However, only one or two at each weight must encounter what might prove to be the biggest hurdle in the preliminary round.
That, unfortunately, is the circumstance for Curwensville senior Jake Keller in his first appearance at the PIAA Class AA Championships.
The District 9 champ and Northwest Region third placer is paired against nationally-ranked and two-time state runner-up Randy Cruz of Bethlehem Catholic in Thursday’s 9 a.m. session on the floor of the Giant Center at Hershey.
Even after a 4-2 overtime loss to Laike Gardner of Biglerville in the Northeast Region finals, Cruz has all the credentials to be considered the favorite in a bracket that features five contenders with a combined dozen PIAA medals.
Prior to his second loss in 40 matches, the three-time region king and three-time state medalist was ranked No. 3 in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News, fourth by OpenMat and sixth by InterMat.
Cruz, whose 158-21 career includes a sixth-place finish at 103 in 2009, was denied gold medals by Athens’ David White 5-3 at 112 in 2010 and Derry’s Jimmy Gulibon 6-5 at 119 last year.
Gulibon, a Penn State recruit ranked No. 1 in the country, is at 126 and attempting to become the just the 10th four-time champ in PIAA history, the first since 1996.
Cruz missed out on his fourth region crown in a bout between Lehigh recruits described by Bob Flounders in the Harrisburg Patriot-News as the “best final, by far” of the SE tourney finals.
A third caution cost Cruz a point in the third overtime period, and the three-time District 11 titlist turned Gardner loose in hopes of securing a tying takedown. Gardner prevented that to claim his second SE Region belt.
Mark Grey of national power Blair Academy (N.J.) handed Cruz his only other loss, 4-2, in the finals of the 96-team Beast of the East Tournament at the University of Delaware in December to become the first four-time champion in the history of that prestigious event.
The two had met a week earlier in the finals of the 72-team Walsh Jesuit Ironman Tournament in Ohio, and Cruz emerged with a 9-4 win.
Grey was No. 2 in the last Amateur Wrestling News national rankings.
Keller sports a 35-3 record with two of the losses to Matt Bryer of Cochranton in the Fred Bell Tournament at Grove City in January and the NW Region semifinals. The scores were 7-4 and, in overtime, 4-2.
His other defeat was an 8-7 squeaker against David Batkowski of Montoursville at the Clearfield Duals.
Batkowski (37-1) won District 4 and NE Region laurels at 138.
Keller, who is No. 3 on Curwensville’s all-time win list with his 113-15 career record, will meet either District 6 and SW Region champ James Dodson (37-0) of Claysburg-Kimmel or SE Region fifth placer Trenton Clifford (37-4) of Pottstown in his second match.
Dodson lost 11-2 to Cruz in the quarterfinals at 119 last year.
Clifford is a two-time District 1 champ with 97 career victories. He was majored 8-0 by Gardner in the SE semifinals.
The other two prelims in the upper half of the bracket pit Bryer (35-3) against District 3 third placer and SE-3 Mark Lentz (45-10) of Boiling Springs and District 7 runner-up and SW-4 Steve Edwards (37-13) of Burrell against District 4 and NE Region champ Colt Cotten (33-2) of Benton.
Bryer, with losses to rival Dylan D’Urso of Reynolds in the D-10 and NW Region finals and to Brock Zacherl of Brookville in early December, has placed eighth at 125 and 130 the last two years.
Cotten was fifth at 112 in 2010 and fourth at 119 in 2011.
Cotten reached the championship semis in both appearances, falling 9-2 to Cruz as a sophomore and 19-4 in 4:09 to Gulibon as a junior.
He avenged a 4-0 loss to Josh Shields of Franklin Region in the first round of the Powerade Tournament at Canon-McMillan in December with a 7-4 decision in the consolation finals.
Cotten, who also lost 10-4 to Edgar Bright of Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward’s, defeated both of the region champs in the lower half of the bracket at the Brookville Ultimate Duals in January, getting past D‘Urso 6-4 and Gardner 6-5. Both matches went into overtime.
D’Urso (36-1) is a three-time PIAA medalist, placing fourth at 103 as a freshman, third at 125 as a sophomore and third at 130 as a junior.
Gardner (37-4) placed seventh at 125 two years ago when he edged Bryer 11-9 in the prelims and 6-4 in the consy finals and was runner-up at 130 last year, beating four-time PIAA Medalist David Makara 10-2 in the semis before losing 8-6 to Colin Fought of Benton. Fought had blanked D’Urso 11-0 in the other semi.
Gardner, who has 120 wins in three seasons, lost 9-4 in overtime to 2011 state 140 runner-up Austin Matthews (45-1) of Reynolds and 2010 Class AAA state 130 champ Steve Spearman 3-1 at the King of the Mountain Tournament hosted by Central Mountain in December and Matthews again 6-1 and Cotton at the Ultimate Duals.
D’Urso meets SE-4 Austin Jackson (35-9) of Bermudan Springs, and Gardner gets SW-5 Shane Gentry (41-8) of South Side Beaver.
The other two matches show D-7 champ and SW-3 Josh Kwasny (38-3) of Charleroi against NE-2 Seth Lansberry (38-4) of Line Mountain and D-6 champ and SW-2 Brennon Shields (35-8) of Southern Huntingdon against D-2 champ and NE-3 Andrew Schutz (30-3) of Wyoming Area.
Lansberry is returning to states after winning one of three bouts at 125 last year. He gave tough matches in the district and region finals, losing 4-2 and 1-0.
Thursday’s schedule shows first round consolations at 12:15.
On Friday, action gets under way at 9 a.m. with the quarterfinals, followed by the second round consolations at 10:45. The evening session will begin at 6:30 with the championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals. The consy semis are set for p.m.
For first time in PIAA history, all four medal matches will be wrestled at the same time Saturday, starting at 2 p.m.
