Glenn Kaiser features CR South sophomore Kyle Waterman’s silver medal performance at Escape the Rock and also highlights the SOL’s top showings. Photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography.
ESCAPE THE ROCK: WATERMAN BUILDS THE BRAND
By Glenn Kaiser
If you asked Council Rock South’s 106-pounder Kyle Waterman last year how good he was, he would have said he didn’t know. Ask him now, and he will tell you “this finals (ETR) shows how good I am.” He said he “was surprised” to win the King of the Mountain title earlier this season, but his coaches surely knew all along how good this young wrestler is and can be. Waterman, only a sophomore, reached the finals of the ETR with a 7-3 victory over Cincinnati LaSalle’s Dustin Norris and was matched up with Delbarton’s Nico Nardone in the finals at 106. Nardone, the more experienced wrestler, was able to defeat Waterman 3-1 and deny Waterman of the famous belt awarded to each champ.
Waterman, a modest young man, is grateful for all the confidence the CR South coaches have instilled upon him and is committed to “working harder” as his coaches have been pushing him more in the room. He said his coaches have been telling him he “needs to be more confident,” and despite the setback of finishing second at home at this premier scholastic event, Waterman appears primed for a good run come March as he will surely be shooting for a spot high atop the podium in the Giant Center at the PIAA Individual Championships.
No longer a stranger to the rest of Pennsylvania and the wrestling world, he sat behind teammate Max Mendez (2017 State Qualifier) last season and only accumulated an 8-4 record. Waterman has the attention of most of the other contenders at his weight throughout the state. “Build the Brand” was spotted on CRS T-shirts during the tournament, and certainly Kyle Waterman is the man for the brand and the Golden Hawks this season as he is currently 21-2 with his only losses coming in the finals at Escape the Rock to a nationally ranked wrestler and at the Bethlehem Holiday Classic to Liberty’s Tal-Reese Flemming.
Although CRS finished out of the top ten in the team standings in 11th with 79 points, well behind the top four (Bethlehem Catholic 1st-173 points, Cincinnati LaSalle 2nd-171.5, Delbarton 3rd-167.5 and Malvern Prep 4th-150.5), the Golden Hawks were the best of the rest in D1 entries with three place winners. Shane Hanson-Ashworth continued his stellar season with a 3rd place finish at 120-pounds and Max Mendez was 5th at 113.
The tournament has become tougher and tougher each year of its existence, with top teams from PA, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio. Gaining the support of FLO Wrestling has propelled it into the nation’s top tier of scholastic tournaments. With individual entries, the competition has become fierce, even for the best wrestlers of their states. Pennsylvania schools ruled, but other states are closing in as evidenced by the performances of Cincinnati LaSalle (OH) and Delbarton (NJ).
Pennridge’s Evan Widing wrestled back to the consi-finals at 145 where he dropped after a 9-1 loss to Travis Tavoso (Delbarton) in the quarterfinals to take 4th. Widing won three straight matches in the wrestle backs. Council Rock North had three wrestlers advance deep into the consolations, with Cam Robinson reaching the quarterfinals at 138 and Luke Lucerne (120) bailing out in the 3rd round of consis. Kyle Hauserman (106) was eliminated along with Robinson in the fourth round wrestle-backs. The only other District One wrestler to place was Boyertown’s Jacob Miller at 195, who finished 7th.
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