSanto (119) and Matt Maine (135) pinned for Pennsbury.
Neshaminy also won 10 bouts to defeat Harry S Truman, 48-15. Redskin heavyweight Tyler Stabilito defeated Truman’s Quinton Bryant, 5-2. Steve Evens (125) recorded a fall for Truman and Sean Edmondson (130) earned a major decision.
Wissahickon defeated archrival Upper Dublin 42-28. The Trojans won nine bouts including Cody Franko’s major at 119, Patrick Fennell’s major at 135 and Brennan Weiss’s major at 145. Upper Dublin had four falls from Sam Jacobson (160), Devon Dhoble (215), Ryan Hopkins (285) and Steve Volovar (125).
Norristown won a pair of matches, defeating Plymouth Whitemarsh, 59-14, and Upper Merion 75-6. In a key bout against the Colonials, the Eagles’ Mike Springer bumped up to 140 to meet Lucas Wisniewski, who beat him 7-1. Brett Harner was out on the mat for a scant 10 seconds for the fastest fall of the night for Norristown. Upper Merion’s Nick Vuotto was the lone winner for the Vikings.
• North Penn spilt a pair of dual meets over the weekend defeating Washington (WVa) 49-33 and losing to Emmaus 46-24.
Joe O'Brien (112) decisioned Washington’s Christian Cross 2-0 and Emmaus’ Mackenzie Lawaren 6-1.
Charlie Price (152) won a pair of matches, one by forfeit against Washington, the other a pin of the Green Hornets’ Rich Goodge in 1:30. Matt Robinson (135) also won his first match against Washington by forfeit and his second over Emmaus’ Gordon Daichem 7-2.
New Oxford Tournament
Norristown won the tournament outdistancing second place Line Mountain 111.5-71.
Zach Fuentes (7-0 at 103), Mikey Springer (7-0 at 135) and Brett Harner (7-0 at 152) captured tournament titles. Brandon Parker (6-1 at 145) and Gavin Queenan (4-1 at 285) were runners-up, Larry Gordon (189) finished third, and Tyree Gardner (4-3 at 119) and Juan Carabajal (3-4 at 171) took sixths.
Top Five SOL
1. Council Rock South
2. Norristown
3. Souderton
4. Upper Moreland
5. Council Rock North
Top Guns103—Billy Rappo, Council Rock South
112—Trey Balasco, Council Rock South
119— Matt Harkins, Hatboro-Horsham
125—Shane Longstreth, Council Rock North
130—Sean Edmondson, Harry S Truman
135—Matt Rappo, Council Rock South
140— Matt Martoccio, Council Rock South
145— Brandon Parker, Norristown
152— Brett Harner, Norristown
160—Nick Russell, Neshaminy
171—John Staudenmayer, Plymouth Whitemarsh
189—John Bolich, Upper Moreland
215—Joe Stolfi, Souderton
285—Gavin Queenan, Norristown
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