Each year at the Allegheny County wrestling tournament, one can find Plum wrestlers contending for championships and podium finishes.
This year was no exception, as multiple Mustangs were in contention on the second day of the two-day tournament Jan. 17 and 18 at Fox Chapel High School.
When all of the wrestling was finished, Plum celebrated a trio of medalists.
Junior Owen Campbell placed second at 139, senior Julien Sepelyak finished third at 172 and senior Trent Reese took fourth at 152.
They fronted a Mustangs group which scored 130 team points and finished 10th out of a deep field of teams all looking to make their marks just one month before the start of the WPIAL individual tournaments.
“A lot of the guys beat wrestlers who beat them earlier in the year,” Plum coach Mike Supak said.
“Even our JV wrestlers were able to pick up wins here and there and show improvement and growth. They had the mindset of going in there and showing how much they’ve come along this season. The tournament is a grind over two long days. It was really positive for the guys on so many levels. I am proud of the way the guys wrestled and fought.”
Campbell rolled through his first three matches winning each one by technical fall. That gives him seven tech fall victories on the season.
He had a tougher time in the semifinals but was able to produce a 4-3 overtime victory over Quaker Valley’s Matthew Danna.
Campbell, now 23-4 overall, ran into a buzzsaw in the finals as Pine-Richland’s Dom Ferraro, No. 2 at 139 in this week’s Triblive HSSN Class 3A rankings, came out strong and built up points toward a 17-2 tech fall.
“Owen had a very good tournament,” Supak said. “He got a little banged up in the semifinals. It slowed him down in the finals where he couldn’t react the way he wanted to react.
“But he is wrestling very sharp, very crisp, and very motivated right now. He’s been driving to be on the offense more and to dominate his matches.”
Reese, who sits at 22-10 overall, won four of his six matches at the county tournament, including a 4-3 decision over North Allegheny’s Griffen Reid (31-7) in the quarterfinals.
“I knew it was going to be a tough one against Reid,” Reese said. “I looked at his record, and he was just stomping through guys. I knew I would see him eventually, so I was working all week before on how he attacks and doing what I could to be aggressive myself.”
Reid came out of the county tournament with a 31-7 overall record.
“Trent’s been more offensive and less reactive,” Supak said. “He’s doing a good job of generating his own offense and trying to control the match. The kid he wrestled in the quarterfinals is very aggressive and is a prolific point scorer.
“The mindset was to slow him down and have Trent get to his shots. Trent was able to score in a situation like that which gave him the go-ahead points, and he was able to ride him out the rest of the way.”
An injury forced Reese to forfeit his semifinal match with South Fayette’s Luke Dunlap.
“They were locked up, and it was a throw-or-be-thrown type situation, and when he landed, he got both elbows in his ribs,” Supak said. “He got the wind knocked out of him, and he couldn’t recover in time.”
Reese rebounded to defeat Quaker Valley’s Jack Diemert in the consolation semifinals guaranteeing him at least a fourth-place medal.
And that is where he landed as he decided to forfeit out of his third-place match.
“His ribs were still sore, and we didn’t want to put him in danger at that point,” Supak said.
“He’s really mentally focused right now on what he hopes to do the rest of the season. He’s also getting ready to make a decision on where he wants to go (to wrestle in college).”
Sepelyak won five of his six matches at the county tournament which raised his season record to 24-6. Of the five wins, two were pins, and two were decisions.
His third-place match ended with a major decision win, 15-5 over Quaker Valley’s Marcus Richey.
Sepelyak was denied a spot in the finals by Thomas Jefferson’s Bode Marlow, a two-time Class 3A state qualifier who placed third at 160 last year as a junior. Marlow owns a career record of 145-29.
Marlow pinned Sepelyak in 1:11.
“We were saying that if Julien was on the opposite side of the bracket, there was a very good chance that he would’ve had a good shot to be in the finals,” Supak said. “But Bode is looking very good right now and looking like he’s the top contender at his weight in the state. Julien had a rough match with him, but all of his other matches were against top guys in the WPIAL, and he pretty much had his way with them.
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“He’s in a good place with a mindset to score points. With the new scoring system, it rewards you for being offensive. He’s taking advantage of that.”
Plum wrestlers are in the practice room working toward their next matchup, a senior-night contest against Fox Chapel on Feb. 5. It will be part of a boys-girls doubleheader with the Foxes.
Sepelyak and Reese will be honored that night, along with Mason Essig and Luca Schneiderlochner.
“Fox Chapel is a good team. They’re always solid, and it’s always a good battle,” Supak said. “We like that little bit of a rivalry. It will definitely be a good matchup.”