Bellefonte, State College boys combine for 6 district champs as 6 county girls advance
Bellefonte and State College boys wrestling combined to produce a half-dozen District 6 Class 3A champions Saturday, while four Centre County schools combined to advance six girls to regionals.
Overall, in the march to Hershey, the Bellefonte boys produced three champs and five additional regional qualifiers, while State College had three champs and four additional regional qualifiers. The Red Raiders finished third in the team standings in the seven-team field, while State College was fourth.
In District 5-6-9 girls wrestling, every Centre County school with a girls program boasted at least one regional qualifier.
The top three from each boys team will advance to the Western Regional at Cannon-McMillan High School while the top five girls from each team will head to the Central Regional at Milton High School. Both tournaments are scheduled for next weekend.
Central Mountain won the boys championship with 180 points, a five-point margin over Altoona. And Clearfield captured the girls crown with 129.5 points, a-6.5 point margin over Northern Bedford.
Here’s a closer look at how each Centre County school finished:
Bellefonte Boys
Team score: 3rd, 168 points
Champions: Wyatt Long (139 pounds), Jackson Long (189 pounds), Luke Hockenberry (215 pounds)
Regional qualifiers: Andrew Gall (2nd, 145 pounds), Ezra Swisher (2nd, 152 pounds), Jack McHail (2nd, 172 pounds), Colin Harter (3rd, 107 pounds), Quinn Park (3rd, 160 pounds)
Other placers: Blake Glace (4th, 121 pounds)
Recap: It will be a busy weekend at regionals for Bellefonte as it will send eight to the tournament -- including three champions, three runners-up and a pair of third-place finishers.
Wyatt Long captured the Red Raiders’ first district title of the day with a 7-0 decision against Hayes Donley of Central Mountain. Bellefonte’s Jack McHail was runner-up to State College’s Teag Sanderson, losing 15-2 in a major decision. And top-seed Jackson Long late in the third used an escape with 29 second left in the final period of the 189-pound match to knocked off State College’s Noah Williams.
Luke Hockenberry showed why he entered the 215-pound field as the top seed as he won by fall twice including in the third period against Todd Caris of Central Mountain.
“I didn’t even qualify for regionals last year,” Hockenberry said. “(It took) a lot of wrestling outside of my school room, individual tournaments. I want to win (at regionals), and upset some people.”
Coach Mike Maney said he couldn’t have been prouder of his team’s efforts.
“Overall we wrestled pretty well,” he said. “In some places, we wrestled above our seeds. You always want to win a few more matches, but happy with the way we performed.”
State College Boys
Team score: 4th, 148 points
Champions: Luke Young (121 pounds), James Whitbred (152 pounds), Teag Sanderson (172 pounds)
Regional qualifiers: Kael Davis (2nd, 127 pounds), Noah Williams (2nd, 189 pounds), Noah Young (3rd, 114 pounds), Quillan Philips (3rd, 285 pounds).
Other placers: Jon Whitbred (4th, 133 pounds), Nico Diaz (4th, 145 pounds)
Recap: Seven Little Lions punched their ticket to the regional weekend, including three champions.
Noah Young earned his ticket in the second period of his bout with a fall at the 1:40 mark. He used a pair of takedowns to defeat Angelo Tarantella from Central Mountain in the 114-pound third-place match.
State College’s Luke Young seized the district title by defeating Brayden Sidney from Hollidaysburg on an 11-2 major decision thanks to three takedowns and a reversal. Kael Davis finished as the district runner-up after Altoona’s Deklan Barr clinched the match with a third-period reversal.
James Whitbred expressed satisfaction after winning the title at 152 pounds over Ezra Swisher, 13-2, for his third title.
“I just tried to keep working on stuff that I’ve been working on in the room. Shots that get me to the leg that can get me a takedown,” Whitbred said. “I’m pretty happy now; it’s nice.”
Freshman Teag Sanderson, the son of Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson, took control at 172 pounds and didn’t look back against Bellefonte’s Jack McHail, using a takedown and a near-fall early in the first period to take a 7-0 lead before winning by major decision 15-2.
“I’ve been training with some high-level guys,” he added.
Noah Williams finished as runner-up after coming up short, 6-5, against the Red Raiders’ Jackson Long in the 189-pound match. Quillan Phillips also advanced to regionals by defeating Altoona’s Khamden Thompkins to take third place.
Bald Eagle Area Girls
Team score: 6th, 128 points
Champions: None
Regional qualifiers: Lily Spicer (4th, 100 pounds)
Other placers: Addison Tice (6th, 112 pounds)
Recap: The Eagles will send one to the regional tournament next week as Lily Spicer reached the third-place match and fell to Bedford’s Mariah Hershberger.
Hershberger pinned Spicer early in the second period. Hershberger had dropped to the third-place match after losing to eventual champ McKenzie Astorino, from Curwensville.
Addison Tice finished just outside of qualifying for regionals with a sixth-place finish. She won her first two matches by falls, from the fourth seed, over Moshannon Valley’s Peyton Desmett and Punxsutawney’s Evelynne Neale.
She was eliminated by River Valley’s Iris Reitz, who took the 112-pound crown.
Bellefonte Girls
Team score: 15th, 42 points
Champions: None
Regional qualifiers: Bailee Scott (3rd, 155 pounds), Ella Johnsonbaugh (5th, 142 pounds)
Other placer: Carly Bair (6th, 124 pounds)
Recap: The Red Raiders didn’t win any championships but will take two of their own to the regional tournament.
Bailee Scott was their top performer by finishing third. She opened her tournament with a fall against Huntingdon’s Lilly Casterline before losing a close match with Clearfield’s Makayla Taylor.
She took home third after defeating Southern Huntingdon’s Chloe Holloway.
Johnsonbaugh will join Scott in the regional tournament after taking fifth at 142 pounds. She won her opening match 14-7 over North Star’s Alyssa Kostyk and won the rematch in the fifth-place event.
Johnsonbaugh was eliminated from the championship bracket in the semifinal by Brylee London of Curwensville, who went on to win the title.
Carly Bair just missed out on advancing by finishing sixth. After losing in the quarterfinal round, she responded by winning two in the consolation bracket. But she came up short against Kyanna Hall of Northern Bedford.
“It’s a young program; we’re still growing. They’re just sophomores,” coach Mike Maney said. “Certainly, all three wanted to advance. Bailee was right there in the semis, but she rebounded and put two wins together, came back and (finished) third. Ella had a tough loss, and she was able to mentally recover and win some matches to come back and qualify for regionals. Carly, tough one there for fifth and sixth.
“But all three will be back, and we’re looking forward to seeing them grow.”
Philipsburg-Osceola Girls
Team score: 11th, 52 points
Champions: None
Regional qualifiers: Kendyl Meersand (2nd, 148 pounds), Daisy Glessner (2nd, 235 pounds)
Recap: No. 3-seed Kendyl Meersand made it to the final against top-seed Juliet Alt of Chestnut Ridge. Meersand lasted until the third period before a pin by Alt ended her hopes of a district title, leading the match 4-3 at the time.
To earn her spot in the final, Meersand upset No. 2-seed Kiah Greenawalt from Punxsutawney, 6-1, in the semifinal on her way to picking up the silver medal. Meersand won her quarterfinal match by fall against Huntingdon’s Luccianna McCall just 54 seconds into the first period.
Daisy Glessner was also the No. 3 seed in her weight class and ultimately finished as runner-up to Bedford’s Mylah Steinbuch.
Glessner started her tournament with a pin against Northern Bedford’s Emilee Beach in 56 seconds, before picking up another against Curwensville’s Emily Neeper in the third at 13 seconds.
“Our girls wrestled really well,” Philipsburg-Osceola coach Bub Lumadue said. “They fought a lot of adversity, our two finalists. We went up a weight with (Meersand) and she wrestled her heart out. It’s tough to win when you have to wrestle the No. 1 girl in the state. Daisy wrestled the best she’s wrestled all year.
“I think our girls are finally coming into their own at the right time.”
State College Girls
Team score: 25th, 22 points
Champions: None
Regional qualifiers: Starlynn Emel-Rash (4th, 190 pounds)
Other placers: Aella Mally (6th, 155 pounds)
Recap: Starlynn Emel-Rash highlighted State College’s performance at districts with a fourth-place finish.
At 190 pounds, she lost in the third-place match by fall to Brockway’s Audriana Inzana. But, earlier in the tournament, she defeated Brianna Gordon of Southern Huntingdon by fall 41 seconds into the third period -- before losing by fall to Central Mountain’s Ashlyn Miller in the championship semifinals.
Aella Mally won her consolation match in an 8-3 decision against Lillian Casterline of Huntingdon but missed qualifying for regionals after losing to Clearfield’s Makayla Taylor.