Harkless leads Wilson to sectional title
Wilson senior Josh Harkless takes pride in how hard he works so he can still be strong at the end of a grueling, six-minute wrestling match.
But Harkless hasn’t needed the extra conditioning much this season, especially Saturday at the Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School.
Harkless scored three falls in a total of 58 seconds to capture the Class 3A District 3 Section 1 215-pound title. He scored a 23-second fall over Cocalico’s Jacob Humphrey to earn his second straight sectional title.
“I don’t want to take anybody lightly,” Harkless said. “I take them all seriously. I just like to secure the win and make sure nothing funky happens.”
Harkless is 22-0 and has scored 15 first-period falls. He has only gone six minutes once this season.
But his hard work has not been wasted. The example he sets in the wrestling room has rubbed off on the rest of his Wilson teammates, who added the sectional title to the Berks team championship they won a week earlier.
“We all know how much we work,” Harkless said. “We do what we’ve got to do to get it done. We did today. I’m proud of the team.”
Harkless was one of five Wilson champions and one of seven Wilson wrestlers who placed in the top two in their weight classes to advance to the Class 3A District 3 Championships Saturday at Spring Grove.
Also winning titles for the Bulldogs were James Garcia at 106, Kelvin Rodriguez at 120, Dominic Jurado at 126 and Alex Sensenig at 145. Placing second were Alex Beidelman at 152 and Ryan McMillan at 189.
McMillan, a freshman, had a six-second fall in his first bout. He needed to come back after losing in the championship match to win a true second-place match.
“All in all we had a great weekend,” said Wilson coach Jason Gibble. “We sent eight guys to the finals and we only brought nine.”
Caden Herb, who lost in the championship match at 113, also lost in a true second-place match and was eliminated.
The Bulldogs finished with 157.5 points to easily outdistance second-place Daniel Boone, which finished with 121.5 points.
“It’s great to win a sectional title but we’re looking forward to next week already and trying to prepare for that,” Gibble said. “Right now I’m in individual mode, that’s just a bonus. That’s more for the kids than it is for the coaches.”
Other Berks wrestlers winning titles were Daniel Boone brothers JT Hogan at 138 and Tucker Hogan at 172, and Exeter’s Nick Nettleton at 152.
Placing second were Twin Valley’s Hunter Goff at 113; Daniel Boone’s Gavin Richard at 120, Stephen Spitko at 126 and Colin Leahy at 285; and Exeter’s Jevin Guldin at 160 and Johnny Miller at 172.
Wilson opened by winning three tough championship bouts in the lightweights in the tournament that featured separate sessions from 106-138 pounds and 145-285 to minimize the number of people in the gym.
Garcia, a freshman, scored a takedown with 20 seconds left to score a 3-1 win over defending champion Trent Ruble of Conestoga Valley at 106.
Rodriguez cut it even closer, scoring a takedown with 10 seconds left to earn a 2-1 victory over Richard at 120. Jurado followed that with a 3-2 win over Spitko.
Sensenig squandered a late lead but pulled out an 8-6 overtime win over Octorara’s Mike Trainor with a takedown two seconds before the end of sudden-victory overtime.
Harkless didn’t need any late heroics. He got it done with falls in 18, 17 and 23 seconds.
“Usually I just like to get the get the job done, get out and go to the next match,” Harkless said.
J.T. Hogan also scored three straight falls, the final one in 1:21 over Cocalico’s Aiden Swann, to earn his title.
Tucker Hogan had two firstperiod falls before knocking off Miller, a returning sectional champ, 3-1 in the final.
Nettleton earned his second sectional title by pinning Beidelman in 5:07.
But the day belonged to Harkless and the Bulldogs, who celebrated a title for the second straight week.
“He’s worked really hard to get where he is,” Gibble said of Harkless. “He just kind of makes it look easy sometimes.”