HYDE — Four champions and six silver medalists, including Curwensville sophomore 113-pounder Blake Passarelli, are among 31 returning placewinners for the 2017 PIAA District 9 Class AA Wrestling Tournament in Clearfield Area High School’s Bison Gymnasium Friday and Saturday.
The gold medalists, all seeded No. 1, will be out to lead the Brookville juggernaut, ranked No. 3 in the state by Off the Mat, to a fourth consecutive team title.
Gavin Park (120) is seeking his third title, having reigned at 106 and 113 the last two years after losing in the finals at 106 as a freshman. He owns a 32-3 record with 114 wins in his career.
Noah Cieleski (21-6) is back at 182 while Keelan Kunselman (24-10) is up a weight at 113 and Xavier Molnar (30-6) has jumped two weights to 195.
Hoping to take that final step to the top of the winners stand along with Passarelli are Ridgway’s Lukas McClain (132) and Logen McClain (138), Coudersport’s Julian Smith (152) and Brookville’s Caleb Hetrick (152) and two-time silver medalist Tyler Cook (220).
Tyler Thompson (132) was a Class AAA runner-up at 126 last year for Bradford, which has dropped down to Class AA. The senior (26-3) is seeded No. 1 with Lukas McClain No. 2.
Colton Rapp (160) of Clarion was a silver medalist at 145 in 2015 and had to settle for third place at that weight last year. He’s seeded third.
Logen McClain (28-3), Hetrick (33-3) and Cook (32-4) are No. 1 seeds with Smith No. 2.
The other top seeds are Anthony Glasl (26-6) of Brockway at 106, Kai Sorbin (23-10) of Brookville at 126, Dillon Keane (20-1) of Bradford at 145, Gage Arnold (31-0) of Coudersport at 160, Garrett McClintick (24-6) of Brockway at 170 and Colton McClain (23-3) of Ridgway at 285.
Only three of Curwensville’s nine entries have first-round bouts.
Freshman Zach Holland (19-8), seeded No. 6 at 106, will meet Jacob Umstead (13-13) of Cranberry, with the winner to get No. 3 seed Ethan Wiant of Redbank Valley. Holland blanked Wiant 3-0 in the first round of the Fred Bell Tournament at Grove City in late January, but the Bulldog freshman won 4-1 when they met in the fifth-place match.
Senior 170-pounder Mason Lancaster (9-16) drew No. 6 seed Seth Nellis (13-12) of Clarion.
No. 3 seed Steven McClure (20-4), who placed third at 220 last year, is paired against Brandon Goodman (2-6) of Redbank Valley. A win would pit the Golden Tide junior against No. 6 seed Colby Whitehill (8-2) of Brookville or Timmy Hasselman (20-14) of Cameron County in the quarterfinals.
Byes mean seeded opponents for the other Golden Tide matmen.
Those quarterfinal bouts will pit No. 2 seed Passarelli (24-3) against No. 7 Donovan Olney (16-14) of Coudersport at 113, No. 7 Mason Gasper (6-6) against No. 2 Trevor Olney (22-10) of Coudersport at 120, No. 7 Dylan Myers (14-12) against No. 2 Bryce Barclay (22-6) of Ridgway at 126, Ethan Collins (3-8) against No. 5 Dawson Wilson (15-12) at 132, Cole Bressler (10-14) against No. 8 Alex Sanderson (11-9) of Smethport at 138 and No. 3 Kaleb Witherite (21-7) vs. No. 6 Grant West (18-6) of Oswayo Valley in a tough draw at 182. West placed third at that weight last year.
Four wrestlers at each weight will move on to the Northwest Region Tournament next weekend at Sharon High School.
The tourney will get under way at 4 p.m. Friday with a marathon session of one pigtail bout, the championship preliminary round and quarterfinals, a consolation pigtail match and the consolation first and second rounds.
On Saturday, action will begin at 10:30 a.m. with championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals followed by consolation semifinals, all on three mats.
Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for students.