HERSHEY — DuBois seniors Nick Wykoff and Zach Lundgren survived the grueling opening round of the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships last night at Hershey’s Giant Center, while teammate Ethan Swope and Clearfield’s Sean Owen had to overcome first round losses to stay in the tournament.
Wykoff (Sr., 36-3) pulled out a 5-4 sudden death win over Tim Boate of West Chester Henderson (Jr., 30-8).
After trailing most of the third, Wykoff evened the score at four to push the bout to overtime. Neither wrestler scored in the overtime and tie breaker periods, forcing a 30-second ride out.
Wykoff scored first and chose to start from the top position, where he held Boate down for the win.
Wykoff will battle second-ranked Kegan Handlovic (Easton, Jr., 40-3), who beat Patrick Wieger (Central Dauphin, Jr., 39-6) 5-3, in the quarter-finals.
Zach Lundgren (35-6) made brief appearances on the Giant Center floor in 2005 and 2006. He had better luck this time around, defeating Bangor’s Tyler Foreman (Jr., 29-7) 9-2.
Lundgren will meet third-ranked Matt Ryan (Canon McMillan, Sr., 36-2) in the quarter-finals.
Ryan managed a 3-2 win over Council Rock South’s Dillon Evans (Sr., 45-7).
At 119, Swope (Sr., 28-5) had a 3-2 lead over North Allegheny\’s, fifth-ranked, Joe Waltko (So., 35-5), before he took Swope down in a headlock for the 4-3 win.
However, Swope scored a 5-2 decision win over Jason Hirsh (Council Rock South, Jr. 40-16) in the first consolation round.
Swope will face the loser of today’s quarter-final match between Chris Kochinsky (Middletown, Jr., 25-6) and Steve Armor (Springfield Delco, Sr., 41-4).
At heavyweight, Owen found himself in an all too familiar situation — sudden death.
With the score even at two, second-ranked Marcus Zimmerman (Manheim Central, Sr., 32-3) chose the down position. Owen was unable to control Zimmerman, who escaped for the 3-2 ride out win.
Owen bounced back with a 3-2 decision of his own over Zack Barker (Coatesville, Jr. 17-11) to stay in the tournament.
Owen will square off with the loser of the Brent Clouser (Altoona, Sr., 36-3) and Steve Santia (Hempfield Area, Sr., 40-9) quarter-final.
Clouser needed only 1:17 to pin David Osei (Abington, So., 35-8), while Santia handed Brad Ladd (Dallastown, Sr. 43-4) a 6-3 loss.
Quarter-final action gets under way today at 1 p.m., with the second consolation round to follow at 2:45 p.m.