CLARION — Curwensville Area High School senior Shae Bloom, a three-time champion, was seeded No. 1 at 138 pounds and teammates Blake Passarelli and Ben Junod were accorded top four seeds for this weekend’s District 9 Class AA Wrestling Tournament at the annual seedings and pairings meeting of the head coaches at Clarion University Sunday afternoon.
Passarelli, a freshman, was rated No. 2 at 106 while Junod, a junior who placed third at 182 last year, was seeded fourth at 170.
Three Golden Tide matmen received lower seeds, senior Seth Woolcock seventh at 120, sophomore Dylan Myers eighth at 126 and junior Eli Jacobs eighth at 160.
“I thought the meeting went well for us,” Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth said. “We like where most of our kids fell in the brackets.”
Rounding out the Golden Tide list of entries will be junior Mason Lancaster at 145, senior Hunter Lancaster at 182, senior Jeff Harvey at 195, sophomore Steven McClure at 220 and senior James Lee at heavyweight.
Both district tourneys were shifted to the Clearfield Area High School this year because of a conflict in schedule at Clarion University’s Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium, with Class AAA wrestlers in the spotlight in Weiss Gymnasium and Class AA matmen in Bison Gym.
Class AA action will get under way on three mats Friday at 4 p.m. with the preliminary round, followed by first-round consolations, championship quarterfinals and second-round consolations. Two sessions are scheduled for Saturday, the championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals at 10 a.m. and the District 9 Hall of Fame Inductions and Parade of Champions at 3 p.m. ahead of the championship bouts and consolation finals matches on two mats at 3:30.
The top four finishers at each weight will advance to the Northwest Region Class AA Tournament at Sharon High School March 4-5.
Like Bloom, who won his first two gold medals in Class AAA as a DuBois Area High School lightweight, Brookville senior Taylor Ortz will be seeking to walk out of Bison Gym as a four-time district titlist.
The state’s No. 1-ranked 132-pounder and Bloom are two of seven returning champions with No. 1 seeds, joined by Brookville junior Gavin Park a 113, Redbank Valley senior Tanner Altobelli at 126, Smethport senior James Duffy at 145, Clarion senior Zach Sintobin at 185 and Port Allegany senior Ethan Budd at 220.
Two Brockway seniors who won crowns last year had to settle for No. 2 seeds after dropping down a weight, Mason Lindenmuth at 126 and Michael Martino at 170.
Brookville senior Bryce Town, the 220 champ two years ago, is the No. 3 seed at 285.
Other No. 1 seeds are Brookville junior Keelan Kunselman ahead of the Golden Tide’s Passarelli at 106, Smethport senior Adam Shunk at 138, Cranberry senior Paul Zacherl at 160, Brookville sophomore Xavier Molnar at 170, Brookville junior Noah Cieleski at 182 and Redbank Valley senior Brylee Shumaker at 285.
Click here for complete brackets, courtesy of Bob Imhoff and Ridgway Wrestling.