County’s top wrestlers honored
County’s top wrestlers honored at annual banquet
Berks County honored its best from the past season at the annual county wrestling banquet on March 26 at Riveredge in Reading.
Wyomissing’s Tanner Vogel and Exeter’s Austin DeSanto received the Bud Lindholm awards as the top county wrestlers in Class 2A and 3A, respectively.
DeSanto completed a historic 53-0 senior season by winning the state 126-pound title in Class AAA, dethroning three-time state and junior world champion Spencer Lee of Franklin Regional in an epic final. DeSanto’s buzzerbeating takedown gave the Eagles’ standout a 5-4 victory that was Lee’s first defeat at the scholastic level. Previously, DeSanto won a third District 3 Class 3A title, becoming just the second Berks wrestler to achieve the feat.
Vogel placed third at 160 at the Southeast AA Regional, qualified for the PIAA Championships where he went 1-2 and capped his senior year 35-8.
The award’s namesake, Bud Lindholm, was the “Johnny Appleseed” of wrestling in Berks County. Lindholm single-handedly started over half of the wrestling programs in the county by carting mats in his pickup truck to various districts and giving demonstrations on our great sport to clubs and school boards.
Exeter head coach Jon Rugg was awarded Coach of the Year honors for the second straight season after guiding the Eagles to a District 3 team championship, place in the quarterfinals at the PIAA Championships and 23-3 record.
Vogel, DeSanto and Rugg were presented their awards by Brandywine Heights graduate and
NCAA Division I All-American Pete Renda. Renda, who placed third at 184 at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in 2016 as a N.C. State junior, took a redshirt season this past winter.
The 2016-17 All-County team featured: Exeter’s Tyler Bagoly, Exeter’s Austin DeSanto, Wilson’s Tommy O’Brien, Wilson’s Brandon Connor, Exeter’s Oscar Daniels, Muhlenberg’s Stephan Mayo, Daniel Boone’s Jesse Enck, Twin Valley’s C.J. Morton, Gov. Mifflin’s Ben Maack, Wyomissing’s Tanner Vogel, Brandywine Heights’ Michael Hubble, Kutztown’s Tyler Fisher, Wyomissing’s Jakob Naylor, Wyomissing’s Deion Adams and Schuylkill Valley’s Jack Bennett.
Twin Valley’s Cross Cossitor was awarded the inaugural Fred Richardson Sr. academic scholarship by Fred Richardson. The Berks County Wrestling Officials Association plan to make this an annual award. Cossitor was awarded $1,000 by the wrestling officials.
Former Brandywine Heights standout John Halulko was inducted in the Berks County Hall of Fame, being presented with the distinction by Bullets head coach Steve Adam. Halulko was a four-time state qualifier, a three-time state medalist, amassed a 121-19-1 record at Brandywine Heights, and wrestled for Princeton University in the NCAAs. One of Halulko’s coaching achievements was in saving the defunded and soon-to-be cut Twin Valley wrestling program and turning it into a highly competitive team again.