Reece Bechakas advances to Regional Championships
CLARION - The 2024 District IX AA Wrestling Championships concluded Saturday, February 24 at Clarion University. There were seven wrestlers that repeated as District Champions beginning with Dalton Wenner from Cranberry at 114, Weston Pisarchick of Brockway at 127, Parker Pisarchick of Brockway at 139, Cole Householder of Brookville at 145, Brady Collins of Clearfield at 152, Reece Bechakas of Kane at 160 and Carson Neely of Port Allegany at 285.
Kayin Bard won his first match in the consolation bracket by major decision 13-5 over Noah Pentz of Curwensville, then got a fall over Eli Potts of Ridgway at 2:37 before losing a major decision to three-seed Jayce Walter of St. Marys which moved him to the alternate spot where he lost a tough match 7-4 to six-seed Dan Evans of Redbank Valley to finish sixth in his bracket.
Tucker Nystrom won his first match 6-4 in sudden victory over sixseed Alex Marfink of Sheffield before losing by fall at 1:49 to fourseed Aiden Ferguson of Port Allegany to move him to the alternate match where he lost by fall at 3:36 to five-seed Daniel Delong of Cranberry to finish sixth in his bracket.
Reece Bechakas got his day off to a great start with an 8-3 decision over Will Domico of Clearfield which gave him his 100th win of his career and a spot in the championship where he would face Mason Gordon of Port Allegany and he came away with a 15-0 tech fall win to claim his third straight District IX AA Championship. Bechakas will now move on the the North West Regional Championships next week at Sharon High School.
Ben Walter closed out the wrestling for Kane as he faced one-seed Carter Chamberlain of Clearfield with Chamberlain coming away with a fall at 2:53. Walter came back and lost two very close matches first to six-seed Trenton Mead of Sheffield 4-1 and then in the alternate match lost 2-0 to eight-seed Madox Decker of Brockway to finish sixth in his bracket.
"Tucker Nystrom had a great tournament he had a rough year starting out and he started getting better as the year went along to finish sixth as a freshman is a great accomplishment. Kayin Bard also had a good tournament he beat some tough kids that he had lost to in the regular season. If Kayin puts the work in in the off season I look forward to seeing what his senior year will bring. It's great to see these young kids see results from all their hard work and look forward to seeing what next year will bring. What can you say about Reece Bechakas three-time District Champion and to win by tech fall in the finals is a great accomplishment. His conditioning is getting better and looks focused which is great to see. Ben Walter is a kid that will be hard to replace he is a hard worker in practice and I know he won't be happy with falling short of his goals but he was a great asset to have on the team as a leader and someone you could go to for advice,” said Coach Mike Swartwood.