Here are Centre County’s high school wrestling stat leaders for the 2021 season

The 2020-21 high school wrestling has come to a close.

Once the shortened season finally got started in mid-to-late January, it took off and flew by. When it was all said and done, Centre County had nine PIAA medalists — and had a finalist for the second straight year.

There were four schools in Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley and State College that competed in the team dual championships. The Red Raiders went the furthest by reaching the PIAA Class 3A team dual quarterfinals, before seeing their season come to a close.

Here’s a look at which wrestler finished the season as the county’s leader:

Wins

With Bellefonte having the most action of all six of the county’s schools, it comes as no surprise to see a Red Raider finish as the leader in this category.

Junior Jude Swisher finished with 29 wins this season. He had just three losses. He finished third in the state at 132 pounds, which was the highest of his career and for the county in Class 3A this year.

Swisher finished with a Northwest Regional title, runner-up in District 6 and finished third in the inaugural Western Super Regional. He is joined by four other teammates in the top-10 of this category.

There was one more county wrestler who was able to get to 20 wins on the season this week.

Bellefonte’s Aidan O’Shea became the sixth county wrestler to reach that mark in the shortened season. O’Shea stuck a 15-0 technical fall on Williamsport’s Luke Segraves in 5:27 of wrestling during that quarterfinals match.

Falls & Fastest Falls

The Red Raiders’ Ethan Richner was a pinning machine this year.

Of his 25 victories, 14 of them were by fall. Richner’s 14 pins were two ahead of teammate Ethan Rossman.

The senior began his season with a pin in 39 seconds, and finished with a pin in 38 seconds. The most recent came in the team quarterfinals match, where he stuck Williamsport’s Connor Hunsberger.

Richner began his year with a four-fall streak and won six of his first 10 bouts by way of the fall.

With so many falls, it comes as no surprise to see Richner the leader in the fastest falls lists, too. However, he isn’t alone.

The Red Radiers’ wrestler along with State College’s Carson Manville each had a fall in 13 seconds this season. Richner actually had two victories in that time frame.

He also has two other times on the list, which were 10th on the list at 23 seconds.

Richner’s teammate Max Barrier added a new time to the list this week. He stuck Williamsport’s Ryan Dunlap in 15 seconds for the fifth fastest time in the county.

Technical Falls

State College’s Lance Urbas was all about scoring points this season. The senior’s seven technical falls led the way for the county.

He had one more than Swisher and teammate Pierson Manville.

After receiving two forfeits to begin the year, the Penn commit won five of his next six bouts by way of the technical fall. He outscored his opponents 87-11 in that span.

Urbas’ last technical fall victory came during the District 6 championships on Feb. 20. He stuck an 18-3 rout on Hollidaysburg’s Aaron Sleeth for a true second-place finish.

Urbas hung three technical falls on Sleeth this season in the Big 7 tournament finals, dual meet and District 6 championships. Urbas outscored Sleeth, 57-12, in those three matches.

Major Decisions

In this category, there was a pair of county wrestlers who finished at the top.

Bellefonte’s Lane Aikey and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Zack Witmer were teammates at one point. As the season came to a close, Aikey was able to climb into a tie with Witmer with five major decisions.

The duo were just one ahead of a trio of wrestlers in Swisher, Bald Eagle Area’s Cooper Gilham and the Red Raiders’ Garrett Choates.

Witmer has led the county in this category since the postseason began. He had very limited activity due to the Wolves only competing in one tournament this season before the postseason began.

The Columbia commit had his most recent major decision come when he topped Lewisburg’s Kaiden Wagner, 10-2, in the PIAA Class 2A consolation semifinals. He used that same score to top Penns Valley’s Ty Wayston to claim a District 6 Class 2A Section 2 title.

Aikey much like Witmer had limited opportunities this season, but for a different reason.

The senior never made his season debut until the postseason due to recovering from an injury. He had five of his eight victories be major decisions.

Aikey closed out his season with three straight major decisions to climb up the leaderboard. In that span, he outscored his opponents, 36-1. His most recent was a 14-0 win over Williamsport’s Devin Harris.

Aikey also used an 8-0 win over Altoona’s Caleb Fasick to claim the District 6 Class 3A 120-pound title.

Wins

Falls

Fastest Fall

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

This story was originally published March 28, 2021 at 11:07 AM.

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.