High school wrestling notebook: Fayette County 4 seeking gold at PIAA tournament

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 | 5:27 PM

When the PIAA wrestling championships begin Thursday in Hershey, four Fayette County wrestlers will be looking to bring home gold medals. All are returning state qualifiers.

Three of them — Laurel Highlands senior Ian Edenfield, Connellsville senior Nathan Ansell and Frazier sophomore Thayne Lawrence — captured WPIAL titles over the past three weeks.

Edenfield won his second Class AAA title Saturday, and Lawrence won his second Class AA title on Feb. 17. Last season, Edenfield was a state runner-up and Lawrence placed third.

Laurel Highlands doesn't field a team, and Frazier is a young program with five wrestlers on the roster.

Albert Gallatin's Tim Wallace saw his dream of winning a third WPIAL title dashed by Butler senior Christian Sequete, and Ansell rallied to defeat North Hills' Nathan Mankey. Wallace placed third in the state and Ansell went 1-2.

Ansell became Connellsville's 34th WPIAL champion, joining an elite group that includes four-time champion John Richey (1988-91), and three-time champions Kevin Saniga (1991-93), Chad Jesko (1992-94) and Jarrod King (2002-04).

Moment of silence

Prior to the WPIAL Class AAA finals, there was a moment of silence and a video tribute for some wrestling greats who died over the past year.

They included Wrestling Classic founder Gene Bowman, Connellsville coach Tom Dolde, Shaler and Hampton coach Bob Siar, former Pitt coach Rande Stottlemyer, three-time PIAA and WPIAL champion Joe Solomon of Canonsburg and Michael “Biggie” Smith, founder and president of the Middle Atlantic Wrestling Association.

Heater honored

Kiski Area coach Chris Heater was named WPIAL Class AAA Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches.

He was honored prior to Saturday's WPIAL finals.

Heater led Kiski Area to its second consecutive WPIAL team title and a second-place finish at the PIAA team tournament.

The Cavaliers had a school-record four WPIAL champions Saturday and had five wrestlers advance to the PIAA tournament.

Kiski also won the team title with 145.5 points at the WPIAL/PIAA Southwest Regional. Waynesburg finished second with 108.5 points.

Junior high winners

Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling held its annual junior high state tournament Sunday in Johnstown.

Waynesburg had three champions and was the team champion with 134.5 points, edging Southern Columbia with 133.

Western Pennsylvania wrestlers winning titles were Waynesburg's Mac Church (92), Cole Homet (102) and Rocco Welsh (107); Connellsville's Jared Keslar (124); North Allegheny's Grant Mackey (132); Belle Vernon's Cole Weightman (167); and Kiski Area's Brayden Roscosky (187).

Other area placewinners include:

77 pounds: Quaker Valley's Logan Richey (sixth) and Trinity's Lane Whitmer (eighth); 82: Connellsville's Chad Ozias (second), Butler's Levi Donnel (fourth), Penn-Trafford's Troy Hohman (sixth) and Hempfield's Briar Priest (eighth); and 87: Plum's Vincent Citrano (fifth) and North Allegheny's Nicholas Gorman (sixth).

92: West Allegheny's Ty Watters (second) and Greensburg Central Catholic's Luke Geibig (seventh); 97: West Allegheny's Nico Taddy (second), Latrobe's Nathan Toth (fifth) and North Allegheny's Dylan Coy (seventh); and 102: Highlands' Jrake Burford (fourth), Canon-McMillan's Costa Moore (fifth), and Latrobe's Gabriel Golden (sixth).

107: Frazier's Rune Lawrence (third), Pine-Richland's Kelin Laffey fourth), Mt. Pleasant's Noah Gnibus (fifth), Chartiers Valley's Dylan Evans (sixth) and Canon-McMillan's Brandon Dami (seventh); 112: Elizabeth Forward's Dylan Bruce (fourth) and Norwin's Colton Minerva (seventh); and 117: Hempfield's Nolan Daerr (second), Waynesburg's Colton Stoneking (third) and Chartiers Valley's Christopher Beatty (eighth).

132: Norwin's Chase Kranitz (fifth); 140: Mt. Lebanon's Mac Stout (second); and 147: Latrobe's Jack Pletcher (third) and Seneca Valley LiamVolk-klos (seventh).

157: Burrell's Brock White Jr. (fourth), Upper St. Clair's Ethan Hiester (seventh) and Burgettstown's Dennis Slovick (eighth); and 167: Waynesburg's Noah Tustin (third), Fox Chapel's Patrick Cutchember (fifth) and Hampton's Conner Cummins (sixth).

187: Apollo-Ridge's Logan Harmon (second), Chartiers Valley's Josh Sarasnick (fifth); 212: Trinity's Ty Bunco (second), Moon's Andrew Sampson (fourth), Kiski Area's Dale Moehring (fifth) and Greensburg Salem's Billy McChesney (seventh); and 252: Kiski Area's Stone Joseph (third), and Belle Vernon's Dakota Marion (fourth).

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Albert Gallatin, Burrell, Butler, Canon-McMillan, Connellsville, Frazier, Greensburg C.C., Hempfield Area, Highlands, Kiski School, Laurel Highlands, North Allegheny, North Hills, Norwin, Pine-Richland, Plum, Quaker Valley, Trinity, West Allegheny