High school notebook: Wrestling’s super region seeds upset some coaches

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, March 2, 2021 | 10:01 AM

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There are a few wrestling coaches wondering why the PIAA doesn’t do a better job seeding tournaments.

The super region tournaments in the West have some crazy first-round matches Saturday.

How about a potential state finals match in the 113-pound quarterfinals at the Class AAA tournament in Altoona between returning 106-pound PIAA champion Vinny Kilkeary of Latrobe and 113-pound runner-up Aiden Lewis of Cedar Cliff? Both wrestlers have one loss.

“Vinny doesn’t care who’s in the bracket. He just goes out and wrestles,” Latrobe coach Mark Mears said. “He’ll be ready.”

For being the toughest state in the country for wrestling, we are so ass-backward when it comes to seeding post season tournaments. The kids deserve better.

— Vince DeAugustine (@VinnyD16) February 28, 2021

If some thought the WPIAL/PIAA Southwest Regional was tough, wait until this weekend.

“It’s been a few years since we only got three qualifiers from the Southwest Regional,” Kiski Area coach Chris Heater said. “I hope this is just a covid thing this year. You kind of forget how difficult of a day it can be here. As tough as Saturday was, I’m sure next week will be a notch up.”

Hempfield wrestling coach Vince DeAugustine tweeted his displeasure about the seedings. He wants the PIAA to to do a better job.

Many of the top-ranked wrestlers in the state, according to PAPowerWrestling.com, are from the West.

At 113, eight wrestlers from the West are seeded in the top 11.

Other interesting quarterfinal-round matches in Class AAA: At 138, Franklin Regional’s Finn Solomon, ranked No. 2, facing Matt Sarbo of Altoona (No. 6), and Dylan Evans of Chartiers Valley (No. 5) facing Josh Miller of Central Dauphin (No. 3); at 152, Jared Keslar of Connellsville (No. 4) facing Paniro Johnson of Cathedral Prep (No. 3); and at 172, Thomas Dressler of Spring Grove (No. 4) facing Luca Augustine of Waynesburg (No. 2).

An interesting Class AA matchup has Shane Kemper of Burgettstown (No. 4) facing Ethan Finch of Sheffield (No, 2).

16 top seeds from WPIAL

Heading into the West Super Region, 16 WPIAL wrestlers (nine in Class AA, seven in Class AAA) earned No. 1 seeds.

The top seeds in Class AAA: Kilkeary at 113, Carter Dibert of Franklin Regional at 120, Dylan Chappell of Seneca Valley at 132, Cole Homet of Waynesburg at 138, Wyatt Henson of Waynesburg at 145, Alejandro Herrera-Rondon of Seneca Valley at 152, and Cole Spencer of Pine-Richland at 160.

There were six No. 2 seeds from the WPIAL in Class AAA.

The top seeds in Class AA: Cooper Hornack of Burrell at 106, Chris Vargo of Bentworth at 113, Joey Fischer of South Park at 126, Kenny Duschek of Blackhawk at 145, Grant MacKay of Laurel at 152, AJ Corrado of Burrell at 160, Rune Lawrence of Frazier at 172, Trent Schultheis of Freedom at 189, and Dayton Pitzer of Mt. Pleasant at 215.

Decade of dominance

Chartiers Valley wrestling coach Williams Evans has kept a chart over the past 10 years on how the WPIAL has done against the other Districts in the state.

The WPIAL has ruled.

Evans recently shared the chart on Twitter.

A small glimpse of the statistics from the last 10 years of medalists.

60/40 West, FYI. pic.twitter.com/vcohPdT5Fa

— William Evans (@coachevanscv) March 1, 2021

Norris breaks record; Spartan vaulter soars

Hempfield throwers are having a fantastic indoor track and field season.

Senior Danny Norris’ throw of 58 feet, 5 inches at the national indoor meet at Virginia Beach, Va., was his personal best. He placed sixth in the event.

Senior Bella Gera broke her own school record in the weight throw with a toss of 53-4.

Pole vaulter Tanner Barnhart cleared 14-6 in a recent meet.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Latrobe