Jeremiah Bortmas went to Alameda Park a lot, taking time in the summer to play sand volleyball, dodgeball and frisbee.

With how the 160-pound Butler senior wrestler's body has betrayed him, Bortmas wanted a break from the grind of summer wrestling.

Bortmas still practiced two days a week, but avoided going crazy with tournaments.

“I had free time for once in my life and I wanted to enjoy it,” Bortmas said. “It was beneficial for my wrestling because I could ice my body and relax.”

Bortmas, who has a career record of 57-41 and went 2-2 at the Class AAA WPIAL tournament, will bump up to 160 pounds and be one of Butler County's top contenders to qualifying for the PIAA Tournament.

Wanting to relax came from after Bortmas suffered knee, elbow and thumb injuries during last season.

This preseason, Bortmas has already experienced problems with his thumb.

Having the success Bortmas did last season, finishing second at 152 pounds in the section and finishing 32-11 overall, allowed him to take a breather.

“Seasons before, I had went to everything. After I quit football (after eighth grade), all I did was wrestle,” Bortmas said. “Last year, after I finally had a successful season, I thought it was OK to take a breather. So I did.”

Butler coach Scott Stoner expects Bortmas to be one of the leaders in a young lineup.

Stoner hopes Bortmas can have a senior season that exceeds how his brother, Will, finished.

Will won the section at 220 pounds last season before missing qualifying for states by one match.

“I think Jeremiah is a much-more talented athlete, no offense to Willy,” Stoner said. “I think Jeremiah has a lot of the tools as a natural-type wrestler. He's very much different than what Willy had.”

Seneca Valley's Austin Leon, who beat Bortmas in the section championship match at 152 pounds last season, will make the move to 160.

Leon, who was 2-1 vs. Bortmas last season, has been taking on all comers to get prepared for this season.

“Since my freshman year, I've been working as hard as I can in the room,” Leon said. “I try to find the best partners I can. Right now, it's Brad (Hensler) and I wrestle with the coaches a lot, too.”

Hensler, who will wrestle at 182, is anxious to get back on the mat after his season ended due to an injury last year.

When asked if he's ever bested Leon in practice, Hensler just laughed.

“We go back and forth sometimes,” Hensler said. “Usually it's pretty close. We get into some big scrambles, but he usually ends up winning in the end.”

Other contenders for PIAA berths include: Alex Lynch (Seneca Valley, 113), Ben Lynch (Seneca Valley, 120) and JD Bojanac (Butler, 285).

ButlerCoach: Scott Stoner, 22nd season.Probable lineup: 106-Isaiah Christy, Frosh.; 113-open; 120-Sam Dietrich, Frosh.; 126-Connor Foust, Sr.; 132-Scott Dietrich, Soph.; 138-Caleb Baxter, Soph.; 145-Donovan Malovich, Soph. or Mike Vought; 152-Hank Finan, Jr.; 160-Jeremiah Bortmas, Sr.; 170-Christian Sequet or Dave Diman; 182-Justin Johnson, Jr.; 195-Seth McCrea or Nick Roth or Eli Hartung; 220-Riley Burdine or JD Bojanac; 285-Burdine or Bojanac.Outlook: Team-wise, Butler is young and will need to develop quickly to crack the top two teams in the sub-section.“The work ethic is going to be there as time goes on,” Stoner said. “Unfortunately, I think we're going to have to be humbled a couple times to be raised to that level.“A lot of times you get young kids and they are confident and aggressive. I think some of these guys are unsure of themselves and what their role is.”

KnochCoach: Steve Carney, first season.Probable lineup: 106-John Emminger, Jr.; 113-Phil Hockenberry, Jr.; 120-Mitch Walter, Fr.; 126-Jarrett Rosencrance, Jr; 132-Noah Kison, Fr.; 138-Max Freyermuth, Soph.; 145-Eric Green, Fr.; 152-Brandon Yobst, Fr.; 160-Max Steinmiller, Fr.; 170-Matt Walter, Jr.; 182-Charlie Cook, Sr.; 195-Dalton Ashton, Jr.; 220-Bailey Savage, Sr.; 285-Jacob Becker, Sr.Outlook: Carney spent the offseason looking to fill out the program, as the Knights were forced to forfeit as many as seven weight classes at a time last season.Knoch has 18 kids on the team this season.“What really helped get the numbers up is there were kids with wrestling experience in the school that were brought into the program that left for whatever reason,” Carney said. “The families and wrestlers reached out to them and got several guys to come back.”

MarsCoach: Jason Wilk, first season.Probable lineup: 106-Alex Hornfeck; 113-Maxwell Pasquinelli; 120-Joey Scanlon; 126-Aiden Lashinsky; 132-Robert Crawford; 138-Silas Bender; 145-Ryan Swann; 152-Noah Wright; 160-Chris Lorch; 170-Anthony Grieco; 182-Nick Shriver; 195-Jeffery DeSantes; 220-Trevor Heyl; HWT- Anthony LeCava.Outlook: Wilk has every weight class covered and hopes the six or seven freshmen who will see time can grow up quickly for the Planets. Making the jump to varsity from junior high is two-faceted.“There are two things that go into it,” Wilk said. “Weight training, we try to work in weight training two days a week because depending on the weight they are in, they could be going against a junior or senior that is more mature.“Guys that have more strength, especially if you're a freshman, you're not mature yet. The second thing is the conditioning level. Going from junior high where periods are 4.5 minutes to high school when there are six-minute periods.”

Seneca ValleyCoach: Kevin Wildrick, fourth season.Probable lineup: 106-Louis Newell, Frosh.; 113-Alex Lynch, Jr.; 120-Ben Lynch, Jr.; 126-Ty Gross, Fr.; 132-Alex Fischer, Soph.; 138-Tyler Smith, Soph.; 145-Gavin Funovits, Soph.; 152-Zac Cowell, Jr.; 160-Austin Leon, Sr; 170-Dustin Moniet, Jr.; 182-Brad Hensler, Sr.; 195-Lucas Choepper, Soph.; 220-Ben Bablak, Soph.; 285-Dante Santelli, Soph.Outlook: Seneca Valley will look to replace seven starters from a lineup that helped the Raiders reach the WPIAL team playoffs.Returning to the postseason will require progression by Seneca Valley throughout the season.“We definitely have some work to do still to get there. We're replacing seven pretty solid starters from the lineup last year. We have a couple of young kids coming up and a couple of 10th graders getting their chance this year get in the lineup and fill those shoes.”

Slippery RockCoach: Bob Becker.Probable lineup: 106-open;113-open;120-Mike Doerslinger, Fr. 126-Sam Agnriquez, Jr.; 132-Aaron Agnriquez, Soph.;138-Austin Reep, Fr.;145-James Scarborough, Soph.; 152-open;160-Dalton Hilliard, Jr./Tristan, Fr.;170-Hilliard/Borland, Fr.;182-open;195-Jade Burr, Jr;220-Zane Wolf, Sr.; 285-Orion Roberts, Soph.Outlook: The Rockets only have one senior and will go through some growing pains this season.That's all part of the process.“We're really looking to try and get a lot of matches in and hope to grow from that,” Becker said. “We picked up a schedule to have a lot more matches. We need the experience. We won't have a great record, because we're challenging ourselves.”

Summit AcademyCoach: John McCloud.Probable lineup: Not available.Outlook: The Knights will be able to fill 12 of their 14 weight classes. McCloud is still trying to piece together where he would like certain guys to end up.Anthony Hough (119), Thomas Luke (125), K'Von Huddleston (160) and Pamaje Moore (195) stood out in the preseason.“We're young as always, but they've been working pretty hard,” McCloud said. “That's pretty much it. We have Kittanning first, which isn't a good match for us.”Information from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic and Grove City was unavailable.