At districts, upsets, surprises are few
Jared Karabinus was expected by many to win his first District 11 Class 3A title after fourth- and second-place finishes the previous two seasons.
That didn’t make the journey any less stressful for the Freedom senior.
Karabinus held off Bethlehem Catholic’s James DeLuise in the 189-pound semifinals before pinning Easton’s Shae Linegar to secure that gold medal.
“It feels really good to get this win in the finals,” Karabinus said. “I knew [DeLuise] was going to be tough, but I just had to wrestle how I wrestle and I knew I’d be fine.”
The first weekend of the individual postseason produced few surprises and even fewer upsets. All of the top 10 (and several in the honorable mentions) won district or sectional titles last weekend.
Thanks to that, there were only minor changes to the top 10. There was more shuffling among the honorable mentions with three first-timers entering the list.
Here’s a look at the latest set of rankings entering the regional tournaments:
Lehigh Valley-area top 10 wrestlers pound-for-pound
1. Sr. Sean Kinney, Nazareth (32-1, 1): Won fourth District 11 Class 3A title; named tournament OW award winner
2. Jr. Kollin Rath, Bethlehem Catholic (38-1, 2): Captured his third District 11 3A championship
3. Fr. Joey Bachmann, Faith Christian (31-0, 3): Had a 6-second pin in Districts 1-12 2A tournament
4. So. Adam Waters, Faith Christian (36-4, 4): Nearly half (39) of his career wins (80) are by pin
5. Jr. Gauge Botero, Faith Christian (24-1, 5): Six consecutive bonus-point wins since only loss
6. Sr. Mason Ziegler, Quakertown (41-3, 6): Has 80 career pins, two behind Kevin Orr for second on the school’s all-time list
7. Jr. Collin Gaj, Quakertown
(37-3, 7): Has 79 career pins, three behind Orr
8. Sr. Ayden Smith, Notre Dame-GP (42-2, 8): Won fourth District 11 Class 2A title; was tournament OW award winner
9. So. Keanu Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic (34-5, 10): Rolled through D-11 3A 121-pound bracket
10. Fr. Gabe Ballard, Northampton (35-1, 9): Beat long-time rival Reef Dillard again, this time in SV, for D-11 3A title
Honorable mention (in alphabetical order): Gavin Carroll, Quakertown (37-6); Keegan Demarest, Pocono Mountain East (34-6); Reef Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic (30-11); Chase Hontz, Faith Christian (34-7); Jared Karabinus, Freedom (29-2); Calvin Lachman, Quakertown (41-3); Colby Martinelli, Pennridge (17-1); Tahir Parkins, Nazareth (34-2); Nick Salamone, Easton (29-6); Cael Weidemoyer, Faith Christian (17-2)
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall. com