HANDICAPPING THE FIELD

A comprehensive look at the Che-Mont tournament

Rankings and seedings have their place in wrestling but it’s important to understand what they represent.

They are a snapshot of history, telling a story of what a wrestler has done and who they have beaten or lost to. While there may be some projection in the rankings, a rank or seed has nothing to do with what a wrestler does in the present time.

They do, however, set the stage for the drama that makes sports great. Saturday, at West Chester Rustin High, 13 teams will compete at the Ches-Mont Championships, and while every wrestler will have a seed because of what they’ve done, they’ll have the opportunity write their own history by what they do.

Action starts at 9 a.m., with the finals slated to start at 6 p.m. The top seven finishers will qualify for the Class AAA District 1 Central tournament next Saturday at Oxford High.

Four area wrestlers — Downingtown East’s Wade Cummings (126 pounds), Coatesville’s Chase Stephens (152) and Rustin’s Brett Kaliner (120) and Costas Hatzipavlides (182) — are returning state qualifiers. As will be the theme each of the three tournaments leading back to Hershey, getting back will have to be earned, just like the year before.

Every year there are newcomers eager to make a name for themselves, like freshmen Lukas Richie (106) of East and Brandon Sheffield (120) of Oxford. There are the late bloomers like East’ Nik Zimmerman (138) or Avon Grove’s Vince Walls (285), who struggled their first couple of years before finding their

strides the last two. And finally, there are the one-last-run seniors like West Chester East’s Noah Hankin (126) and West Chester Henderson’s Kyle Medrow (132), who have been a win away from states in the past.

The result is 14 brackets filled with storylines and some of the purest one-onone competition in all of sports. The league appears a bit deeper than in years past, so here is a look at what you might see.

NATE HECKENBERGER -- DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA West Chester Rustin’s Costas Hatzipavlides is looking for a second-straight Ches-Mont league title as the top seed at 182 pounds.

NATE HECKENBERGER -- DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Coatesville’s Colin McBride, right, is the third seed at 145pounds, and could see Downingtown West’s Gavin Hale, left, in the quarterfinals.