Gateway wrestlers aim for postseason success

By: Michael Love
Sunday, December 4, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Arontay Heningcamp broke out last year for the Gateway wrestling team.

After winning just five of 11 matches as a sophomore, he rose to the occasion and went 25-11 at 113 pounds and qualified for WPIALs where he produced a 2-2 mark.

Now, as a new season ramps up, the Gators senior hopes to take his abilities and talents to the next level.

“I was not satisfied with how I ended last year, not placing at WPIALs,” Heningcamp said.

“This is my senior year, so I am going all out. I went to Virginia Beach a couple of times and I wrestled at the Super 32 (in North Carolina). I pretty much wrestle every day. I am focused on making it to states.”

Heningcamp said he will wrestle at 120 to start the season and move down to 113 for the Allegheny County Tournament, as well as the postseason competitions.

Heningcamp said looking up at the wall in the Gateway wrestling room and seeing the names of past Gators tournament champions and place winners gives him a lot of inspiration and motivation to add his own name to the list.

“Arontay wrestled all year round this year, and he got to go to some extra tournaments and camps and got a lot of work in with the Pawlowski brothers through Young Guns,” Gateway coach Ryan Sula said.

“Those guys are coming in ready to do big things and lead this team.”

Junior Jacob Pawlowski and sophomore Luke Pawlowski both went 14-12 in their varsity debuts last year.

Neither brother wrestled two years ago in the 2020-21 season with the covid pandemic still prevalent.

Luke moved up to 138 this year after qualifying for WPIALs last year at 120.

Jacob, now at 215, said he’s motivated to make his mark and get to WPIALs after just missing the tournament last year at 189. He took sixth at sections, and the top five advanced in each weight class.

Gateway wrestlers were to open their seasons at home last Friday and Saturday with the traditional Eastern Area Invitational Wrestling Tournament at Gateway’s Furrie Sports Complex.

The two days of matches were to be contested past the deadline for this week’s edition.

Even before the official start of preseason practices Nov. 18, which gave teams just two weeks before the start of competition, Sula opened the wrestling room up for voluntary workouts.

“We started early because two weeks is not enough time for kids who have never wrestled before to get ready to go into the Eastern Area Tournament,” he said.

“That would’ve been a recipe for disaster. We had a good turnout early, which was a good start to the year.”

A nonsection dual match with Woodland Hills (Wednesday) is followed by this weekend’s North Hills Duals, giving most Gators wrestlers as many as 10 matches in the first week of the season.

“I love having a dual tournament right after Eastern Areas because you are guaranteed five matches, and you can teach from match to match and measure that growth,” Sula said.

Frank Airgood (145) went 3-7 at 152 last year but missed half the season with an injury. Sula said he is back and ready for a strong senior season.

Junior Dallas Steele (138) and sophomores Nizaiah Heller (126), Sean Higson (120), Leo Moore (145), Conner Smith (152) and Jakob Williams (160) are among those making their varsity debut this season.

Sula said Smith fared well on the junior high team last year and is back with experience.

“Even with the newer guys, there is that excitement to compete,” Sula said.

“It is a lot of tough work for them, but they’ve put in that work so far, and they are hoping to see good results. The joys of coaching, a lot of times, comes from the beginners you see progress throughout the year, and they are doing the things in competition you teach them in the room. It’s always a great feeling to see them get better.”

With the alignment changes in the offseason, Gateway will face Connellsville, Latrobe, Hempfield and McKeesport in Section 4 and will be a part of the Eastern Sectional for the individual championships with Franklin Regional, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Ringgold, Thomas Jefferson and West Mifflin from Section 3.

“It’s tough when you mostly likely can’t fill an entire lineup, but I think we will have more weight classes than normal,” Sula said.

“We got put into a pretty tough section with Connellsville, Hempfield and Latrobe. It will be a challenge this year, but I tell my wrestlers to approach every match the same. Know what you want to do, have a game plan, and go out there and execute. It comes down to keeping the guys focused and ready to compete.”

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