Rustin upsets NP in district duals
Fifth-seeded North Penn falls in first round of Class AAA tournament
It has been a long time coming for the North Penn wrestling team to get back in the District 1 Class AAA Duals.
The Knights hadn’t been there since 2005, but with the strongest core of talent they have had in years and a timely win over Pennridge last week, they earned the No. 5 seed and traveled to West Chester Rus- tin, Thursday, to face the 12thseeded hosts.
In the single elimination, first round dual meet, the inexperience may have cost North Penn as the underdog Golden Knights pulled a 34-32 upset in the first round.
Each team won seven bouts, but two key pins for Rustin in the second half of the contest swung the battle and sent the Knights home early.
“We knew there was gonna be some tough matches and our guys did not wrestle well and our guys did not learn while they were out there,” North Penn coach Rob Shettsline said. “It’s very disappointing.”
Colin Shannon (160 pounds) gave the Knights an early lead with a second-period fall, but Rustin won the next four to take a 10 point lead.
Tyler Leidy (285) and Jee Ea Gay (103) got North Penn within one before the match swung Rustin’s way. At 113, Adam Cooper was trailing 2-0 before cradling Erik Laughlin and pinning him in the second for the Golden Knights.
Rustin’s state qualifier Brett Kaliner (120) tacked on another six and his teammates held Sofiane Bensmail (126) and Ryan Vulakh (132) to just one bonus point combined. Will Laughlin (138) managed a major decision to pull North Penn within
two, but Dan Labus closed the door on the Knights’ chances.
Patrick O’Neill scored two takedowns and led 4-2 in the second period, but Labus chose top to start the third and clamped a tight cradle for the pin, to seal the match.
“Some boys have to do a g ut- check and lea r n while they ’re out there on the mat,” Shettsline said.
Mikey O’Brien (152) finished the contest off with a first-period pin for North Penn, which will try to wrap up the Suburban One League Continental Conference title Wednesday against Central Bucks South. WC Rustin 34, North Penn 32 160: Shannon (NP) pinned Sullivan, 2:22 (0-6) 170: Kent (WCR) maj. dec. Mignon, 13-4
State Title.
“We finally won one. It wasn’t easy,” the coach said. “I figured we should have scored about 50 points and we ended up with 33 or 34. We had some guys knocked down and we had some unfortunate situations so I’m glad that we hung on and won. It was nice.
“You gotta have everything and you have to have numbers,” Swanker said. “You have to have a lot of kids to coach up — you can’t do it with just a few.
“I’ll take as many kids as I can get and somewhere along the line, you’re gonna find some guys that put some commitment into it and do it.”
Fanning the competitive flames of every athlete — even at practice — became a daily focus.
“Crawford Sr. would always say ‘ when the guy that you’re with, that’s right there with you at practice every day, if that’s the guy you gotta beat to win a league championship or even win that race that day, that’s a good thing,’” Swanker said of his former mentor, the late Jim Crawford Sr., who coached NP from 1931-69. “And it really is. It’s one of those things that makes a team effort very, very strong, makes your team super.”
Swanker ’s inf luence made many teams super: after graduating from Atlantic Christian College — now Barton College, he would coach the Penndale Junior High football team to an undefeated season and league championship as well as guiding the track squad to two undefeated seasons and a pair of league titles.
Nowadays, Swanker is Executive Secretary of the Track & Field Coaches’ Association of Greater Philadelphia as well as PIAA (4-6) 182: Lamberjack (WCR) dec. Gallagher, 4-2 (7-6) 195: Hatzipavlides (WCR) dec. Verespy, 8-3 (10-6) 220: Spriggs (WCR) pinned Ullman, 2:30 (16-6) 285: Leidy (NP) dec. Cummings, 5-2 (16-9) 106: Gay (NP) pinned Fichter, 1:35 (16-15) 113: Cooper (WCR) pinned E. Laughlin, 3:02 (22-15) 120: B. Kaliner (WCR) pinned Weiss, :59 (28-15) 126: Bensmail (NP) dec. T. Kaliner, 7-1 (28-18) 132: Vulakh (NP) maj. dec. Reardon, 13-2 (28-22) 138: W. Laughlin (NP) maj. dec. Spaniak, 8-0 (28-26) 145: Labus (WCR) pinned O’Neill, 4:23 (34-26) 152: Shannon (NP) pinned Hurley, 1:49 (34-32) District One Chapter Interpreter, interpreting to area coaches any rule changes that come down the road.
Bringing his valuable coaching point-of-v iew to the officiating realm, Swanker is also a PIAA State Championship Meet official.
In fact, he’ll be officiating the pole vault at Indoor States at PSU, the same night of his induction ceremony.
“I’ll be interested to see how we get this done,” he said with a chuckle.
Swanker is a lways around at North Penn, now serving as an assistant coach for the girls squad. He also sees plenty of his former runners out and about.
“A lot of these kids I see around town — running,” he said. “It’s part of their life.”
Swanker’s high school days were at Penndale — before the current North Penn High School was built.
Back then, the athletes ran around Penndale’s old cinder track, and when it rained, water would run so deep in Lane One that it would create a gully.
North Penn track has come a long way. Swanker enjoyed seeing his teams compete on the all-weather track at Crawford Stadium, breaking every school record except the discus during his tenure.
The times and technology have changed but Swanker’s been a constant.
“I’m so happy for him. He’s such a good coach,” said Phoebe Clowser, a senior for the Lady Knights. “He’s always supportive and he’s always watching the team.
“He always has his iPad,” Clower said with a smile, “and he’s always critiquing, making sure they’re getting things right.”