After medal-worthy performance at Allegheny County tournament, Gateway’s Heningcamp focused on postseason

By: Michael Love
Sunday, January 29, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Last year, Arontay Heningcamp fell short in his bid to claim a medal at the Allegheny County tournament.

He went 2-2 at 113 pounds and bowed out in the third round of consolations.

But this time around, at Fox Chapel on Jan. 21, the Gateway senior wrestler made sure he was standing on the placers podium at 114.

He went 3-3 in his most recent county tournament effort and placed sixth overall.

Heningcamp said a tough 4-2 overtime loss to Moon’s Cael Yanek in the championship quarterfinals could’ve and should’ve gone his way.

“I definitely feel I should’ve made it to at least the semifinals,” he said.

“There were a couple of missed calls. There’s nothing I can do about it now. But after the match, some people told me they felt the same way. But it happens. I just had to move on after that match.”

Heningcamp owned a pair of victories over Yanek in tournaments over the summer, one at a Super 32 qualifier and the other at the West Penn Duals.

“It’s always a good match against him,” Heningcamp said.

After the Yanek match at the county tournament, Heningcamp dropped into the consolation bracket and went to overtime with Central Catholic’s Charlie Colantonio.

This time, overtime was good to him as he picked up a 7-5 sudden victory. He trailed during regulation before rallying to tie the match.

A pair of decision losses capped his tournament run, but Heningcamp, who was 14-4 heading into Gateway’s match with Latrobe last Wednesday, said he was happy he reached the medals podium.

“The county tournament was a good boost for me, but I realized that I still need to work on a number of things to get to where I need to be,” he said.

“I know I will face some really strong guys over the next several weeks.”

“Arontay was a little upset with a couple of the losses at counties, but all the kids he wrestled there were quality, and he got a chance to test himself and gain good experience with a couple of overtime matches,” Gateway coach Ryan Sula said.

“He can go back and watch them on video to see what he needed to do better and what he did well. Getting a medal was a nice step for him.”

Heningcamp and the rest of the Gateway wrestlers were scheduled to take on the competition at the Bridging the Gap Duals on Saturday at Ambridge.

The Gators were to have five matches, at most, during the day-long event.

The Gateway Quad, with McKeesport, North Catholic and Yough coming to the Furrie Sports Complex, will be Feb. 4, and the Gators are scheduled to wrestle Shaler and Fox Chapel before the Class 3A East Section tournament at Norwin on Feb. 25.

As a team, Gateway placed 29th out of 38 at the county tournament.

Sophomore Luke Pawlowski made it to the third round of consolations and went 2-2 at 133 to put himself at 13-6 for the season with four major decision wins, four pins and four technical falls.

“I felt I could’ve done better at counties, but I had some really tough matches that I was able to take a lot from,” Pawlowski said.

“I know there’s a lot I can work on to improve in practice, wrestling guys like Arontay, and also getting in some more work at Young Guns.”

Junior Jacob Pawlowski went 3-2 at 189 as he evened his season record at 8-8. Of those eight wins, seven were by fall, and he also scored a major decision.

Sula said he also saw good things from a number of other wrestlers at the county tournament.

Sophomore Nizaiah Heller won a pair of matches at 127, while juniors Adam Taha (139) and Dallas Steele (139) also picked up victories.

“Allegheny County is such a great tournament for these guys with so much talent at each weight class,” Sula said.

“We returned three guys to Saturday. Luke and Jacob really wanted to place, but they just came up a little bit short. They wrestled well against some tough kids. They both had really good showings. Nizaiah has really progressed as a first-year wrestler, and it was great to see him get a couple wins at the tournament.

“We’re a young team overall, and I saw a lot of positive steps forward at the tournament.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway