HYDE — On Saturday February 27, for the first time ever, the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium will host the District IV-IX AAA Wrestling Championships.
Action will begin at 9:00 a.m. with the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds. The first round of consolations will immediately follow, then the semifinals and second round of wrestle-backs will begin afterwards. The morning session will then conclude with third and fourth round consolation action.
The Hall-of-Fame inductions and ‘Parade of Champions’ will take place at 6:00 p.m., with the championship and consolation finals commencing simultaneously at 6:30 p.m.
The Bison are the defending District 9 champion, but with District 4 coming back in to the fold after a year’s absence, the Bison look to win their first ever District IV-IX title.
The homestanding Bison garnered four number one seeds to lead the 9-team field. They are senior Josiah McClarren (22-13) at 132, sophomore Luke McGonigal (32-2) at 170, and seniors Travis Ogden (31-1) at 195 and Nate Lash (25-12) at 285.
The Bison also have one second and one third seed – sophomore Matt Ryan (20-15), third at 106 and senior Logan Gilbert (19-15), second at 138.
It takes a top-4 finish to move on to the Northwest Region Tournament in Altoona the next weekend, and Clearfield has three fourth seeds – seniors Tallin Norris (18-17) at 145 and Levi Wisor (20-13) at 182, and junior Hunter Bumbarger (11-9) at 220.
The three Bison fifth seeds will have to better their seeds to advance – senior Hunter Blake (18-12) at 126, junior Zane Morgan (16-21) at 152, and sophomore Hunter Wright (9-12) at 160.
Freshmen Jude Pallo (17-16) at 113 and Cole Smay (7-11) at 120 will have to pull off some big upsets seed-wise to move on.
Gilbert, who won a share of the Outstanding Wrestler Award last year with Punxsutawney’s Kaleb Young, is looking for his third district title, while McClarren, McGonigal, Ogden, and Lash are each in search of their second district titles after winning last year at the Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium at Clarion University.
DuBois is next in line with three top seeds – Dalton Woodrow (28-5) at 113, Kolby Ho (26-4) at 120, and Carson Hanna (24-4) at 152. St. Marys, Punxsutawney, and Jersey Shore each have two number ones – Tyler Dilley (24-1) at 106 and Christian Steffan (26-5) at 182 are from St. Marys and Eli Lambiotte (22-5) at 145 and Kaleb young (26-0) at 160 represent the Chucks. And from District 4’s Jersey Shore are Allen Saar (20-8) at 138 and Max Mason (21-6) at 220. The final top seed is Shikellamy’s Nick Gittens (26-2) at 126. District 4’s Williamsport and Selinsgrove and District 9’s Bradford had no number one seeds.
Young will be looking to become the first Punxsutawney wrestler to ever win four district titles.
Click here for a complete set of brackets.