New No. 1 in pound-for-pound rankings
Jeff Karam was in a great position at the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships.
His Bethlehem Catholic team was way better than every other team in the tournament except Nazareth. He knew it. Everyone else knew it.
It gave the Golden Hawks coach two golden opportunities:
1. Givehisbackups,several of whom would be starters for many other programs, chances to compete in Hershey.
2. Give his standouts a chance to move around to face other standouts.
Kollin Rath bumping up from 139 pounds to wrestle Waynesburg’s two-time state champion Mac Church was an example of the latter. That matchup happened because Karam wanted Rath to get the best competition he was going to find all year in Church, who was No. 3 nationally at 145.
Coaches of other teams at last weekend’s state team tournament at Hershey’s Giant Center had similar opportunities but opted to avoid those matchups.
In almost all those instances, those coaches didn’t have the same luxury Karam had. The matches’ outcomes were not foregone conclusions, and this was a team event. The ultimate goal was to win the match.
Bethlehem Catholic won its three matches to reach the Class 3A final by scores of 55-3, 55-8, 53-3. Nazareth scored more points (23) in the final than those three combined.
Faith Christian was in a similar situation, though its toughest match came against Notre Dame-Green Pond in the 2A quarterfinals. The Lions won their other matches by scores of 55-10, 40-15 and 54-12.
Coach Ben Clymer does not have the depth Karam has. Evidence of that was that Faith Christian yielded 37 points in those three matches; 30 of those points came via forfeit.
Future foes will get no comfort in that because all of Faith Christian’s starters in the tournament were freshmen and sophomores.
As a result of Karam’s situation and Rath’s determination, the sophomore moves to the top of the latest pound-for-pound rankings.
There was plenty of other shuffling, too. Enjoy.
Lehigh Valley top 10 pound-for-pound wrestlers
(Records entering Wednesday; weight; last week’s ranking)
1. So. Kollin Rath, Bethlehem Catholic (27-1, 139, 5): Took down two returning state champions at PIAA team tournament
2. Jr. Sean Kinney, Nazareth (25-0, 285, 3): Pinned his last 14 opponents, including all five at PIAA team tournament
3. So. Nate Desmond, Bethlehem Catholic (30-1, 114, 1): Pinned last seven opponents, including four in PIAA Class 3A team event
4. Sr. Sonny Sasso, Nazareth (16-0, 189-215, 3): Bonus points in all his PIAA team tournament bouts
5. Fr. Adam Waters, Faith Christian (34-1, 172, 7):
Four bonus wins including a technical fall against Berks Catholic thanks to four takedowns in last 47 seconds
6. Fr. Keanu Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic (12-0, 107, 6):
Two pins and a technical fall among his four wins at team states
7. So. Collin Gaj, Quakertown (36-0, 145, 4): First-period pin in PIAA 3A team tournament preliminary
8. So. Gauge Botero, Faith Christian (33-2, 121, 8): 4-0 at Class 2A team states, all by bonus
9. Jr. Ayden Smith, Notre Dame-GP (36-3, 114, 9): A 6-0 weekend at PIAA Class 2A team event, all by bonus
10. Sr. Holden Garcia, Notre Dame-GP (32-6, 172, 10): A
6-0 weekend in Hershey, including four pins
Others under consideration (in alphabetical order): So. Vince Bouzakis, Notre Dame-GP (34-7, 145); Sr. Dagen Condomitti, Northampton (25-5, 160); Sr. Adrian Gacek, Parkland (30-2, 189); Sr. Andrew Harmon, Bethlehem Catholic (32-6, 160); Sr. C.J. Horvath, Freedom (27-3, 121); Sr. Jake Jones, Saucon Valley (38-4, 189); Jr. Calvin Lachman, Quakertown (32-4, 215); So. Tahir Parkins, Nazareth (17-2, 121); Sr. Liam Scrivanich, Saucon Valley (40-5, 152); Fr. Cael Weidemoyer, Faith Christian (25-3, 152); Jr. Mason Ziegler, Quakertown (33-4, 121)