High School Sports

Here are Centre County’s high school wrestling leaders through Dec. 22

The high school wrestling season is now three weeks in for Centre County’s teams.

All the schools have competed in at least one tournament and have had several duals.

Philipsburg-Osceola leads the county with three dual wins, but Bellefonte is the only team undefeated after topping previously unbeaten Bald Eagle Area on Thursday. State College was undefeated until falling to Mifflin County on Thursday.

As for the individuals, here’s a look at which athlete leads the county in wins, pins, fastest fall, technical falls and major decisions.

Wins

There are eight county wrestlers to have 10-plus wins already this season. There is a three-way tie at the top between a pair of Penns Valley wrestlers and a freshman from State College.

The Rams’ Malachi DuVall and Clayton Royer along with the Little Lions’ Hayden Cunningham each have amassed 12 wins so far. All of these wrestlers have at least one loss, too.

State College has another duo in Lance Urbas and Eric Weaver one victory behind the leaders. Bellefonte’s Ethan Richner and Jude Swisher along with another Little Lion in Owen Woolcott have 10 exact wins. Richner is undefeated on the season.

There are four others needing just one more win after the Christmas break to get No. 10.

Pins

DuVall has been dominating his opponents this year. In his 12 wins, 11 of them are pins. He is the lone wrestler to have double-digit pins.

The only time he didn’t pin his opponent was in the consolation semifinals of the Penn Cambria Panther Holiday Classic last weekend. The junior holds a comfortable four-pin lead over Richner.

Richner, just like DuVall, has recorded bonus points in all of his victories except one, which was the finals of the King of the Mountain tournament last weekend.

A pin behind Richner with six sees Urbas and Cunningham, who have pinned at least half of the opponents they’ve beaten.

Bald Eagle Area’s Drew Koleno, Swisher, Penns Valley’s Dristen Wolfe and Weaver and Woolcott round out the top 10 with have five pins a piece.

Fastest Fall

Bellefonte’s Tyler Benner has wrestled seven matches this year.

He is 4-3, but his first win of the season was an eight-seconds pin of Southern Huntingdon’s Breydan Whisler in the season-opening St. Marys Kickoff tournament. It’s the fastest fall as of right now.

It may be the best of the season, much like two years ago when State College’s Jackson Heasley got a quick fall early in the year that lasted all season long.

Benner’s teammate Stephen Ivicic is in second with an 18-seconds fall of Cameron County’s Dein Snyder in the St. Marys tournament.

Bald Eagle Area’s Gage McClenahan is making a memorable return to the mat after missing his junior year with a knee injury suffered in the football season. He pinned Bellefonte’s Brady Martin in 21 seconds in the Thursday dual, which is third best.

Richner and Penns Valley’s Nate Long round out the top-5 fastest times with a 22-seconds and 24-seconds pin, respectively. Richner is on the list twice as he had a 26-seconds fall to follow that 22-seconds victory in the St. Marys Kickoff. The junior was on the mat a total of 48 seconds in his first two matches of the year.

DuVall had one his 11 falls in the top-10 fastest as he is tied with State College’s Bailey Weaverling with a 28-seconds victory.

Technical Falls

Just as Royer is tied for the county lead with wins, he is also tied for the lead of this category with St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Caleb Dowling.

Each wrestler has four on the season.

Royer has outscored his opponents 66-4 in his victories. Dowling, who will continue his career at West Virginia, has outscored his opponents 66-5 in his victories. He used three straight technical falls to win the 152-pound Tom Best Memorial Top Hat crown to start the year.

Dowling’s teammate Tyler Stoltsfuz, who will wrestle at Lock Haven next year, and State College’s Clayton Leidy are tied for second with three technical falls a piece.

Woolcott, Bellefonte’s Ethan Rossman and the Wolves’ Zack Witmer are the only other county wrestles to have multiple technical falls on the season.

Seven other county wrestlers have at least one technical fall victory.

Major Decisions

There are just four wrestlers to have more than one major decision this year.

The Eagles’ Cooper Gilham is the leader with three this year. Two of them came in the King of the Mountain tournament last weekend and the other was in BEA’s dual victory over Central on Wednesday.

Gilham opened his King of the Mountain with a 10-2 defeat of West Chester Henderson’s Billy Wilson. His second came in the third round of consolations over Saegertown’s Brandon Gaus, 15-3. On Wednesday, he topped the Scarlet Dragons’ Ian Crouch 11-1.

Urbas, his teammate Tate McLaughlin and Philipsburg-Osceola’s Chase Chapman were the others to have multiple major decisions.

Urbas has outscored his opponents in his victories 19-1. McLaughlin’s advantage in his wins is 30-6. Chapman topped his opponents 28-5.

Outside of these four wrestlers, 19 others were able to record at least one major decision so far.

Wins

NameSchoolTotal
T1. Malachi DuVallPenns Valley12
T1. Clayton RoyerPenns Valley12
T1. Hayden CunninghamState College12
T4. Lance UrbasState College11
T4. Eric WeaverState College11
T6. Ethan RichnerBellefonte10
T6. Jude SwisherBellefonte10
T6. Owen WoolcottState College10
T9. 4 wrestlers

9

Falls

NameSchoolTotal
1. Malachi DuVallPenns Valley11
2. Ethan RichnerBellefonte7
T3. Hayden CunninghamState College6
T3. Lance UrbasState College6
T5. Drew KolenoBald Eagle Area5
T5. Jude SwisherBellefonte5
T5. Dristen WolfePenns Valley5
T5. Eric WeaverState College5
T5. Owen WoolcottState College5
T10. 8 wrestlers

4

Fastest Fall

NameSchoolTime
1. Tyler BennerBellefonte:08
2. Stephen IvicicBellefonte:18
3. Gage McClenahanBald Eagle Area:21
4. Ethan RichnerBellefonte:22
5. Nate LongPenns Valley:24
6. Eric WeaverState College:25
T7. Drew KolenoBald Eagle Area:26
T7. Ethan RichnerBellefonte:26
T9. Malachi DuVallPenns Valley:28
T9. Bailey WeaverlingState College:28

Technical Falls

NameSchoolTotal
T1. Clayton RoyerPenns Valley4
T1. Caleb DowlingSt. Joseph’s4
T3. Tyler StoltzfusSt. Joseph’s3
T3. Clayton LeidyState College3
T5. Ethan RossmanBellefonte2
T5. Zack WitmerSt. Joseph’s2
T5. Owen WoolcottState College2
T8. 7 wrestlers

1

Major Decisions

NameSchoolTotal
1. Cooper GilhamBald Eagle Area3
T2. Chase ChapmanPhilipsburg-Osceola2
T2. Tate McLaughlinState College2
T2. Lance UrbasState College2
T5. 19 wrestlers

1
Nate Cobler
Centre Daily Times
Nate Cobler is a part-time reporter covering all things wrestling, either Penn State or Centre County’s high schools, for the Centre Daily Times. He’ll also cover other sports too. When he isn’t writing about sports, he is working for a local mortgage broker, Providence Mortgage Group.
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