Washington County Boys Advance to PIAA Wrestling Regionals

As the wrestling community prepares for the state wrestling championships in Hershey, I can’t stop thinking about how I’ve been officiating wrestling for 54 years.  For me the thrill of the sport never gets old. It’s been a privilege to be a small part of the sport and to have the opportunity to watch the accomplishments of some great athletes. This weekend, I joined 11 other officials at the WPIAL to officiate the individual tournament at Chartiers Valley High School.

As I mentioned last week, Southwestern Pennsylvania is a hotbed for the sport of wrestling, and Washington County has always been a stronghold – producing a long list of state champions and college wrestlers. This tradition holds true, as Washington County is sending a strong contingency of wrestlers to the state tournament March 6-8 in Hershey.

Here’s how the Washington County boys placed in the WPIAL tournaments held in Chartiers Valley and Canon-McMillan High School this past weekend.

AA: The 1st and 2nd place winners, along with other Washington County place winners, will advance to the PIAA Regionals on March 1 and 2 in Altoona.

•  107 lbs. Darius Simmons, Burgettstown, 2nd place.
• 127 lbs. Danny Smith, Burgettstown, 2nd place.
• 133 lbs. Drake McClure, Bentworth, 2nd place.
• 139 lbs. Lucas Barr, McGuffey, 1st place.
• 160 lbs. Owen Ivcic, Bentworth, 1st place.
• 215 lbs. Braedon Welsh, Fort Cherry, 1^st place.

AAA: The 1st and 2nd place winners, along with other Washington County place winners, will advance to the PIAA Regionals March 1 and 2 at Canon-McMillan.

• 107 lbs. Nicholas McGarrity, Peters  Township, 1st place.
• 127 lbs. Dominic Canali, Trinity, 2nd place.

Both tournaments will be covered by WJPA radio (95.3 FM and1450 AM) so you will be able to listen to the action.

Click here to see the entire list of WPIAL AA Championship medal bouts from the WJPA website: https://wjpa.com/sports-archive/wpial-2a-championships-medal-bouts/

Click on this link to see the entire list of WPIAL AAA Championship medal bouts from the WJPA website: https://wjpa.com/sports-archive/wpial-3a-championships-medal-bouts/

Good luck in the next round, boys!

 

Larry Maggi

maggil@co.washington.pa.us

Washington County's Girl Wrestlers Make their Mark

Southwestern Pennsylvania has always been a hotbed for high school wrestling, and we are currently in what every Washington County wrestling fan considers the best time of the year: tournament season!

Right now, the wrestlers are in the midst of the girls’ WPIAL individual section tournaments, which were held in five locations this past weekend, one of which was North Allegheny High School in Wexford. The girls who qualified here will advance to the next level, which is the PIAA tournament.

It's nice to see that girls have finally taken their rightful spot on the mat. Their presence has had such an impact that the national Federation of High School Sports, the governing body of all high school sports, proclaimed that the fastest growing high school sport in America now is wrestling. Why? Because girls have discovered the sport.

In Pennsylvania, girls’ wrestling has really taken off and now numerous high schools in the commonwealth have girls’ wrestling teams. At the collegiate level, a lot of universities and colleges have started women’s wrestling teams and are heavily recruiting in our area. For example, Washington & Jefferson College and West Liberty University now have girls' wrestling teams.

As a longtime wrestling official, it’s good to be part of the area’s rich wrestling tradition, which has produced numerous legendary and outstanding boy wrestlers who rose from the ranks to compete at the highest level of collegiate sports and even in the Olympics.

Now, let’s see what the girls can do. Here’s how our local Washington County girls placed at the individual championships at North Allegheny High School this past weekend:

100 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 4^th place Canon-McMillan’s Natalia Clem.

106 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 1^st place Fort Cherry’s Ella Trahan; 2^nd place Canon-McMillan’s Malia Ramos.

112 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 1^st place Canon-McMillan’s Marlee Solomon; 4^th place Ringgold’s Rhiana Tolliver.

118 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 3^rd place Canon-McMillan’s Yuni Ayala

136 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 4^th place Canon-McMillan’s Ava Williams

142 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 1^st place Avella’s Abigail Dolance; 4^th place Trinity’s Alexia Ashby

148 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 2^nd place Canon-Millan’s Evangeline Gray; 3^rd place Trinity’s Elaina Ashby

155 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 6^th place Canon-McMillan’s Alaya Henderson.

 170 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 3^rd place Canon-McMillan’s Audrey Calgaro; 2^nd place Avella’s Virginia Smith.

190 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 3^rd place Canon-McMillan’s Natalie Rush; 4^th place Peters Township’s Liliana Giulianelli.

235 LB. WEIGHT CLASS: 4^th place Canon-McMillan London Ellis; 6^th place Trinity’s Daelyn Norris.

These girls are to be commended for their hard work and dedication to the sport. But let’s not forget the boys, who will also wrestling in the WPIAL AA wrestling tournament which begins at 5 p.m. February 21 and continues at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Chartiers Valley High School. The state tournament for the boys will be held March 6-8 in Hershey.

Check out my blog next week for more wrestling updates.

 

Larry Maggi

maggil@co.washington.pa.us