Here are Centre County’s high school wrestling stat leaders through Jan. 24

As the second week of the high school wrestling season has come to a close, all of Centre County’s programs have seen action.

Penns Valley and Bald Eagle Area were able to get their first duals of the season completed. The Rams are 2-0 after beating Philipsburg-Osceola and West Branch this week.

The Eagles, Bellefonte and State College all competed in their first tournaments of the year on Saturday in the Big 7 Conference tournament. The Red Raiders won the team race with 187.5 points as the Little Lions finished just 3.5 points behind in second.

The Mounties had two other duals this week, and were able to get their first dual win, over West Branch, on Friday.

So, let’s take a look at this week’s leaders:

Wins

It’s no surprise to see a lot of Bellefonte wrestlers at the top of this list since they are the team with the most competition so far this year.

The Red Raiders have four wrestlers in Addison Shawley, Ethan Richner, Ethan Rossman and Jude Swisher with seven wins on the season. Shawley is the most surprising of the four county leaders.

The sophomore is making his varsity debut this year, and on Saturday he claimed his first tournament crown by winning the 285-pound Big 7 title. He had three wins with taking out Altoona’s Trevor Manley, a PIAA Northwest Regional qualifier from last season, in the semifinals, and Central Mountain’s Gage Sutliff, a defending District 6 Class 3A champion, in the finals.

Richner, Rossman and Swisher just keep steamrolling through the season, as they are all undefeated.

Bellefonte has a trio of wrestlers in Aidan O’Shea, Gage Long and Max Barrier, along with Philipsburg-Osecola’s Hunter Weitoish and Nick Coudriet just a win behind those four leaders.

There are 10 other wrestlers that have at least five wins so far this season. Six of those wrestlers are from State College, which includes Nick Pavlechko, who like Shawley is making his varsity debut, but as a freshman.

Pavlechko won the 215-pound Big 7 title in his first varsity tournament.

Just outside the top 10 is Bald Eagle Area’s Cooper Gilham, who has three victories this season. His third win of the year was a historical one as Gilham earned his 100th career victory.

The senior topped Bellefonte’s Nate Smith 6-2 to take third at 126 pounds in the Big 7 tournament.

“Coop is a great kid and hard worker,” Eagles coach Ron Guenot said. “You are not going to find a kid like Coop. He is a great kid in the classroom and to have in the room. I’m proud of him. I know he’s not done, but we are going to keep him building on that 100.”

Pins

Richner still remains at the top of this list as he was able to add one more fall in the Big 7 tournament. He is up to five on the season.

He flattened Jersey Shore’s Tyler Bauder to earn the 160-pound title in the finals.

Just behind Richner is Rossman and Pavlechko, with four falls a piece.

Rossman had a fall against Central on Thursday in a dual. He opened his run toward a 189-pound Big 7 title by sticking Altoona’s Josh Keirn in the semifinals.

As previously mentioned, Pavlechko was able to claim his first varsity tournament title on Saturday. He did so in style by opening with a pin and closing with a pin.

Bald Eagle Area’s Mason Reese came out of nowhere to leap frog onto the top-10 list by claiming three pins in the Big 7 tournament. He is joined by six other wrestlers who have three pins on the year.

Reese opened his 138-pound run by sticking Hollidaysburg’s Weston Barnes. Reese then used back-to-back falls to finish third.

Bellefonte’s Smith and Long each added two falls on Saturday to get to three.

P-O had Weitoish and Austin Foster claim two pins this week in their duals as teammate Nick Coudriet added another this week to reach three.

Penns Valley’s Malachi DuVall, who led the county last year with 29 pins, earned two this week, his first was sticking Weitoish on Tuesday in a highly anticipated match, and then took care of his West Branch opponent on Saturday.

Fastest Falls

There were several new times added this week, but none have topped Richner’s top two times of 23 seconds. And the fastest time to get on the list was lowered to 42 seconds.

Penns Valley’s Ben Sharer came onto the board with the third fastest fall of the year. He topped West Branch’s Billy Bumbarger in 30 seconds for his first match since 4th grade.

DuVall came in fourth by pinning West Branch’s Logan Folmar on Saturday in 31 seconds.

Bellefonte’s Max Barrier took no time against Central’s Ben Detwiler on Thursday. Barrier stuck Detwiler in 33 seconds.

On Saturday, State College’s Harrison Schoen opened his Big 7 tournament by pinning BEA’s Nathan Antonuccio in 34 seconds. His time is good for fifth.

The Eagles’ Lucas Fye competed in his first varsity tournament as a freshman, and opened with a bang. He pinned State College’s Maddy Baney in 40 seconds at 106 pounds. His time is good for seventh in the county.

Rossman came up one second shy of tying Fye. He pinned Altoona’s Josh Keirn in the semifinals in 41 seconds.

Technical falls & Major decisions

There is a new leader in each category.

State College’s Lance Urbas leads the county with three technical falls, which all came this week.

Urbas opened his week with a 15-0 victory over Central Dauphin’s Ethan Pae on Tuesday. In the Big 7 tournament, the senior outscored his two opponents 34-3 en route to the 172-pound title.

Urbas used an 18-3 win in the finals over Hollidaysburg’s Aaron Sleeth to claim the crown.

Swisher added another technical fall this week by topping Altoona’s Damion Finnegan in the semifinals 24-9. Swisher is chasing Bellefonte’s takedown record, which is estimated at 106. He currently has 59 with a little under one month of the regular season left.

State College’s Pierson Manville had two technical falls in his first varsity tournament as a freshman. He outscored his opponents 32-0 to make the 132-pound finals.

Five other wrestlers in Richner, Bellefonte’s Garrett Choates, P-O’s Marcus Gable and the Little Lions’ Carter Weaverling and Ty Price all secured their first technical falls.

A week ago, there were only five county wrestlers who had a major decision victories. This week, there are 14.

Four of those 14 athletes have two now for the county lead. They include the Mounties’ Parker Moore and a trio of State College wrestlers in Kyle Martin, Owen Woolcott and Thomas Hill.

Martin and Hill each had two in the Big 7 tournament to join the list. Martin outscored his opponents 20-4, and used an 11-3 win over Altoona’s Matt Bowser to reach the 145-pound consolation finals. Martin won that match, too.

Hill earned his two victories over the same opponent. He topped Altoona’s Eli Wisor 12-0 to open his Big 7 tournament. Hill then topped Wisor 10-1 to finish fifth at 113 pounds.

Moore and Woolcott each added a major decision to stay in the lead from a week ago. Moore topped West Branch’s Ethan Yingling on Friday 10-2. Woolcott beat Bellefonte’s Smith 10-0 to reach the 126-pound finals on Saturday.

Bald Eagle Area’s Grace Stem was one of seven wrestler to join the list this week. Stem opened the Big 7 tournament with a 15-5 major decision over Bowser.

Wins

Falls

Fastest Fall

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 5:10 PM.

Nate Cobler

Centre Daily Times

814-231-4609

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.