Undefeated Phipps wins for Norwin

Westmoreland County tournament sees five wrestlers capture their second gold

Two PIAA Class 3A silver medalists were featured in the 126-pound final of the 67th Annual Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournament, which concluded Saturday at Kiski Area High School.

Norwin senior Kurtis Phipps was a two-time state runner-up, while Franklin Regional sophomore Finn Solomon was a runner-up last year in his varsity debut.

Just when it looked as if the match would go into overtime, Phipps recorded a defensive fall with 24 seconds left to break the scoreless tie and win his second county title.

“I made an in-match adjustment with my head swipe and it worked,” said Phipps in describing the final sequence. “I caught his head and was able to hold him there. I thought I had his head pretty tight, but wasn’t sure if I was in position to get the pin. That’s the first time I’ve ever had a defensive fall. It’s awesome to win that way.”

Phipps was one of five finalists making their third title appearance. The other four were Burrell’s Ian Oswalt, Kiski Area’s Nick Delp and

Hempfield’s duo of Ty Linsenbigler and Isaiah Vance. All five won their second gold medal.

Oswalt won his second title in a row with a 1-0 win over Franklin Regional’s Garrett Thompson at 132 pounds. Oswalt escaped in the second period and rode Thompson in third period.

“It feels great to win a second county title,” Oswalt said. “I just wanted to keep the pressure on when I was on top.”

Delp defended his title at 170 by pinning Penn-Trafford’s Tony Zona at 3:45.

Linsenbigler faced Franklin Regional’s Mason Spears in the final for the second year in a row, this time at 145 pounds, and pinned him in 54 seconds.

Vance made his third title appearance at 285 and won his second title with a 3-1 win over Greensburg Salem’s Billy McChesney.

Also winning a second title were Franklin Regional’s Carter Dibert and Kiski Area’s duo of Jack Blumer and Brayden Roskosky.

Dibert posted a 4-2 win over Hempfield’s Ethan Berginc in the 113-pound final. Blumer pinned Mount Pleasant’s Patrick Brewer to win the 160pound title. Roskosky defended his title at 195 with a 4-3 win over Hempfield’s Justin Cramer.

Phipps (14-0) was one of three wrestlers who entered the finals with an unblemished record. The other two were from Greensburg Salem — McChesney and John Meyers.

Meyers (16-0) made his second appearance in the finals and won his first title with a 15-0 technical fall of Hempfield’s Dillon Ferretti at 220 pounds. McChesney dropped to 17-1 with his loss to Vance.

Kiski Area won its fifth consecutive team title.

Tri-County

Waynesburg had five individual champs at the TriCounty tournament at South Fayette High School. Winning titles for the Raiders wer: Mac Church, Nate Jones, Rocco Welsh, Cole Homet and Wyatt Henson.

Church won at 106 pounds with an 8-4 victory over defending champion Jacob Houpt of Canon-McMillan. Jones posted a 7-5 win over Fort Cherry’s Julian Moore at 113. Welsh claimed the title at 126 with a 5-0 win over Canon-McMillan’s Jacob Gardner.

Homet won his second title in a row with an 8-2 win over Canon-McMillan’s Jimmy Baxter, who was also a returning champ. Henson registered a 21-9 technical fall against Trinity’s Micah Finley in the 138-pound final.

Canon-McMillan, the team champion, had four individual champs — Costa Moore, Tanner Rohaley, Gerrit Nijenhuis and Evan Miller.

Moore claimed the 120pound title with a 15-0 technical fall of Beth-Center’s Kyle McCollum.

Nijenhuis became a fourtime champ, beating Peters Township’s Donovan McMillon at 182 pounds.