TJ wrestlers look to defend section title despite turnover

TJ head wrestling coach Mike Ladick Bob Smith / MVI Sports

By DAN PALM
MVI Sports
Coming off of the best season in school history, the Thomas Jefferson wrestling team would appear to be a candidate for a drop off after losing a ton of talent to graduation.
But coaches and wrestlers wouldn’t recommend that line of thinking.
The Jaguars finished 18-1 last season, won the AAA Section 3 championship and took gold in the Allegheny County Tournament. Their only loss was a 27-25 defeat to Canon-McMillan in the WPIAL quarterfinals.
Fifth-year coach Mike Ladick’s team lost seven seniors to graduation. Two-time state place-winner Max Shaw is wrestling at the North Carolina. Alex Weber is wrestling at Pitt-Johnstown and Ridge Vlha at the University of Dubuque. Also gone are Dom Serapiglia, playing football at Tulsa, Andy Kalap, Austin Sobeck and Brendan Fitz.
“Winning the section team title was easy compared to defending it this year,” said Ladick. “We lost six senior starters and our current wrestlers undoubtedly have the bull’s-eye on their backs. Our team expectations are simple, not to regress and build on what we accomplished last year.”
Leading the way for the Jags are captains Brendan Finnerty and Michael Zacur, both two-time WPIAL qualifiers. Finnerty, a senior, was 32-10 a year ago at 145 pounds while the junior Zacur was 28-12 at 126 pounds.
“Losing those seniors is sad but we have younger guys who are ready to step up and fill in those weight classes,” said Finnerty. “We know we have a target on our backs as defending champs and teams want to knock us off. Our goals are to remain on top and push ourselves to be better.”

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