There was a rumor amongst some wrestling coaches that this was the last year the PIAA individual wrestling championships would be held at Giant Center in Hershey.
That rumor is false.
While there is a rift between the PIAA and Hershey Entertainment, mainly because the PIAA moved the football and soccer championships to Cumberland Valley High School a few years ago, the two parties did sign a four-year agreement (2025-28) for the individual wrestling and basketball championships to remain at Giant Center.
The team wrestling championships were at Altoona High School, and the cheer championships were held in Reading.
Hershey Entertainment did not want the PIAA team wrestling and cheer championships, which forced the PIAA to look elsewhere, and they did schedule other events, a hockey game the night before the individual wrestling championships and Cirque du Soleil the usual weekend for this year’s basketball championships. That forced the basketball championships to be moved back a week.
WPIAL wrestlers in NCAAs
Numerous WPIAL wrestlers qualified for the NCAA championships on March 20-22 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
There could be an interesting matchup in Round 2 of the championship between the Stout brothers. The Mt. Lebanon grads could meet. Luke Stout (Princeton) must defeat Drexel’s Mickey O’Malley in his first-round match, and Mac Stout (Pitt) must get by Cornell’s Michael Dellagatta.
Here is a list of the local and district college wrestlers to qualify:
125: Luke Lilledahl, Penn State; Nick Babin, Pitt; Jett Strickenberger, West Virginia.
133: Kurt Phipps, Bucknell, Norwin; Braeden Davis, Penn State; Colton Camacho, Edinboro, Franklin Regional; Ethan Berginc, Army, Jeannette (Hempfield).
141: Wyatt Henson, Lock Haven, Waynesburg; Dylan Chappell, Lock Haven, Seneca Valley; Briar Priest, Pitt, Hempfield; Jordan Titus, West Virginia; Beau Bartlett, Penn State.
149: Shayne Van Ness, Penn State; Gabe Willochell, Wyoming, Latrobe; Finn Solomon, Pitt, Franklin Regional (alternate).
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157: Tyler Kasak, Penn State; Dylan Evans, Pitt, Chartiers Valley.
165: Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State; Jared Keslar, Pitt, Connellsville; Mac Church, Virginia Tech, Waynesburg; Peyton Hall, West Virginia.
174: Luca Augustine, Pitt, Waynesburg; Levi Haines, Penn State.
184: Carter Starocci, Penn State; Reece Heller, Pitt; Dennis Robin, West Virginia.
197: Josh Barr, Penn State; Ian Bush, West Virginia; Luke Stout, Princeton, Mt. Lebanon; Mac Stout, Pitt, Mt. Lebanon.
285: Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State; Dayton Pitzer, Pitt, Mt. Pleasant.
Teams set for Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic
Thomas Jefferson senior Maddox Shaw is the only wrestler selected to represent the WPIAL on the Pennsylvania squad in the 51st Pittsburgh Wresting Classic on March 29 at AHN Arena at Peters Township High School.
The Pennsylvania squad will face a powerful United States squad at 6 p.m.
Before the feature match, the Pennsylvania girls will battle New Jersey at 3 p.m., and the WPIAL All-Stars will face New Jersey at 4:15 p.m.
Shaw (152 pounds) is a two-time PIAA champion who is headed to Ohio State.
Two Penn State commits, Wyoming Seminary’s Nathan Desmond (127) and State College’s Asher Cunningham (172), are on the squad. Cunningham is a two-time PIAA champion.
Also on the state team are three-time champion Northern Lebanon’s Aaron Seidel (133) and two-time champions Tahir Parkins (139) of Nazareth and Collin Gaj (160) of Quakertown.
Heading the USA squad, which features 12 top-10 ranked wrestlers, are No. 1-ranked Daniel Zepeda (152) of Gilroy, Calif., Landon Robideau (160) of St. Michael, Minn., and LaDarion Lockett (172) of Stillwater, Okla.
Headlining the WPIAL team that will face the New Jersey All-Stars are three-time WPIAL champion Luke Willochell of Latrobe at 133 and two-time champions Bode Marlow (172) and heavyweight Shepherd Turk of Thomas Jefferson and Nico Fanella (127) of Indiana
Also named to the team were Latrobe’s Leo Joseph (121), Pine-Richland’s Dominic Ferraro (139), Baldwin’s Ramil Islamov (145), Connellsville’s Evan Petrovich (152) and Lonzy Vielma (160), Kiski Area’s Mark Gray (189) and Ringgold’s Jake Conroy (215).
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Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic
Pennsylvania Team
121: Gauge Botero, Faith Christian Academy
127: Nathan Desmond, Wyoming Seminary
133: Aaron Seidel, Northern Lebanon
139: Tahir Parkins, Nazareth
145: Eren Sement, Council Rock North
152: Maddox Shaw, Thomas Jefferson
160: Collin Gaj, Quakertown
160: Kollin Rath, Bethlehem Catholic
172: Asher Cunningham, State College
189: Tyler Morrison, West Perry
215: Austin Johnson, Muncy
285: Rowan Holmes, Somerset
WPIAL All-Stars
121: Leo Joseph, Latrobe
127: Nico Fanella. Indiana
133: Luke Willochell, Latrobe
139: Dominic Ferraro, Pine-Richland
145: Ramil Islamov, Baldwin
152: Evan Petrovich, Connellsville
160: Lonzy Vielma, Connellsville
172: Bode Marlow, Thomas Jefferson
189: Mark Gray Kiski Area
189: Braedon Welsh, Fort Cherry
215: Jake Conroy, Ringgold
285: Shepherd Turk, Thomas Jefferson