North Penn Wrestling Reaches Milestone

North Penn notched its 500^th win as a wrestling program when the Knights defeated Waynesboro on Saturday.

Congrats to North Penn
by Glenn Kaiser

SOL Continental:  North Penn Wrestling Reaches Milestone
Talk with some old retired wrestling coaches, and they will tell you, if you coach long enough you will accumulate plenty of wins.  Ralph Wetzel, for one, secured over 300 at Hatboro-Horsham as its head coach.  And North Penn’s former head coach Ed Klavon (1993 District One Hall of Fame Inductee & 1987 PIAA Coach of the Year) put up 318 wins during his tenure.  Coach Klavon coached the Knights from 1956 to 1992, winning a state championship in 1987.  In 2005, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.  And now current North Penn head coach Rob Shettsline has commandeered the Knights to their 500^th win as a wrestling program.  North Penn defeated Waynesboro 44-21 at the Tom Hecker Duals at Garden Spot High School to reach the historical milestone this past weekend.  Coach Shettsline was glad to see his team was able to bounce back from its league loss to Quakertown Wednesday night.

Coach Shettsline wrestled for the Knights from 1978 to 1982, North Penn teams that won 46 dual meets.  In 2001, Shetts, as the Knights head coach, captured the District I (AAA) Dual Meet Title.  Shetts’ teams have won two (2002-2003) Southeast Regional titles to go along with three other (1985/1987/1988) SE Region championships won by Coach Klavon.

Although the Knights are not the wrestling power they once were, they have once again begun to turn some heads and have those in the wrestling community watching to see how far they have come since they were considered a dynasty.  This season the North Penn wrestling team has established itself as one of the teams to beat in the SOL-Continental with wins over Pennridge and Central Bucks East.  And their win over Waynesboro Saturday, made it 500 for this storied program. 

With former PIAA 2x (2002-2003) State Champion Zach Fryling assisting Shettlsline, it has been a terrific ride so far this season.  The Knights have been impressive as both as a dual team and tournament team, capturing a team title at the Colley Classic (at West Chester East) and two runner-up finishes at the Southeast PA tourney & the Battle at the Bridge (MD).  Led by standouts Joey O’Brien (132), Jeff Reimel (152), Alex Price (182), and George Shipp (195), the Knights are looking for continued success this season.

Congratulations to North Penn and Coach Rob Shettsline on this tremendous accomplishment!