Here’s who made moves on Centre County’s wrestling leaderboards before 2024 begins

After taking a break for Christmas, Centre County’s boys wrestling teams got some tournament action in right before the new year begins.

Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Philipsburg-Osceola and State College were those teams hitting the mats.

The Eagles traveled to Chambersburg High School for the MyHouse Trojan Wars. The Little Lions went west to Canon-McMillan High School for the illustrious Powerade Tournament.

The Red Raiders and Mounties headed to Conestoga Valley High School for the Neil Turner Memorial Holiday Classic.

BEA claimed the team title by recording 181.5 team points with three champions as part of its four placewinners. The Eagles finished 25.5 points ahead of Conwell-Egan.

State College also had three champions, but that was its only placewinners. The Little Lions finished seventh as a team with 125 points. Wyoming Seminary won the team title with 229 points.

Bellefonte finished 15th with 80.5 points as P-O was tied for 16th with 75 points. Central Dauphin won the tournament with 169.5 points. The Red Raiders and Mounties each had three placewinners, but P-O had a finalist.

Before the Christmas break, Penns Valley and State College earned some dual victories on Dec. 21.

The Rams cruised over Mifflinburg, 61-4. The Little Lions won the final two bouts to rally past Cedar Cliff, 34-32.

The county’s girls teams saw their action all come to a close before Christmas.

BEA suffered identical 24-18 losses to Sugar Valley Rural Charter School and Muncy on Dec. 19. The Lady Eagles and State College traveled to Bishop McCort High School for a tournament on Dec. 23.

The Lady Little Lions had the highest finish of the schools in sixth with 56 points. They had a trio of placewinners with one being a champion.

BEA finished 12th with 36 points, and had two placewinners. The Lady Eagles had a pair of finalists as Sagertown won the team title with 125 points.

Here’s a look at the county’s leaders as 2024 gets set to kick off.

BOYS

Wins

The Eagles’ Tanner Guenot (107 pounds), Lucas Fye (127) and Caleb Close (189) all had perfect Trojan Wars tournaments to claim titles. Caden Judice (114) was the other placewinner for BEA.

Judice leads his team with 16 wins, but Guenot, Fye and Close aren’t too far behind him. Judice’s victories are good for third in the county.

The three champs had five victories en route to their titles, with Judice earning four. Guenot need a takedown with less than five seconds left to top Perkiomen Valley’s Max Tancini, 7-6.

Close, who just recently committed to American University, used an early third period reversal to edge General McLane’s Magnus Lloyd, 2-0. Fye had no problems with South Carroll’s (MD) Jojo Gigliotti, 7-3.

Guenot and Fye have 14 wins a piece, which is tied for sixth in the county with Bellefonte’s Wyatt Long.

Close has 13 victories, which is good for ninth in the county. He is tied with the Red Raiders’ Noah Weaver, and Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk and Ty Watson.

Weaver (145) and Long (107) each tallied five wins on their way to their fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively. Teammate Ezra Swisher (139) also had five win, and was the other placewinner for Bellefonte in fifth. Swisher leads the Red Raiders with 15 wins.

The county wins leader remained State College’s Asher Cunningham. Cunningham (160), along with teammates Pierson Manville (145) and Nick Pavlechko (285) were the Powerade champions for the Little Lions.

Cunningham was the first to win his title as Manville’s match was the last championship bout of the night. Cunningham needed a late reversal in the third period to top Delbarton’s (NJ) Alessio Perentin, 6-4.

Manville had an escape in the second period, and a solid top game to get past Malvern Prep’s Jack Consiglio, 1-0. Three weeks ago, Manville beat Consiglio in the Walsh Jesuit Ironman finals, 7-2.

Pavlechko used an early third period reversal of St. Joseph Regional’s (NJ) Rocco Dellagatta to earn a 2-0 win.

They each had five wins a piece in the tournament but also earned bout victories in the dual against Cedar Cliff.

Cunningham became the first county wrestler to get over 20 wins as he is at 21. Pavlechko needs one more win to get to 20. Cunningham’s 20th win was a 6-0 win over Cleveland’s (TN) Logan Fowler in the semifinals.

Manville reached another historic milestone in his wrestling career as he was able to secure his 100th victory while wrestling for State College. He topped Southern Regional’s (NJ) Wyatt Stout, 9-3, in the third round.

There are now 75 county wrestlers with a win, but here’s a look at which county wrestlers got to 10 wins:

Bald Eagle Area: Fye (14 wins) pinned Sun Valley’s Timmy Kearney in 3:07 of their second round match; Guenot (14) hung a 15-0 technical fall on Parkersburg’s Seth Drennen in 4:33 of their second round match; Close (13) flattened Palmyra’s Kadin Jones in 1:41 of their third round match; Gage Gardner (11) shut out Sherando’s Kaden Hurst, 4-0, in Gardner’s tournament opener; Shawn Knepp (10) pinned ELCO’s David Nelson in 2:28 of their consolation second round match.

Bellefonte: Long (14) stuck Central Dauphin’s Brayden Powell in 1:37 of his tournament opener; Weaver (13) shut out Salesianum’s Chase Thompson, 15-0, in 3:33 of their second round bout.

Penns Valley: Connor Myers (10) had a 15-0 technical fall of Mifflinburg’s Coltyn Wagner in 4:56.

Philipsburg-Osceola: Marcus Gable (10), who was the finalist for the Mounties, had a 9-1 major decision over Central Dauphin’s Liam Flanagan.

State College: Manville (15) pinned Cedar Cliff’s Evan Zeigler in 51 seconds; James Whitbred (12) pinned Norwin’s Aidan Shieh in 2:30 of their consolation second round match; Noah Young (12) edged West Allegheny’s Cade Stern, 3-2 in their Powerade opener.

Pins

This week saw Pavlechko take over the top spot because he had five falls.

He became the second county wrestler to get to 10 pins with Cunningham joining him.

Pavlechko’s 10th pin was when he flattened Cedar Cliff’s Guner Hiller in 1:37. However, the Indiana commit pinned his way to the Powerade finals, collecting four falls.

His fastest pin was in the second round of Burrell’s Ayden Kun in 59 seconds. Pavlechko now has 14 pins on the year.

Cunningham is tied with Penns Valley’s Ethan Fetterolf, who was the leader, with 11 falls. His 10th pin was in 1:16 of Norwin’s Nick Puskar in the second round.

Cunningham added one more pin in the quarterfinals. Fetterolf had a fall of Mifflinburg’s Oliver Patte in 5:31 to keep pace.

Long, Young and BEA’s Eric Clark all added three pins over this week’s action.

Long has the most pins of the three with seven. He opened his tournament with back-to-back falls to make the quarterfinals.

Clark and Young each have six falls.

Clark was dropped into the consolation bracket after suffering a loss in the second round, but he stayed alive with three straight falls before being eliminated in the blood round. Young pinned Cedar Cliff’s Cael Skorka in 50 seconds during the dual, and added a pair of pins in the Powerade.

There are now 65 wrestlers to have at least one pin.

Technical falls

Weaver, Guenot and P-O’s Connor Guenot were the lone county wrestlers to secure multiple technical falls this week.

Weaver had a pair in his tournament run, which got him to four on the year. He’s one behind Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk, who leads the county with five technical falls.

Weaver opened his Neil Turner Memorial Holiday Classic with back-to-back technical falls. He outscored his opponents, 31-0, and both came in the second period of each match.

Tanner Guenot and Connor Guenot weren’t on the list a week ago, but after having multiple techs, they are tied for third in the county with four others.

Tanner Guenot had consecutive technical falls to reach the quarterfinals. He held a 31-1 advantage over his foes, and picked up the victories in the third periods.

Connor Guenot, who finished eighth for the Mounties, opened his tournament with a 15-0 shutout of Delaware Military Academy’s Cyrus Hurley in 2:51. Guenot used a 16-0 win over Harrisburg’s Kynelle Brown to stay alive in the consolation bracket.

Fastest falls & major decisions

Bellefonte’s Jack McHail set the newest fastest fall time this week.

He pinned Salisbury’s Township’s Gavin Cerco in 13 seconds of their consolation first round match. McHail’s winning time bumped teammate Cameron Garcia out of the top spot.

State College’s Jacob Campbell added another fastest fall time this week when he stuck Grundy’s (VA) Jacob Fields in 27 seconds of their second round consolation match.

Gable became the new leader at the top of the major decisions category as he added two this week to get to three on the year.

He used his major decisions to reach the finals of the Neil Turner Memorial Holiday Classic at 145 pounds. Gable had a 16-4 win in the quarterfinals over Hamburg’s Daniel Brady. Then, he followed up with a 9-1 victory over Central Dauphin’s Liam Flanagan.

Whitbred was the only other wrestler to secure multiple major decisions this week to climb onto the leaderboard.

GIRLS

Wins

There’s a new lady at the top of this category in BEA’s Grace Crestani.

Crestani had four victories to get to eight on the year. She had a pair in the Bishop McCort tournament, and was able to make the 170-pound finals. Crestani did suffer a loss in that finals match.

State College’s Anna Lackey (112 pounds) also had a second-place finish in the Bishop McCort tournament. She had a pair of wins to get to seven on the year.

Crestani’s teammate Eden Eveleth (106 pounds) had a trio of wins this week. She only needed one victory to claim the title at Bishop McCort. Her five wins are tied for fourth in the county with P-O’s Daisy Glessner.

The Lady Little Lions’ Isabelle Dubler made her first appearance on the leaderboard as she got her first taste of victory. Dubler collected four wins on her way to a third place finish at Bishop McCort.

Dubler’s teammate Kendall Thomas also got her first taste of victory, when she put together two wins to earn a title at Bishop McCort in her first ever wrestling tournament.

Pins

It’s pretty crowded at the top of this category as four wrestlers are tied for the county lead with five falls.

Crestani and Lackey joined Glessner and Glessner’s teammate Isabella DuVall this week.

Crestani had a dominant week as all of her wins were pins. She pinned her way to the Bishop McCort finals.

Lackey pinned her way to the finals as well. Her fastest was in the quarterfinals, where she stuck Redbank Valley’s Breanna Crawford in 1:31.

Eveleth had a pair of pins to get to three on the year. She pinned Carlisle’s Laurel Kuhn in 3:08 of their finals match of the Bishop McCort Tournament.

Thomas and Dubler each made the leaderboard this week with multiple falls.

Thomas pinned her way to her title. Her pin of Carlisle’s Aubrey Breeding in 1:19 of the semifinals was her fastest.

Dubler had back-to-back pins to open her tournament. Her 55-seconds flattening of Redbank Valley’s Finley Minich sent Dubler to the semifinals.

Fastest falls

Crestani added the only new time this week.

She stuck Sugar Valley Rural Charter School’s Kayleigh Showers in 37 seconds. It was her third time on the leaderboard this year.

Boys’ Leaders

Wins

Pins

Fastest Falls

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

Girls’ Leaders

Wins

Pins

Fastest Falls

Nate Cobler

Centre Daily Times

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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.