CLARION — The District 9 committee announced the seedings and pairings for the 2015 Individual Wrestling Championships on Sunday. The championships will take place on Saturday February 21 at the Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium on the campus of Clarion University.
The defending champion St. Marys Flying Dutch led the five-team field with five top seeds, while Clearfield, DuBois and Punxsutawney each had three. The Bradford Owls were shut out in top seeds.
Clearfield’s top seeds are junior Josiah McClarren (20-11) at 120, senior Noah Cline (25-5) at 132, and junior Travis Ogden (24-3) at 195.
The Bison received three number two seeds – sophomore Zane Morgan (0-0) at 138, freshman Luke McGonigal (19-10) at 145, and junior Nate Lash (15-12) at 285.
Receiving number three seeds for the Bison were freshman Matt Ryan (11-16) at 106, Clearfield’s only returning district champ, junior Logan Gilbert (18-11) at 126, junior Tallin Norris (16-14) at 152, and junior Levi Wiser (13-15) at 182.
The final four Bison received number four seeds, while Clearfield will have no entrant at 113 – sophomore Jaret McCracken (0-0) at 160, senior Grant Climie (3-14) at 170, and senior Brian Thorp (6-20) at 220.
St. Marys’ top seeds are Ray Dent (16-11) at 113, William McGonnell (7-8) at 138, Kyle Pecht (24-8) at 145, Michael Wolfel (10-7) at 182, and Ray Kline (12-16) at 285.
The top seeds from DuBois are Kolby Ho (15-4) at 106, Brock Adams (5-6) at 126, and Robert Zilhaver (13-8) at 220.
The Chucks earned top seeds at 152 with Kaleb Young (10-0) at 152, Perry Arrington (21-7) at 160, and Keegan Fischer (18-7) at 170.
Returning district champs, all at different weight classes this year, are Adams, Gilbert, Young – also the returning outstanding wrestler – and Arrington. Young and Arrington are gunning for their third district titles for Punxsuatwney.
Action will begin Saturday morning with the three matches that make up the quarterfinals. The semifinals, which will be immediately followed by the consolation semifinals, begin at noon.
The final session begins at 5:00 with the consolation finals. The Parade of Champions will take place at 6:30.
The top three finishers at each weight class will qualify for the Northwest Regional Tournament at the Altoona Fieldhouse next weekend.
During the annual District 9 Hall of Fame Induction ceremony before the final session, former Clearfield state champion Matt Kyler will be inducted.
Complete brackets can be found here, courtesy Bob Imhof and his Ridgway Wrestling website.
