WILLIAMSPORT — Clearfield wrestling’s top-2 returnees from last year, Brady Collins and Carter Chamberlain, each took one step up the podium steps from last year’s Tom Best Memorial Top Hat Tournament in Williamsport.
Collins went from second to first, and Chamberlain went from third to second to lead the Bison to a sixth place finish in the grueling opening season tournament.
In all, the Bison had seven wrestlers bring home awards. Cash Diehl and Ty Aveni placed sixth, Adam Rougeux and Colton Ryan were seventh, and Colton Bumbarger placed eighth.
Collins (4-0) pinned his way through the 160 pound bracket until reaching the finals were he defeated Connellsville’s Lonzy Vielma 3-1.
At 215, Chamberlain (3-1) also pinned his way through the bracket, until he was delivered a 12-4 defeat by Central Mountain’s Rocco Serafini. Serafini, along with returning state champion Luke Simcox who won the 145 pound class, led the Wildcats to a runaway number one finish in the team race.
Diehl (2-3) at 121 reached Saturday morning’s semifinals, but then was handed three consecutive losses to finish sixth.
After losing in the quarterfinals Friday, Aveni (3-3) at 152 won two wrestleback matches to reach the fifth place bout, but also placed sixth with a loss.
At 133, the unseeded Rougeux (3-2) was the lone Bison to beat his pre-tourney seed by placing seventh.
Ryan (3-2) at 139 matched Collins and Rougeux as the trio of Bison to win their final match of the tourney as he also was seventh.
Bumbarger (2-3) the number eight seed at 145 matched Collins as the two Bison to exactly match their seed when he placed eighth.
The Bison will kick-off their dual meet season on Tuesday when they host the Altoona Mountain Lions inside the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium at 7:00 PM. The junior match is slated to start at 5:30.
Complete results of the 2023 Tom Best Top Hat Tourney can be found by clicking HERE courtesy TrackWrestling.com.