Grand Finish
PJP junior Vulakh grabs bronze; Boyertown’s Jones, OJR’s Mancini take fourth in Hershey
HERSHEY » He’s been rewriting the Pope John Paul II wrestling program’s record books all season long.
Through his own performance, and in tandem with his younger brother.
What happened Saturday was all Ryan Vulakh. The Golden Panther junior led the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s surviving contingent at the PIAA Championships with the highest medal finish among its four finalists.
Vulakh became the PJP program’s highest-placing grappler all time with a third-place finish in Class AAA’s 145-pound bracket. That was in addition to being its first competitor to clinch a AAA medal and, with brother Matt Vulakh, the first to reach the state tournament in the bigschool field.
That was all in complement to the Vulakhs’ becoming PAC tournament and District 1-AAA titlists, and Ryan winning South East AAA Region gold last weekend.
“We could do well everywhere,” Ryan said. “You just have to be able to put 150 percent out.”
Vulakh’s 5-0 decision of Northern York’s Micah Hoffman was secured by a second-period point flurry consisting of an escape from a bottom start, an escape and two back points. His finish put the PJP junior ahead of Boyertown’s Elijah Jones and Owen J. Roberts’ Daniel Mancini — they were fourth in their respective 195 and 152 brackets — and brother Matt, eighth at 106.
It completed a successful rebound from an 11-1 semifinal-round loss to Nazareth’s Sammy Sasso – the eventaul 145 champ and tournament Outstanding Wrestler – one that featured a 1-0 edge of Penn Trafford’s Jobe Chisko to secure a berth in the third-place bout.
“If he’s not the toughest,” Vulakh said of Sasso, who went on to win the Class AAA Outstanding Wrestler Award, “he’s one of them. The score speaks for itself.”
Vulakh closed out his
year with a 31-5 record and prior gold medals at the Pioneer Athletic Conference, District 1-AAA Central and South East AAA Regional tournaments.
Jones closed out his storied career in the Bear mat program with a higher medal finish than the fifth he scored last year. He rallied from a 5-1 deficit after two periods by scoring a pair of takedowns while Northern York’s Jake Koser had just two escapes. But he couldn’t score a tying takedown that could have given him added life in overtime of their 195-pound clash.
“Koser’s a tough opponent,” he noted. “We have similar styles.”
Jones bounced back from Friday’s quarterfinal-round loss to Clearfield’s Luke McGonigal with a vengeance Saturday. He pinned William Tennent’s Yusuf Aladinov in 2:04, then posted a 3-1 decision of Connellsville’s Nate Ansell.
“I had a good tournament,” he said. “There were things I did I wasn’t happy about, but I think I wrestled well the entire tournament.”
Jones’ final season saw him finish with a 43-5 record and gold medals at the league, district and regional levels.