Three Valley grapplers going for gold in Chocolate Town
By JONATHAN GUTH
MVI Sports
Three local wrestlers are headed to Hershey, but they don’t want a bite of chocolate; they want to taste a gold medal.
Two freshmen in Bentworth’s Chris Vargo and Frazier’s Rune Lawrence will be on the mat this morning for the Class AA tournament, while Belle Vernon’s Cole Weightman completes Saturday at the Giant Center in the Class AAA Championships.
The state championships normally run for three days with both classifications being contested and 20 grapplers in each bracket, but due to COVID-19 concerns, adjustments were made, and many top wrestlers didn’t qualify for states. The 208 (26 weight classes in Class AA/AAA) that did advance to the PIAA Class AA/AAA Championships are already in the top eight in the state. Both tournaments will be one day and feature eight wrestlers in each weight class.
Lawrence (27-1) won the PIAA Class AA West Super Region last Saturday at Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a 9-4 decision in sudden victory over Penns Valley’s Malachi DuVall (14-2, 122-29) in the finals at 172 pounds. Lawrence trailed 4-0 with 1:37 left in the first period but rallied to defeat DuVall for the second straight week.
Lawrence faces Muncy’s Ethan Gush (20-6, 109-51) in the quarterfinals. Gush, a senior, qualified for the state tournament as a sophomore, but Lawrence didn’t have much information on his opponent.
“I never really heard of him or wrestled him,” Lawrence said. “I really don’t worry about who I wrestle. I know I just have to perform and do what I got to do and take it one match at a time.
“The one-day tournament sucks because it takes away a lot of guys that would have made it to states, but if you make the state tournament, you are in the top eight. You just have to go out there and perform. There really isn’t much else to think about.”
Vargo (17-1) was a third-place finisher at the super regional, but the Charleroi student hopes to be two steps higher on the podium tomorrow evening. He wrestles Athens’ Gavin Bradley (38-1, 111-17) in the quarterfinals at 113. Bradley, a junior, was seventh in the state last year and placed sixth as a freshman.
Weightman (29-6, 69-14) will have to wait an extra day to start his march towards the top of the podium after finishing sixth at the state tournament last season. Weightman finished fourth in the Class AAA West Super Regional after defaulting to Armstrong’s Logan Harmon (18-2, 68-15) in the consolation finals at 215.
The Leopards’ junior defeated Harmon, 7-0, to win his second WPIAL Championships two weeks ago, but injured himself in his quarterfinal bout at the super regional and didn’t want to risk further injury.
“Right now, I am feeling pretty good,” Weightman said. “I just banged my knee up. Both of my knees are pretty bruised up, and when I got off the mat, my left knee was about the size of a softball and I couldn’t move my right one. I have been icing it and stuff. The adrenaline will kick in once I get on the mat Saturday.”
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