Freshmen highlight Allegheny County tournament

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Fans attending the Allegheny County tournament Jan. 19-20 at Fox Chapel High School got a glimpse of the future while watching the 14 titlematches.

For the first time in the 17year history of the tournament, three of the champions were freshmen: Quaker Valley’s Conner Redinger, PineRichland’s Cole Spencer and Hampton’sJustin Hart.

In the previous 16 tournaments, a total of 223 champions were crowned, but only 11 were freshmen. Shaler twins Nick and Matt Nelson were the only freshmen to win in thesame year (2004).

“Conner, Cole and Justin are wrestling at a different level,” Hampton coach Chris Hart said. “None of them was in an easy weight class. All three were in a very competitive weight class. All three turned in a great performance.”

Redinger claimed the 106pound title with three pins and a 9-2 decision of North Allegheny’s Max Stedeford in the title match. Stedeford was the only freshman to earn a silvermedal.

Spencer recorded four pins in his domination of the 152pound weight class, including a third-period fall of Montour’s Nico Marsico in the finals.

“It feels great to win my first tournament,” Spencer said. “It’s a good confidence builder going into the postseasontournaments.”

Hart registered two pins and three decisions en route to the 182-pound crown, includinga 6-3 win over Thomas Jefferson’s Max Shaw in the titlematch.

“I knew it was a tough tournament, but I thought I could win,” Hart said. “I’m just trying to keep up with my 4) 7. Connellsville (9-3) 8. Hampton (14-1) 9. West Allegheny (5-0) 10. North Allegheny (4-1) WPIAL Class 2A 1. Burrell (4-5) 2. Derry (16-1) 3. McGuffey (13-4) 4. Freedom (7-4) 5. South Fayette (9-6) 6. Burgettstown (5-0) 7. Valley (6-1) 8. Elizabeth Forward (4-1) 9. Fort Cherry (8-3) 10. Mount Pleasant (6-4)

Individual rankings

WPIAL Class 3A 106 — 1. Kurtis Phipps, Norwin, 2. Kyle Burkholder, Hempfield, 3. Alejandro Herrera-Rondon, Seneca Valley, 4. Brady Sherback, Latrobe.

113 — 1. Ryan Sullivan, Shaler, 2. Frankie Bonura, Moon, 3. Jordan Watters, West Allegheny, 4. Dylan Chappell, Seneca Valley.

120 — 1. Logan Macri, brotherJake.”

Jake Hart was a four-time county finalist, who finally wona title in 2013.

By winning their first title as freshmen, Redinger, Spencer and Hart have a chance to become four-time county champions. Only four wrestlers have reached that plateau: Plum’s Sean Clair, Shaler’s Nick Nelson, North Allegheny’s Dom Forys and NorthHills’ Gage Curry.

Upper St. Clair

Upper St. Clair’s Jake Slinger dominated the 220- Canon-McMillan, 2. Louis Newell, Seneca Valley, 3. Darren Miller, Kiski Area, 4. Tyler Kocak, Hampton.

126 — 1. Sam Hillegas, North Hills, 2. Mason Franks, Connellsville, 3. Jacob Ealy, Hopewell, 4. Logan Seliga, Belle Vernon.

132 — 1. Colton Camacho, Franklin Regional, 2. Caleb Morris, Waynesburg, 3. Nick Coy, Penn-Trafford, 4. Garrett Reinsfelder, Shaler.

138 — 1. Jackson Henson, Waynesburg, 2. Noah Levett, Kiski Area, 3. Ty Linsenbigler, Hempfield, 4. Tim Hritsko, Canon-McMillan.

145 — 1. Luke Kemerer, Hempfield, 2. Cam Conner, Kiski Area, 3. Job Chishko, Penn-Trafford, 4. Nick Acuna, Moon.

152 — 1. Jack Blumer, Kiski Area, 2. Brock Godzin, Belle Vernon, 3. Trey Howard, Waynesburg, 4. Ty McGeary, West Allegheny.

160 — 1. Zachary Hartman, Belle Vernon, 2. Gerrit Nijenhuis, Canon-McMillan, 3. Luke Stout, Mt. Lebanon, 4. Nick Delp, Kiski Area.

170 — 1. Kyle Homet, Waynesburg, 2. Scott Joll, Belle Vernon, 3. Jason Montgomery, Bethel Park, 4. Luke Mary, Peters Township. pound weight class at the Allegheny County tournament. Slinger, a junior, recorded four pins, including a secondperiod fall against Fox Chapel’s Donovan Cutchemberin the title match.

“I came back more prepared, in better condition, and improved my technique,” said Slinger, who placed third at the same weight class last year. “Hopefully, a little of my confidence showed through. That allowed me to win this year,instead of placing third.”

Slinger is ranked No. 3 in WPIALClass 3A at 220.

182 — 1. Tim Wallace, Albert Gallatin, 2. Christian Sequete, Butler, 3. Justin Hart, Hampton, 4. Max Shaw, Thomas Jefferson.

195 — 1. Danny Starr, Kiski Area, 2. Nate Ansell, Connellsville, 3. Shamil Zaynullaev, Chartiers Valley, 4. Gehrig Hutchinson, Baldwin.

220 — 1. Ian Edenfield, Laurel Highlands, 2. Rocky McGeary, West Allegheny, 3. Jake Slinger, Upper St. Clair, 4. Connor Forrest, Hopewell.

285 — 1. Gerald Brown, West Mifflin, 2. Derek Devine, North Allegheny, 3. Corey Dodson, Albert Gallatin, 4. Deshawn Butler, Penn Hills. WPIAL Class 2A 106 — 1. Conner Redinger, Quaker Valley, 2. Trent Valovchik, Burrell, 3. Joey Fischer, South Park.

113 — 1. Ian Oswalt, Burrell, 2. Doug Bittner, Mt. Pleasant, 3. Freddie Howard, Elizabeth Forward.

120 — 1. Manny Dovshek, Bentworth, 2. Kenny Duschek, Freedom, 3. Tyler Cimmerman, Derry.

126 — 1. Gavin Teasdale, Jefferson-Morgan, 2. Jett Pattison, McGuffey, 3. Z.J. Ward, Freedom.

132 — 1. John Rocco

The round-robin format matched each team against Three of the WPIAL’s top the other five squads. Burrell Class 2A teams were entered and South Fayette decided to in the Brookville Ultimate skip their match, because the Duals Saturday. The results two were entered in Wednesday’s were not pretty for any of the Section 3 tournament three. and were expected to face off

Top-ranked Burrell, No. 2 inthe title match. South Fayette and No. 5 Freedom The WPIAL trio was completely were joined in the sixteam dominated by Reynolds, field by three teams that Brookville and Chestnut were top-eight finishers at lastRidge. year’s PIAA tournament: defending Burrell’s 16-point losses to champion Reynolds, Brookville and Chestnut fourth-place finisherRidge were the only two of the Brookville and Chestnut nine matches that were somewhat Ridge. close. South Fayette

Brookville Duals

Kazalas, Quaker Valley, 2. A.J. Corrado, Burrell, 3. Alex Miscovich, Mt. Pleasant.

138 — 1. Onreey Stewart, Derry, 2. Nick Candelore, Fort Cherry, 3. Eli Brinsky, South Fayette.

145 — 1. Joe Demor, S.S. Beaver, 2. Mike Cusick, South Fayette, 3. Chase Komara, Freedom.

152 — 1. Thayne Lawrence, Frazier, 2. Corey Christie, Burrell, 3. Tyler Griffiths, Southmoreland.

160 — 1. Shaun Gates, Burrell, 2. Jaeden Gordon, Central Valley, 3. Michael Dedi, South Fayette.

170 — 1. Christian Clutter, McGuffey, 2. Noah Hutcherson, Valley, 3. Austin Mele, Burrell.

182 — 1. Dominic Fundy, Beth-Center, 2. Jason Datz, Southmoreland, 3. Luke Shingle, McGuffey.

195 — 1. Bryson Miller, Freedom, 2. Dalton Lough, McGuffey, 3. Jacob Baker, Beth-Center.

220 — 1. Dominic DeLuca, Derry, 2. Connor Main, West Greene, 3. Riley Kemper, Burgettstown.

285 — 1. Bishop McCoy, S.S. Beaver, 2. Dave Schuffert, Valley, 3. Cody Vokes, Mt. Pleasant. scored only 12 points against thetrio.

Burrell and Freedom each recorded one victory. Burrell solidified its hold on the top spot in the WPIAL rankings with a 41-22 win against Freedom. Freedom moved up to No. 4 with a 37-30 win against South Fayette, which drop to No.5.

Team tournaments

The WPIAL team tournaments will be held next week. The top five teams in each section qualified, so the Class 3A bracket will feature 20 teams, whilethe Class 2A bracket has 15teams.

Four preliminary round matches will be held Monday. First-round and quarterfinal matches will be held Wednesday at eight sites, with the top four seeds in each class servingas hosts. The semifinals, finals and consolation finals will be held Feb. 3 at Trinity (Class 3A) and ChartiersHouston(Class 2A).

Canon-McMillan, last year’s WPIAL runner-up, is expected to be the top seed in Class 3A. Eleven-time defending champion Burrell is expected to be the top seed in Class2A.

Individual tournaments

The WPIAL individual section tournaments in Class 2A will be Feb. 16 at CanonMcMillan. The top four finishers in each weight class from each section advance to the WPIAL championships, which will be held the followingday at the same site.

The WPIAL individual section tournaments in Class 3A willbe Feb. 24. The sites for the four tournaments are Kiski Area (Sec. 1), Connellsville (Sec. 2), Fox Chapel (Sec. 3) andTrinity (Sec. 4).

The top five finishers in each weight class from each section advance to the Class 3A WPIAL/Southwest Re-