Glenn Kaiser recaps the early action at the PIAA Class AAA wrestling championships in Hershey
PIGTAILS & CONSOLATIONS GRUELING FOR SOL IN HERSHEY
Only Three of 14 SOL wrestlers advanced out of the pigtails into the championship bracket at the 2017 PIAA AAA Wrestling Championships. Wrestlers coming out of the preliminary round wrestled twice here on Thursday, two losses early eliminated many SOL wrestlers from the competition. Max Mendez (CRS) advanced at 106-pounds along with fellow Golden Hawk Cary Palmer at 138-pounds. Mendez advanced to the quarterfinals with a solid 8-4 win over Northwest Regional freshman champ Trenton Donahue (DuBois) the #2 seed. Palmer dropped down to the consolations after losing a 9-3 decision to Bald Eagle Area’s Seth Koleno the NW Reg champ. Noah Wood (195) from Quakertown also won his prelim bout to get into the first round of the championship brackets. Wood came up short in his quest to reach the quarters losing 8-4 to South Philly’s Miles Lee the NE champ.
Fortunately, for the SOL, a few were able to get it together to advance in the first round of consolations. At 113-pounds Plymouth-Whitmarsh’s Marco DiBattista decisioned Downingtown East’s Lucas Richie 4-2 to keep his medal hopes alive. CR North’s Cam Robinson (132) rebounded with an 8-5 decision over Lower Dauphin’s TT Elhajj to stay alive, and will wrestle Penn Trafford’s Jobe Chisko next. CB East’s Colin Stevens advanced in the consis with a late toss for a fall at 182-pounds. Bensalem’s Nick Cooper decked fellow SOL opponent Nick Chapman (Hatboro-Horsham) in a 285-pound wrestle-back after falling behind 5-1 in the match, thus eliminating Chapman the 2017 SE Regional champ.
CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKETS PROMISING FOR SOL TITLE HOPEFULS
Although the preliminary rounds were rough on the SOL contingency at the 2017 PIAA AAA Individual Championships, the first round for those seeking gold went well. Freshmen Luke Lucerne (CRN) advanced to the quarters with a late takedown at 113 over Kiski’s Darren Miller. Lucerne’s teammate, Aiden Burke advanced as well and looks to return to the podium at 120-pounds with a solid 4-0 decision over NW champ Tyler Dilley (St. Marys), and Matt Parker (Pennridge) heated up after a slow start in his 120-pound bout winning 14-6. Truman’s Gunnar Fuss was impressive, advancing with a fall. He must face the all-world Spencer Lee from Franklin Regional in the quarters at 126-pounds.
Council Rock advanced three wrestlers to the quarters with Zack Trampe leading the way at 132 along with Riley Palmer (145) and Joe Doyle (220). Doyle downed Dallastown’s Bryce Sheilds 7-4 in a highly contested bout. North Penn’s Colin Shannon blanked the NE champ from Bechai Ryan Zeiner with a 9-0 major decision. Pennridge added a second quarterfinalist in Josh Stillings, who was dominant in his 160-pound match as he was victorious with a 15-0 tech fall over Red Lion’s Dylan Gurreri.
Day-2 in Hershey kicks off at 2:15pm with the quarterfinals on three mats at the Giant Center with the second round of consolations also on three mats.
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