ALTOONA – The Clearfield Bison wrestling team is sending 11 entrants to the North West AAA Regional Tournament this upcoming Friday and Saturday, all with the goal of placing in the top-3 out of 14-man brackets and advancing to the PIAA AAA State Wrestling Championships in Hershey on March 10-12.
At 106, Bison freshman Xavier Lutz (8-10), the District 4/9 fourth place finisher, will meet up with General McLane freshman Teige Berger (26-14), the District 10 runner-up in first round action.
Junior Evan Davis (25-9), the D4/9 runner-up, will meet freshman and District 6 fourth place finisher Nick Irwin (11-16) of Altoona in his first round match-up.
Adam Rougeux (13-13), District 4/9 bronze medalist, will face off with the District 10 runner-up, Logan Sallot (16-5) a junior from Erie McDowell at 120 pounds.
126 pound District 4/9 champion Brady Collins (30-3) will tangle with another freshman, Noah Weaver (18-13), the District 6 fourth place finisher from Bellefonte.
Another bison freshman, Ty Aveni (13-10) at 132, the District 4/9 fourth place finisher, goes against District 8 champion Santiago Bradbury (11-2) of Westinghouse.
Nolan Barr (22-12), the District 4/9 champ at 138 and a senior, will receive a first round bye. His quarterfinal opponent will be the winner of the Arad Shahandeh (0-5) of Allderdice and Gage Long (22-11) from Bellefonte match.
152 pound senior, and District 4/9 third place finisher, Karson Kline (19-12) matches up with Artis Simmons (21-5) of Erie McDowell, the District 10 runner-up.
Mark McGonigal (26-8), also a senior and the 172 pound D4/9 runner-up, will meet Jacob Weaver (23-16), a freshman District 6 fourth place finisher from Central Mountain.
A District 4/9 champion at 189, sophomore Carter Chamberlain (26-7) will also receive a bye and will meet the winner of the Toa Mata’afa-Grove (13-10) from Erie and Carter Weaverling (20-14) from State College match-up.
Clearfield’s last champion from districts, 215 pounder senior Hayden Kovalick (30-2) will also receive a first round bye. In the quarterfinals, he will face the winner of the Marquis Howard (4-3) from Perry and Nicklas Eppihimer (26-12) from Hollidaysburg bout.
And finally, 285 pound senior Oliver Billotte (26-2), a runner-up last week, will meet Tyler Putnam (24-14), a senior from Bellefonte who finished fourth in District 6, in his first round match.
Action begins Friday evening at 5:30 round one, the quarterfinal action.
Wrestling will resume Saturday morning with two rounds of consolations at 10:00 AM, with the semifinals set to start at approximately 12:30 PM, with the consy semis to follow.
The Parade of Champions and medal matches begin the final session at 6:00 PM.
Complete brackets can be found HERE, courtesy PA_Wrestling.com.