Two look to join elite champs club
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Two weeks ago, Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence became the 29th member of the WPIAL’s four-time champions club.
This weekend, North Hills’ Sam Hillegas and Norwin’s Kurtis Phipps can become the next two members. But one will have a much tougher road in claiming a fourth title at the Class 3A WPIAL/Southwest Regional tournament, which begins Friday at Canon-McMillan High School.
Hillegas (32-1) is the top seed at 138 after winning previous WPIAL titles at 113, 126 and 132. With a 151-3 career record, which includes 76 pins, Hillegas is considered a prohibitive favorite. His only loss this season was a 5-3 decision to Wyoming Seminary’s Beau Bartlett in the finals of the Powerade Christmas Tournament. Bartlett is ranked No. 1 in the country and Hillegas No. 7, according to Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine.
“There is so much history and tradition in Western Pennsylvania wrestling,” Hillegas said. “To look at the group of four-time champions and see the amazing success they had at the next level, joining that group of athletes would be awesome.”
Hillegas, a Virginia Tech recruit, has already faced No. 2 seed Wyatt Henson of Waynesburg. The two met in the semifinals at the Powerade tournament and Hillegas posted a convincing 8-3 victory.
Phipps (32-1) is seeded No. 3 at 126 pounds after a 2-0 overtime loss to Franklin Regional’s Finn Solomon (27-5) in Saturday’s finals of the Section 1 tournament. The two also met in the finals of the Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournament Jan. 4 and Phipps recorded a defensive fall with 24 seconds left in the third period of a scoreless bout.
Phipps has won WPIAL titles at 106, 106 and 120. He has also placed second in the PIAA the past two years. Solomon, a sophomore who is seeded No. 2, placed third in the WPIAL and second in the PIAA last season as a 113pound freshman.
Surprisingly, Waynesburg freshman Rocco Welsh (34-6) was seeded No. 1. Welsh met both at the Powerade tournament and lost, 3-0, to Phipps and beat Solomon, 5-1.
Falling short of four
Only four times in WPIAL history has a wrestler won titles as a freshman, sophomore and junior, only to come up short as a senior.
In 1967, Trinity’s John Abajace lost, 1-0, to Canon-McMillan’s Amedio Piccioni in the Section 3 final at 133 pounds, thus did not qualify for the WPIAL tournament.
In 1969, Waynesburg’s Gary McClure lost, 9-6, in the WPIAL final at 120 pounds to Canon-McMillan’s Lester Peterson.
In 1995, Greensburg Salem’s Billy Smith placed third at 135 pounds after a rideout loss to Shaler’s D.J. Schilling in the semifinals.
In 2009, West Mifflin’s James Fleming lost, 2-1, in the 160-pound final to Hempfield’s Jake Kemerer.
WPIAL defending champs
Hillegas and Phipps are among nine returning WPIAL champs.
Seneca Valley has three returning champs: Dylan Chappell, Alejandro Herrera-Rondon and Antonio Amelio. Only one is the top seed in their weight class.
Chappell (41-4) is the favorite at 120 after winning a title at 106 last year.
Herrera-Rondon (35-3), a two-time finalist, has moved to 132 after winning at 113 last year. He is seeded No. 2 after losing, 2-0, in triple overtime to Latrobe’s Gabe Willochell (30-0) in the Powerade tournament finals.
Amelio (29-14) is the defending champ at 145, but the weight class is much tougher this year. He was a runner-up at Saturday’s Section 3 tournament and is seeded No. 7.
The other returning champs are Franklin Regional’s Carter Dibert, Kiski Area’s Jack Blumer, Canon-McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis and Mt. Lebanon’s Luke Stout. All four are seeded No. 1.
Class 3A tournament
Waynesburg and Seneca Valley will have the most participants at the Class 3A WPIAL/Southwest Regional tournament.
• Waynesburg had 12 wrestlers qualify at the Section 4 tournament, including five champs and three runners-up. Rocco Welsh (126), Cole Homet (132), Wyatt Henson (138), Luca Augustine (160) and Noah Tustin (195) won titles for the Raiders.
• Seneca Valley set a school record with 12 qualifiers at the Section 3 tournament, including three champs and four runners-up. Tyler Chappell (106), Dylan Chappell (120) and Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (132) won titles for the Raiders.
Class 2A tournament
Twenty-nine WPIAL wrestlers qualified for the PIAA Class 2A tournament by finishing among the top six in their weight class at the Southwest Regional. Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence (17-0) will be making his fourth trip to Hershey, while nine others will make their third appearance.
Sixteen schools will be represented. Burrell will have the most entries as four Buccaneers qualified. Burgettstown, McGuffey and Elizabeth Forward will have three entries. Quaker Valley, Freedom, Mount Pleasant and Laurel will have two entries. The schools with one entry are Carlynton, Derry Area, Ellwood City, Fort Cherry, Frazier, Jefferson-Morgan, South Park and Southmoreland.