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Stunning results highlight 1st day of WCCA wrestling tournament

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Friday, January 5, 2024 | 10:18 PM

There were a few stunners during the opening day of the Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association wrestling tournament Friday at Greensburg Salem.

Derry’s Jeremiah Gess and Franklin Regional’s Nico Sarnic provided the biggest surprises.

Gess knocked off No. 1 seed Joe Longhi of Mt. Pleasant, 6-4, in the 133-pound quarterfinals, and Sarnic, who entered the tournament with an 0-2 record, reached Saturday’s semifinals by knocking off third seed Tristan Wtorkiewicz of Mt. Pleasant, 3-1 in overtime, and sixth seed Josue Martinez of Valley, 6-2.

Both wrestlers said confidence was the key.

“I’ve wrestled Joe at club practice, and he’s always beaten me,” Gess said. “But I talked to my old coach (Friday), and we talked about how to beat him. I was able to score off the bottom.”

Gess will face Cohen Buccicone of Franklin Regional in the semifinals, which are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

The finals have been moved up to 3 p.m.

Sarnic is at a weight class that is stacked at Franklin Regional. He is a backup to Tyler Kapusta and Dom Colaizzi. Sarnic will face Burrell’s Jake Stewart, who knocked off the second-seeded Colaizzi, 4-2, in the quarterfinals.

“I’m coming back from a knee injury last year,” Sarnic said. “I was confident I could win. I’m working hard to crack the lineup and I’m getting better.”

Derry’s Giovanni Beatrice reached the semifinals by knocking off a hot wrestler, Burrell’s Cadyn Crawford. Beatrice pinned Crawford in the first period.

Crawford had earlier knocked off fourth seed Colby Hibner of Belle Vernon, 11-10, and pinned Southmoreland’s Kolten Lewandowski.

To fill out brackets, teams are allowed to enter multiple wrestlers, but only their designated starter scores team points.

All the wrestlers looking to repeat as champs — Burrell’s Cam Baker (107), Latrobe’s Leo Joseph (114) and Luke Willochell (121), Hempfield’s Eli Carr (139), Penn-Trafford’s Tasso Whipple (189) and Franklin Regional’s Juliano Marion (215) — won handily.

All the rest of the top two seeds also advanced to the semifinals.

Willochell, Carr and Marion are looking to become the next three-time champions.

Burrell’s Cooper Hornack, who won in 2021, was pulled from the tournament because of an injury.

Latrobe, which has won the previous two team titles, is in first with 87 points. Franklin Regional is second with 84.5, Burrell is third with 81 and Hempfield is fourth with 76.5.

This is the 71st county wrestling tournament and the 70th conducted by the WCCA.

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.

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