Five Valley wrestlers claim section titles, 17 advance

By DAN PALM

For the MV Independent

The WPIAL Class 2A individual wrestling sectionals were held tonight at Canon-MacMillan High School and our local squads came home with five individual champions and 12 additional WPIAL tournament qualifiers.

Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence, Bentworth’s Jonathan Vargo and Elizabeth Forward’s Ryan Michaels were all repeat champs. EF added two first-time winners, Noah Hunnell and Chris Bruce.

Lawrence (18-3), a Frazier junior and returning state champion at 152 pounds, took the 160-pound gold for his third straight Section 3 title. He beat Burrell’s Austin Mele, 5-0, in the title match after picking up two first-period pins in earlier matches.

“Thayne Lawrence is a true champion and a young man of great character,” said Commodore coach Buck Watkins. “He’s a three-time champ at three different weight classes and this is a result of his one-of-a-kind work ethic.”

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