CLARION — The Curwensville Golden Tide had five wrestlers make it to the second day of the 2024 District 9 AA Wrestling Championships, and had three of the five place in the top-4 and advance to the North West Regional next weekend in Sharon.
Junior Austin Gilliland and seniors Logan Aughenbaugh and Trenton Guiher each were beaten in the semifinals, but each won their consolation semifinal to qualify for regionals.
Gilliland (24-13) at 107 defeated Clearfield’s Xavier Lutz by a fall in 4:39 in the consy semis after building up a 13-5 lead, and then won the consolation finals over Brockway’s Gage Park 7-4 on the strength of three takedowns to finish with the bronze medal.
Aughenbaugh (38-7), the three seed at 172, was winning his semifinal bout 5-2 over the number two seed Aiden Bliss of Port Allegany, when Bliss hit a lateral drop and picked up a fall to keep Aughenbaugh from wrestling for his second District 9 title, after having won as a sophomore two years ago. Aughenbaugh then had a first period fall in the consy semis, then received an injury default from Clearfield’s Carter Freeland to earn career win number 100. Aughenbaugh finished his District 9 championship career with a first and three third place finishes.
After his championship final semifinal loss, 215 pounder Guiher was up 1-0 in his consolation semifinal over Clearfield’s Hunter Ressler when he picked up a fall to advance his career at least one more week, but was defeated 3-0 by Coudersport’s Gavyn Ayers and finished in fourth place.
The two other Tide wrestlers to reach Saturday’s action were defeated in the their first match and saw their seasons come to an end.
189 pound junior Alex Murawski ended the year at 23-15 and sophomore 285 pounder Brooks Hendershot ended his season with a 12-14 mark.
The strong showing for the Tide on Saturday moved them up one spot from ninth to eighth in the team standings.
Curwensville’s Saturday results courtesy PA-Wrestling.com: (Tide wrestlers in bold)
Championship Semifinals
107 – Aiden Thompson (Cranberry) pinned Austin Gilliland, 5:50
172 – Aiden Bliss (Port Allegany) pinned Logan Augenbaugh, 3:04
215 – Miska Young (Port Allegany) pinned Trenton Guiher, 0:46
Consolation Round 3
189 – Madox Decker (Brockway) dec. Alex Murawski, 7-1
285 – Lucas Risser (Coudersport) dec. Brooks Hendershot, 3-0
Consolation Semifinals
107 – Austin Gilliland pinned Xavier Lutz (Clearfield), 4:39
172 – Logan Augenbaugh pinned Jack Smith (Brockway), 0:39
215 – Trenton Guiher pinned Hunter Ressler (Clearfield), 3:47
Third Place
107 – Austin Gilliland dec. Gage Park (Brockway), 7-4
172 – Logan Augenbaugh won by inj. default over Carter Freeland (Clearfield)
215 – Gavyn Ayers (Coudersport) dec. Trenton Guiher, 3-0
