Pierson Manville becomes first PIAA wrestling champion for State College since 2003
It has been 19 years since a State College wrestler has been able to claim they are the greatest in the state.
After Saturday evening, the Little Lions can say the streak has been snapped.
Sophomore Pierson Manville worked his way through a difficult 138-pound weight class of the PIAA Class 3A Championships to claim the title: best in the state.
Manville is the first state champion for the State College program since Matt Kocher accomplished the feat in 2003 at the then 140-pound weight class.
“Basically, I can say it’s amazing. The truth is, it’s exhilarating, I’m so happy that I did it,” Manville said after winning. “I knew I had it in me. Last year, it was a little stumble, but this year, I did it.”
Manville also becomes the first Centre County athlete to grab gold since 2020, when three wrestlers in Bald Eagle Area’s Gage McClenahan, and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Caleb Dowling and Tyler Stoltzfus all won Class 2A titles in the same year. Just to add to his historical feat, he is the first 3A wrestler since the Eagles’ Jacob Taylor claimed a crown in 2013.
Manville was appearing in his first PIAA Championships, but wasn’t unfamiliar with a state tournament.
Before coming to State College, he competed in Minnesota, where the varsity level gets started in the sixth grade. He claimed a state title in seventh grade at 106 pounds. He also finished third at 126 pounds in his eighth grade year.
Manville had to win two matches on Saturday to claim his title, but had to go through two returning state champions to make it happen.
“It is a culmination of years of hard work that he’s put in. The dedication and everything that goes into it, is a lot,” Little Lions coach Ryan Cummins said. “He deserves every bit of his success. We are happy for him. They were all exciting matches. To go through two other state champs, to win it, couldn’t make it any tougher. He got through it. It just shows the kind of competitor that he is.”
The sophomore had no problems reaching the semifinals as he opened his PIAA debut with a pin of Emmaus’ Nick Velde on Thursday. He locked up his first PIAA medal with a 20-5 technical fall on Friday night over Manheim Township’s Aliazer Alicea to make the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Manville saw himself taking on the reigning 126-pound PIAA champion in Bethlehem Catholic’s Tyler Kasak. Kasak was undefeated on the season and had already beaten Manville earlier this year, 4-2.
On Saturday morning, Kasak again was leading Manville, 1-0, late in the third period, when Manville suddenly elevated Kasak over to his back. As Kasak was going over, Manville wrapped both his legs around Kasak’s body and pinned the champ in 5:39, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
“I’m just happy that I did that. If I didn’t do that, I’m probably not in this situation, maybe I’m in third or maybe fifth,” Manville said. “I’m happy I did it in that manner; it was a pretty sweet thing. I celebrated with my coaches, that was the greatest thing.”
Manville said he celebrated the win for about a hour, but then refocused in preparation for Saturday night’s events.
In the finals, Manville took on Hempfield Area’s Briar Priest, who was another familiar opponent for the Little Lion. Manville edged Priest, 4-3, in the Powerade tournament at the end of December.
Saturday evening’s match was just as tight.
Manville secured the first points of the match with an arm drag to a takedown on the edge of the mat with 50 seconds remaining in the first period. Priest escaped to make it 2-1 after one period.
Priest tied the bout at 2-2 with an escape in the second period. In the third period, things got a little dicey for Manville.
He escaped 10 seconds into the period, but Priest took him down with just under one minute remaining in the bout. Manville stayed calm and escaped with just over 30 seconds remaining.
“He got taken down there at the end, it scared me,” Cummins said. “It probably didn’t scare him. He had to fight back and get it in overtime. He’s a heck of a competitor. He’s a champion.”
The duo went to sudden victory with neither wrestler scoring, so it was time for ride out periods. Priest had choice first and deferred to Manville, who went down. Manville escaped with 18 seconds remaining to go up 5-4.
In the second ride out period, Manville rode Priest out for the full 30 seconds to claim the crown. With his accomplishments, he also earned the championships’ Outstanding Wrestler award.
“(I was thinking about) how proud my grandparents, and my granddad especially, is being in Alabama. He brags about me in the paper all the time,” Manville said, fighting back tears. “I was just so happy. (I thought) about all the time I wrestled with my brother, Mason, and John (Ross), a younger coach who graduated from Lock Haven.
“He was coaching junior high, and volunteered his time to help me in the mornings of the last two days, and my brother for the last four afternoons. I’m just really happy that I have people that care about me, and want to see me succeed in life. It’s probably the greatest thing to happen.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 12:42 AM.
